一战以后，犯罪片也逐渐在美国繁荣起来，这一时期，观众和艺术家普遍对事物不乐观。不少士兵、小业主和家庭主妇、工厂雇员对回到和平时期经济状况时的幻灭感，直接反映在城市犯罪片的暗淡色彩中，影片《怒吼的二十年代》就是这一现象的集中体现。
三个军人在一战之后回到了20年代的美国，赫特成了律师，哈利成了私酒贩子，艾迪打算当出租车司机。由于禁酒时期的私酒赚钱容易，艾迪和史密斯也参加了私酒买卖并与哈利成了伙伴，但这种生意的残酷使艾迪感到厌恶，他又尝试去做股票生意。1929年的经济萧条使他倾家荡产。艾迪听说哈利想要谋杀他的同伙哈特，因为哈特实际上是执法吏，艾迪杀死了哈利但自己也死在对方枪手的枪口下。

四十年代拉乌尔·沃尔什执导的一部精典黑帮动作片。这部影片充分体现了拉乌尔·沃尔什的执导风格以及对角色的把握能力，叙事风格爽朗有劲，处理对白像打拳击一样你来我往拳拳到肉，将主人翁的性格魅力发挥得淋漓尽致。
开货车的兄弟俩个，一方面要对付狡诈的老板，另一方面又分别追求女友安·谢莉丹和艾达·卢皮诺……

In Brooklyn, fishing is the hobby of the workers Jonah Goodwin and Olaf Johnson and they use to fish every night in their old boat. Jonah's daughter is the twenty-one year-old telephone operator Stella Goodwin, who is an ambitious young woman that dreams on leaving her neighborhood. She is the sweetheart of the worker George Watkins, a simple man that dreams on marrying her. When the smalltime gangster Harold Goff arrives in Brooklyn, he extorts money from Jonah and Olaf to "protect" their boat from fire and dates Stella. Jonah tries to convince his daughter that Goff is a racketeer that takes money out of poor ordinary people but she does not care to her father since she sees Goff as her chance to have a comfortable life and visit new places. When she discloses to Goff that her father has savings, Goff demands the money to Jonah. Now the old man is convinced that the only chance to get rid off Goff is to fight back.