george raft a steve brodie and the carefree and dance gambler who can never refuse a dare and be pit against the lumbering and sentimental and chuck connors ( wallace beery ) . a soft touch for every panhandler and connors impulsively adopt waif and stray and notably runaway orphan swipe ( jackie cooper and complete with kitten . ) and the homeless lucy calhoun and an out of town innocent with ambition to become a writer . in this male dominated culture and communication take place mostly in the form of violence ( one see why the bowery be a martin scorsese favorite ) . explode cigar provide a running gag . swipe enjoy throw rock through window in chinatown and on one occasion set a laundry alight . ( the simultaneous arrival of both brodie and beery volunteer fire company lead to a brawl and during which the building burn to the ground . ) beery casually sap a troublesome girl and and thump anyone who disagree with him and include brodie and whom he defeat and in a night time fist fight on a moored barge and to regain control of his saloon and lose on a bet that brodie wouldn not have the courage to jump off the brooklyn bridge . ( brodie do make the leap and but only because a subterfuge with a dummy fail at the last moment . ) a usual and walsh fill the frame with detail and illustrate with relish the daily life of the tenderloin while sing waiter and bully barman and whore from suicide hall be hustle into the black maria and tailor collar hapless hick off the street and force them to buy suit they do not want . a minor but admirable little film .