One of Humphrey Bogart's great film moments

in the film Knock On Any Door from 1949. Bogey plays a criminal defense lawyer asked to defend a young hoodlum accused of murder. Like in other films, Bogey goes from cynic to one who takes up a righteous cause, except here he discovers his client is actually guilty. However, in his summation Bogart makes a plea to the jury to spare his young client because society, which he calls hard, selfish, and stupid contributed to making him a criminal because they lack the will to do anything about poverty. The slums and a desperate environment made him that way.