The image features a large shot of a burly Mickey Rooney playing against type as Lester M. "Baby Face Nelson" Gillis as he supposedly kills the men shown at the bottom with a machine gun, along with an illustration of Carolyn Jones (as Sue Nelson) holding a rifle. This vintage original window card is unrestored in good- condition only with a large chip on the bottom right corner in the borders only; creasing of varying sizes on the corners; a tear on the left border beneath the center that goes slightly into the background area; and various creases, nicks, and small tears on the borders. There are no pinholes or stains and the bold color tints are fresh and vibrant without any signs of fading.

Initially, the producers wanted to shoot this movie in Vistarama, and were planning to cast Frank Sinatra in the lead role. Upon its release, the film was criticized by California Representative H. Allen Smith, who claimed that it contributed to juvenile delinquency. F.B.I. Chief J. Edgar Hoover also denounced the film as glorifying crime. The notorious "Lady in Red", who lured John Dillinger to the Biograph theater in Chicago (where he watched Manhattan Melodrama) where he was shot and killed by the F.B.I., was named Anna Sage. Before production of this movie started, it was not known if Sage was still alive. She had been deported to her native Romania shortly after the incident, and the producers didn't want to use her real name without her permission for fear of being sued if she were indeed alive. So they named her "Ann Saper," which was the maiden name of Director Don Siegel's mother.