Bacall s character was softened to become a Hollywood heroine rather than a femme fatale. Both detectives and criminals were in different ways in rebellion against established society, a fact emphasised by their lower-class origins. The detective s apparent failure is a mask for his rebellion, his reject of the material values of society, while on the other hand the criminal hero delights in a display of wealth and possessions but remains aggressively lower class in his attitudes and manners. These qualities had a great appeal for people unemployed or ruined by the depression. For them society had become repressive and corrupt.
Big money is big power and big power gets used wrong.
His words expressed the feelings of people who had lost faith in society.