Gangster

Entertaining film with politics, crime and corruption the main themes here.

Robert Mitchum plays a dedicated, righteous policeman who heads a unit of officers. He is as honest as 24 hours in a day. He takes pride in such officers as Bill Talman, a young cop gunned down in police headquarters by the usually evil Robert Ryan. Without the insanity of his earlier crime driven roles, Ryan comes across as the embodiment of evil.

Ray Collins steals the show as a worm of a prosecuting attorney up to his neck in corruption. It is interesting to note that both Collins and Talman went on to TV careers in "Perry Mason."

Lizabeth Scott, as a lounge singer, caught up in the mayhem, tries hard to please but she does not evoke the emotion needed for her role.

To say that the ending is justified is more than right.

This is a story that has been presented thousands of times on the big screen. What makes this film, The Racket, a cut above most of the other crime/drama films of the past 70 odd years is the standout performance by Robert Ryan as the gangster Nick Scanlon. I used the word "gangster"which is based on the Websters dictionary which defines the word "gangster: as follows: "a member of a gang of criminals : racketeer".

In today's films we hear more about the word "mobster" defined as "someone who is part of a secret organized group of criminals : a member of the Mob" Nick Scanlon is not part of any criminal organization, not even if the criminal organization he associates with refers to their head honcho as "the old man". Robert Ryan's character is a formidable foe to the 7th Precinct Police station as well as to all the criminal elements as he certainly marches to his own drum and that drum is beaten often by his own fists on to the other criminals who do not take his orders without talking back to him. The 7th precinct police station has recently been advised of their new Captain an honest hard working and devoted officer of the law named Captain Thomas McQuigg played by first rate actor Robert Mitchum.

Captain Thomas McQuigg and the feisty criminal Nick Scanlon share a common trait. They don't run away from trouble, no these two tough opponents they run head on towards trouble. This film also reflects how the criminal element has infiltrated the police and the judicial system with their brute force and cash influence. I guess some things such as in this film, the more they change the more they stay the same. (Police and justice corruption are still prevalent in the year 2018 as the current U.S. president, Donald Trump, has been under siege with non truth accusations, and the news stated pay to play by the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.)

The film The Racket does have one clear message besides the strong performances by many of the actors and actresses in this excellent film and that message is "justice will prevail".

I give the film a 7 out of 10 rating

A corrupt crime syndicate has moved into town, bringing with it new tools and pulling political strings instead of just using muscle. They join up with local boss Nick Scanlon who is old-school and trades on violence more than anything else. Into the middle of this corruption and rising crime comes honest policeman Capt Tomas McQuigg who has history with Scanlon but aims to bring him down and expose the syndicate's web of corruption as well.

First of all, let me correct the entry on this page that classes this film as `film-noir', I assume that this has been added by another user that doesn't know what this means and equates it to any black and white film that involves crime. Needless to say, I do not see this as a noir, I see it as a basic crime story with tough cops and equally tough criminals. The basic story is good as it involves corruption as much as the usual crime boss characters. The film doesn't really be all it could have been and it stays at a tough if basic level for the majority. All told the story goes by slickly enough and is enjoyable despite that fact that you will have almost totally forgotten it fifteen minutes after it has finished.

The cast help it to be better than it actually is and features two typically tough-talking and square jawed leads. Mitchum isn't as impressive as he can be but he does has a solid screen presence and he does well here. Ryan plays a character than has actually become more interesting with time due to other, similar characters than he has played since - his character is a bit toothless but that has more to do with codes of the time than his performance. The support cast are OK but nobody really stands out.

Overall this is an OK film that will pass quite easily but has few qualities that will really stick in your mind for very long after you see it. Oh, and it's not a film-noir!

The 80-minutes has the cast elements of a memorable crime drama—Ryan, Mitchum, Talman, Conrad. Then too, RKO's head honcho Howard Hughes actively participated, along with a narrative of city corruption that's handled in some revealing detail. So why aren't the results more memorable than I think they are. To me, the screenplay is more congested than it should be. For example, Liz Scott's role is clearly there for marquee value, adding nothing to the plot, other than crowding up the many characters and sub-plots. Considering the number of writes, rewrites, and re-shoots (IMDB), perhaps the crowding is understandable. All in all, the number of production fingerprints fail to blend into an impactful whole, leaving a movie of a few memorable parts.

Ryan, of course, is Ryan, scary in his intensity, and wholly convincing in his criminal belligerence. Mitchum, however, is cast against type as the unwavering precinct captain. In fact, Captain McQuigg runs his precinct much like Scanlon's (Ryan) territorial tyrant. Thus McQuigg is more like a competing territorial chief than a neutral enforcer of the law, (note how McQuigg unlawfully tears up a legal writ.). The film's worth watching for its outlining of how corruption works in a city environment. District Attorney Welch (Collins) and Sgt. Turk (Conrad) betray their public trust by allying with the crime syndicate, becoming instrumental as go-betweens and influence-peddlers.

This was a period in the country's history (1951) when organized crime was getting headlines thanks to Sen. Kefauver's investigation committee. So Hollywood's response is not surprising. I just wish the movie had lived up to its potential, but I guess there's a lesson here about too many cooks.

This film reminds me a lot of an earlier film that paired Robert Mitchum and Robert Ryan (CROSSFIRE), as both have very tough and gritty plots that are excellent examples of Film Noir. However, in this film instead of a plot involving anti-semitism, it's a good cop versus organized crime flick. Once again, Ryan is a scumbag and Mitchum is a decent and hard-as-nails cop bent on justice. A particular standout is the dialog between them--very snappy and pure Noir! I particularly liked the exchanges between them in the police station when they were cross-examining the cocky and unrepentant Ryan. And, since it is Noir, you know that there will be ample quantities of violence and testosterone. Give it a try--this is a seldom-mentioned classic.