Die Ratten von Detroit

Most of my 7/10 goes to two things - Robert Blake's effective portrayal of completely amoral, calculating, and mentally unbalanced baby-faced mobster Honeyboy Willard and to the rather detached documentary feel of this film as it is narrated by the cop that has vowed to put the Purple Gang away, Barry Sullivan as Lt. William P. Harley of the Detroit Police. It really has the look and feel of "The Untouchables" except with poverty row roots.

There really was a Purple Gang in Detroit in the 20's and 30's, although the character of Honeyboy is a fictional one - the actual power in the real gang was in the hands of four Jewish brothers. The cleaner and dyers war was a real one, except in real life the Purple Gang was allied with the union against non-union independents. There was no rather clean ending to the story of the Purples in real life. Like so many other gangs, Prohibition gave them money and power they could have only dreamed about, and its end sent them on a slow decline with the primary source of their wealth literally dried up.

This film is unusual in that there are no female leads or even substantial female supporting roles here. Women are just the subjects of particularly savage crimes by the Purples, and very little more, meant to underscore the violence of the Purple Gang.

If this film had been in wider release by a bigger studio, maybe Robert Blake wouldn't have had to wait until 1967 and "In Cold Blood" to catapult to stardom. Here he steals the show, kills everyone else, and gives a truly riveting performance of a guy who really loves his work for reasons that seem to have more to do with a need for power and a desire to be feared than just pure greed. Don't believe the low rating on this one - give it a try realizing it is a B feature from a small studio made just as the production code was losing its grip.

This opens with a suit talking to the audience. The Purple Gang operated in Detroit during the late 20's and early 30's. They started out as bootleggers with Canadian liquor and quickly spread to all kinds of other crimes. The story begins with a teen gang called Purple led by William Joseph 'Honeyboy' Willard (Robert Blake). Police Lt. William P. Harley (Barry Sullivan) is assigned to clean it up. The kids take on the established mob and become their muscle. This launches them as the most violent criminals in the city.

I don't like the "Crime Does Not Pay" start. That takes this movie down to a B-short series. I also don't like them using a social worker as the foil. They could have used a lawyer, but they're trying to take down the bleeding heart liberal in a heavy handed way. The most interesting aspect of this is seeing Robert Blake. He's good, but that's about it.

Cheapo production. This is supposed to be the 1920s, but there is no attempt to use costumes or hair styles of that era. The men all wear 1950s hats. Robert Blake plays tough as the juvenile gang leader. Barry Sullivan walks through his part as the detective as though he wanted to be somewhere else. His wife,of course, wants him to quit. The gang looks like a Central Casting call for B-list juveniles. As clean and nice looking a bunch of hoodlums as can be imagined. If they could dance they would be ready for West Side Story. The sets are unadorned and look like they were assembled in somebody's garage. There is a lot of unconvincing gunplay and actors falling to the floor, but no blood.

"The Purple Gang" is a film that is enjoyable to watch--much like an episode of "The Untouchables". However, like that television show, it's not much of a history lesson and the actions of the real Purple Gang in Detroit were very, very different than what you see in the film. In fact, you'd hardly recognize much of the gang in this one.

In real life, the Purple Gang was a tough organization in Detroit consisting mostly of Jewish gangsters. The gang was run by several brothers as well. And, the end of the gang was nothing like in the film. Yet, in the film they are run by one guy alone (Robert Blake) and the actors all seem like typical antisocial Gentiles.

So why, despite being mostly wrong, do I score this one a 6? Well, it's exciting and as long as you accept that it's mostly fiction, you'll have a nice time watching the film. It never is dull!

Low budget "exposee" style film paints a somewhat accurate picture of Detroit's Purple Gang from the 20s. Worth seeing for Robert Blake's performance, which transcends the movie.