New York Confidential

It has been quite a long while since I've seen this film. Yet even though it has been at least 30 years since I last saw this movie it stands out as one of my favorite films. I have never been able to find it on VHS and it is just never shown on television. I can't understand why Turner Classic Movies hasn't shown it because it is definitely a classic film noir gem. But it is more than film noir; it is a genuine motif of organized crime brought to the screen. The cast is excellent as far as talent goes. Broderick Crawford, Richard Conte, and Ann Bancroft just being in the cast should merit it being shown on TV once in awhile.

One of the central themes of achieving success and the American dream through crime and corruption is an old staple of Hollywood, but it is presented in such a way as to provide the viewer with a definite amount of empathy for the main characters in spite of the fact that they are mobsters. It is entertaining and interesting without a lot of violence and since it was released in 1955, no profanity. In my mind I rate it along with another film of the same genre that was released some 12 years later titled "The Brotherhood" starring Kirk Douglas. I just wish I could get this film on VHS, DVD, or television. I would greatly appreciate any help anyone could give me in that endeavor.

A nice bridge from the gangster pictures of the 30's to the modern day mafia flick. You can see echoes of this film in GODFATHER and GOODFELLAS and others. Going inside a crime syndicate and also the private lives of the gangsters, it's a pretty satisfying drama with a lot of facets. Richard Conte is superb as a polite but cold-blooded hit-man turned consigliere, and there are also memorable performances from Anne Bancroft and the reliable heavy Mike Mazurki. Broderick Crawford is generally quite good although he does deliver a few stiff line readings. Unfortunately, the film suffers from utterly bland cinematography, and we spend so much time in well-lit rooms that it often feels like a stage production. A very good script, but the execution only provides a few exciting moments.

Richard Rouse's New York Confidential is a fine movie. It feels realistic and genuine. It's portrayal of the mafia seems more sophisticated than the movies that came before it. It's a very good screenplay, easy to follow but plausible and with plenty of twists. It is a real pleasure watching the three stars at work. Broderick Crawford is great playing ... Broderick Crawford, showing power, bluster, urgency and frailty all at the same time. Richard Conte and Anne Bancroft are possibly even better, Conte exuding confidence, charm and self-control and Bancroft making us feel the desperation of being trapped inside a mafia clan. I applaud the producers and director for choosing to use only a few Italian American actors in a film about the mafia - only Conte, Bancroft and a few minor players - as it shifts the focus from the ethnic aspects to the business itself and the individual choices each of the criminals makes.

Flawed but always worth watching, this movie seems to have sprung from nowhere onto DVD. Certainly not pure 'noir' but neither is it simply a crime drama. Indeed with the documentary element and Crawford's wayward antics on the one side and the coolness of Richard Conte and his relations with the ladies on the other, this could be considered a bit of a mess. That it is not is due in the main to the tremendous performances of Conte, Bancroft and to a lesser extent, Marilyn Maxwell as Iris, Crawford's mistress. For me Crawford is over the top as the macho boss man and simply unable to deal with the more sensitive scenes, but he is overshadowed by Conte and we are soon persuaded to view the events through his steely eyes. A few location shots that really only go to show up the shoddiness of the studio ones but there is a great ending and as I say enough along the way to make this almost unseen film well worth a watch.

New York Confidential is directed by Russell Rouse and collectively written by Rouse, Jack Lait , Lee Mortimer and Clarence Greene. It stars Broderick Crawford, Richard Conte, Anne Bancroft, Marilyn Maxwell, J. Carrol Naish, Onslow Stevens, Barry Kelley and Mike Mazurki. Music is by Joseph Mullendore and cinematography by Eddie Fitzgerald.

The Kefauver Committee was set up at the beginning of the 1950s and its role was to investigate into the growing threat of organised crime. From this very real moment in time came a wave of films that jumped onto the possibilities on offer for dramatic filmic purpose, New York Confidential is one such picture.

In short order the plot has Crawford as New York Syndicate boss Charles Lupo, who borrows hit-man Nick Maggelan (Conte) from the Chigao branch to enact a hit. The pair quickly strike up a terrific relationship, but as problems within the Lupo home begin to mount up - and the heat starts to close in on the organisation - cracks begin to turn into chasms.

It says a lot about the efforts of the cast that this turns out to be better than it had right to be. The interesting slant here is the impact of family life on the main man. Lupo is a widower who still lives with his mother and daughter, he dotes on his mother and smothers his daughter Katherine (Bancroft) in what he thinks is fatherly love. She hates his criminal workings and rebels against it, something which Lupo can't quite understand. Thrust into the mix is Magellan, suave and good looking, he has tremendous loyalty to Lupo, so when Katherine grabs his eye he has to fight his feelings for her and his commitment to Lupo. Add in Lupo's sultry girlfriend Iris (Maxwell), who has no loyalty and wants to bed Magellan, then emotional conflict and tests of character are boldly prominent.

Beginning with shots of New York City and a narration telling us about how great and prosperous the city is, it is however the core of Syndicated Crime. We switch to a drive by killing, one which claims an innocent bystander, and the scene is set for Lupo and Magellan to meet and the story spins on from there. The dialogue is well written in quick fire noir speak, the best of which comes from Magellan who is calmness personified and Katherine who is bitingly bitter. There's a disappointment that we are sadly denied effective chiaroscuro, for the story demands it, more so when things go belly up and the world closes in on Lupo and Magellan's surrogate father/son relationship.

Come the last quarter the pic really hits its flm noir straps, where joyously it doesn't let us down. We are not fed improbables or lightweight fare, we get pure blackheart noirville, something which elevates a decent film into being a very good one. Family strife and conflicted matters of the heart blend with corruption and organised crime, all crammed into an hour and half of film making. Lovely. 7.5/10