Sindicato de Vigaristas

I loved this picture, The Big Operator, because it reminded me of the pictures I went to see as a young teenager in the late 50's. I remember seeing Steve Cochran in I Mobster at the time and really liked him. He's the good union man in The Big Operator, married to Mamie Van Doren, when he's approached to lie on the witness stand against the corrupt union boss played by the diminutive Mickey Rooney. Rooney, who is terrific, if not slightly over playing his James Cagney style Mr Nasty, has kidnapped Cochran's kid, played by Jay North. He's holding the kid in order to blackmail Cochran into retracting his evidence against Rooney. Ray Danton, Jim Backus, Jackie Coogan and Mel Torme are along for the ride as well as some other famous characters in smaller parts. Torme, or the velvet fog, is surprisingly effective as Cochran's tough little pal. For a world class jazz singer, he's a surprisingly good actor too. The underrated Leo Gordon is on hand for the really brutal stuff and he should have made it much bigger on screen as he was an actor at the time in a similar vein to Charles Bronson. I believe he was also a successful writer for movies. The ending is a bit far fetched but this little B movie gripped me from beginning to end and Rooney and Cochran are worth the entrance fee.

Rooney in his best dramatic role. Mickey is a crooked union boss who will stop at nothing to get his way. The nonstop action includes strong arm union goons beating Mel Torme, then setting him on fire and dumping him on Mamie Van Dorens tree lawn. Fortunately the fire is put out in time, enabling him to lead the police to the bad guys hideout. I won't give the ending away, except to say there's plenty of bagpipe music. Must see to believe!!!

Through the first part of his career, Mickey Rooney was a kid and played 1001 different kid roles...and nearly all of them as swell boy next door sorts. During this time, he was an immensely popular actor and no one could have imagined him playing villains. Well, by the 1950s, Rooney was no longer a kid and times had changed and soon he began taking on meatier and nastier parts. In films like "Quicksand", "Baby Face Nelson", "Drive a Crooked Road" and "The Last Mile", he showed that he wasn't going to be typecast but could play real scumbags...and played them very well...particularly in "The Last Mile".

Here in "The Big Operator", Rooney is back playing villains. This time he's a Jimma Hoff-like guy who isn't above using violence to control the unions. At times, he comes off as a nice guy but if you cross him, he's a nasty sociopath....and mostly a sociopath! The authorities are trying to bring him to justice but he keeps pleading the Fifth and getting away with all sorts of atrocities.

When Bill (Steve Cochran) and Fred (Mel Tormé) just happen to be in the wrong place, they see union thug Joe Braun (Rooney) and this contradicts Joe's prior testimony...meaning at the very least he could be jailed for perjury. So, at first Joe offers the guys wonderful jobs as union organizers. And, when they turn him down, his goons turn up the heat. Eventually, they even light poor Fred ablaze....and Bill has had enough and agrees to testify against Joe. But then, the really nasty side of Braun and his goons appears...and they'll stop at nothing to stop Bill.

The casting of this film is very odd...though it works. Not only does Rooney play a thug, Steve Cochran (who OFTEN played thugs) plays the hero and Mel Tormé of all people plays Cochran's friend! Strange....but it worked. Overall, a great gritty film whose only downside is the ending...where occasionally the film was a bit hard to believe. Yet, despite this, it was very satisfying to watch.

Mickey Rooney is the corrupt, fast-talking, deal-making head of the Union, up against a congressional investigation. He takes the Fifth when answering every question. When union member Mel Torme gets torched in front of his home, pal Steve Cochran is ready to testify, but Rooney kidnaps his son, has his enforcers beat up Cochran, and tell him that if he recasts on the witness chair, he'll see his son again.

Charles Haas is in charge of this tough movie, and his actors are cast against type and perform beautifully. Not only is Rooney terrific, but Mamie van Doren is very good, Torme is terrific, and performers like Charles Chaplin Junior and Jackie Coogan - he's a corrupt lawyer - demonstrate that good actors are good actors.

The movie turns a bit conventional in the end, and Van Alexander's blaring jazz score sometimes obscures what's going on, but this is a tough movie.

At five feet two inches, Mickey Rooney must have been Hollywood's smallest big operator. The words arrogant, deceitful and bigoted barely scratch the surface of this thoroughly odious character, immersed to the eyeballs in union corruption, underhand dealings and with a misguided view that anyone can be bought at the right price or, if necessary, with sufficient muscle, but not his!

He receives a mixed reception in addressing a blue collar meeting with a bumptious delivery of bad jokes and even worse puns, but his mood changes upon recognizing two individuals (Steve Cochran and Mel Torme), who could potentially identify him for his tawdry activities. In attempting to buy them off, Rooney encounters two insurmountable and previously alien obstacles: decency and integrity. Cochran, the diligent salt of the earth, family man, coolly dismisses him, whilst the more animated, vocal Torme sees red, (years before Zaz turned blue). Rooney's escalating exasperation with each must have driven his blood pressure off the scale, but at least the script writers offered some clemency, lightening his load, by allowing him to repeat the line, "I refuse to answer that question on the grounds of the Fifth Amendment" ad nauseam.

Kidnapping, torture, bullying picketts, the constant sense of threat, which results in Torme being burned on the same day he narrowly avoided being fired. This 'I'm Alright Jack' without the laughs turns surprisingly brutal, orchestrated by the mob heavy, safety in numbers clan, but curiously offset by an extravagant punch-up, rooted as much in comedy western as film noir.

Not exceptional, but a solid, grounded engaging statement on some of the salient issues of the time. Ultimately projecting an ethos of resisting violence and villainy every bit as pertinent today.