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This was the first Humphrey Bogart movie I ever saw when I was a young kid growing up in the 60's & 70's. I first discovered Bogie on "Humphrey Bogart Theatre" on TV. I was very impressed with his portrayal of a mafia style crime boss. Gangsters were once Bogarts specialty, he was good at it, this movie pre-dates "On The Waterfront" & is almost as good. The film opens with Bogart bent on wanting to take over the entire town & muscle in on the trucking business. "I got plans & I got organization", "nothings going to stop me", "I'll make this whole town pay off from blue-backs to bankers".

This is Bogart playing the lead role as John "Czar" Martin, Manhattens most powerful gang chief, Bogie is very cold & ruthless in this one & it's clear he is the main character even though he's not in every scene, most of the film focuses more on the George Brent character as one of the truckers who complies with Martins underworld organization after Bogie's henchmen sets Brents truck on fire. Eventually he & Allen Jenkins rally all the truckers against Bogart in a free for all. It's a propaganda movie showing why unions were needed & organized in the 1930's but it also shows how corrupt unions can get by bribery & intimidation by the syndicate.

The absence of Bogarts character doesn't really weaken the film but creates an interesting mystique for his character is much talked about but hardly ever seen which heightens & magnifies Bogarts exciting screen presence. Like in "The Petrified Forest" Bogie played a famous celebrated John Dillinger style outlaw. He doesn't enter the film until the 2nd half of the movie but his character is mentioned consistently from the very beginning of the film creating this mystique. Kind of a sense of mystery so you just sit & watch the movie just waiting in suspense to see when "Duke Mantee" first enters & dominates the movie from that point on.

"Racket Busters" does a similar thing with Bogart's character as "Czar" Martin & the gimmick works & for once Bogart doesn't get killed in the end unlike his other gangsters where he gets bumped off. Sometimes less is more, a character that lays low or not seen much makes the character that much more interesting & desirable. In "The Maltese Falcon" Floyd Thursby was a character much talked about all through the entire movie..... but never seen. I have a bootleg copy of "Racket Busters" & I don't think it's out on DVD yet, it should be because it's not too bad, it's a standard programmer & it's worth watching if you're a fan of Bogart & gangster films like I am. Racket Busters is the precursor to On The Waterfront. What more can be said ?

Tough gangster movie with Humphrey Bogart playing a racketeer putting the squeeze on truck drivers hauling produce. The unlikeliest of all truckers, George Brent, tries to fight the mob but eventually is forced to cooperate. Brent is an ill-fit for a working class Joe but he does an admirable job. Allen Jenkins is fun as Brent's friend Skeets. Walter Abel is OK as a crusading DA, inspired by Thomas Dewey, but doesn't seem like a match for Bogie. Between him and Brent, neither really powerhouse personas, it's no wonder Bogie walks away with the film. From the very first scene Bogart's character is fed up with failure and wants to make it to the top by any means necessary. It's like they took all the gangsters he's played up to this point and rolled them into one, giving them a final chance to make it big. And no matter how bad he was to others in this, I was pulling for him. The rest of the fine cast includes Gloria Dickson, Penny Singleton, Henry O'Neill, Fay Helm, and Joe Downing. Nice action and characters. If, like me, you're a sucker for seeing old cars and trucks in action in older films, you'll get your fill here. Definitely worth a look for fans of the WB crime dramas of the 1930s.

Racket Busters (1938)

** (out of 4)

Tired crime flick from Warner has Humphrey Bogart playing a racketeer who decides to form a truckers union so that he can take over all the store, drivers and the produce. If people don't go along with this they end up beaten but one man (George Brent) decides to stand up to them. I've always been a fan of Warner's various "B" pictures but this one here left me disappointed for many reasons. For starters, the screenplay really doesn't offer up anything that original as we've seen this story countless times before. Some might say that all of these pictures had the same story and that's true to an extent but I think most took that basic structure and tried to do things their own way. That really doesn't happen here because there isn't a single second in the film where you feel anything for the stuff that's going on. Some of this problem should fall on the shoulders of Bacon who seems to be sleep walking in his director's chair. He usually manages this type of material quite well but perhaps he too found the story boring. Another problem is the D.A. who is extremely boring and his character just doesn't have enough fire behind him to make anyone interested in anything he has to say. Even the performances are rather disappointing as Bogart doesn't do too much and doesn't have half the energy he usually delivers in this type of role. It was somewhat fun seeing Brent in this type of picture but the screenplay doesn't do him any justice either. The normally reliable Allen Jenkins is here playing the comic sidekick but even he can't deliver any laughs. The movie is mildly entertaining if you're a fan of this genre but I think most people are going to sit here and just know that there are much better movies out there and this here is strictly by the numbers.

George Brent was great at playing the gentleman, whether that gentleman was a wealthy man of great stature in the community, or whether he was a struggling up-and-comer as he was in "Lilly Turner". He always played a guy who knew who he was and the path he was on. This story of the syndicate attempting to take over the trucking industry by force is sunk not only by a rather formulaic script, but by Brent in the lead in a role that looks like it was written more for James Cagney or maybe even Paul Muni.

Brent plays Denny Jordan, an independent trucker who is out for himself, thinks with his fists, and even squishes a tomato into the face of his partner, Skeets (Allen Jenkins), for no particular reason other than he seems to think it's funny. This is just not appealing stuff for George Brent fans to watch. Humphrey Bogart is perfectly cast as the head of the syndicate, but he spends very little time on screen, usually just a few seconds at a time as he barks orders at subordinates about the next move they should make.

It's pretty bad when the thinking man in the film, Skeets, is portrayed by Allen Jenkins, who usually plays the well-meaning if somewhat thick-skulled comic relief. Penny Singleton is a breath of fresh air as Gladys Christie, Skeet's girl who seems surprised every time her man gets a good idea or runs into a piece of good luck.

I'd skip this one. It's not terrible, it just does nothing to distinguish itself in either the plot or performance categories.

If you want to see this movie because Humphrey Bogart is the star, save your time. He gets top billing because of what he became after this movie. In this movie he is in it enough to barely be called a supporting actor. George Brent is the real star, so all Brent fans should watch this (if there are any). Here we have an oddity - our hero prevents the mob from taking over the trucking industry! Of course we know what really happened. Atypical gangster ending for this movie; the length of the jail sentence is also stated! The ending came so quickly that one thinks that is was hastily cobbled together. One positive note is that Allen Jenkins actually plays a good guy for a change.