Skip to main content

The Racket (1951)

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

The Racket. Feature film. (1951, 88 mins) IMDB

...Some actors can play good guys or bad guys and some just can't....

I

t's a simple story in some respects. We have a large city in the US. There's a syndicate running gambling etc. There's the cops and the justice system. Both are working together which means the mob keeps right on doing its business except for one cop--a certain Captain McQuigg.

He's an honest cop surrounded by mobsters and crooked cops, crooked prosecuting attorneys and crooked judges. The odds are against him.

Nothing McQuigg does can provide the proof he needs to bring down Nick Scanlon. There's always bribery and faked testimony or the lack of it. We see any numbers of ways Scanlon escapes justice.

In the end, the cops win, but lots happens in between.

McQuigg wins because Scanlon is too hot headed. He defeats himself. The third act is about him going into the police station where he confronts one of the honest cops and shots him. There's evidence he did it and maybe he didn't, but in the end he's tempestuousness took him too far. A young, honest reporter who is a witness, won't back down from Scanlon's intimidation.

This story has been told many times and in the same sort of way, but I liked this film.

It's not strictly a film noir even though it's of that time period and has elements of it. There is even a beautiful woman playing a key role in the story, but not in the way a woman does in, say, DOUBLE INDEMINITY or THE MALTESE FALCON.

Seeing Robert Ryan and I remember THE DIRTY DOZEN. It's hard not to. Apparently he was nothing like the villains he played on screen and I wondered why someone would want those roles. The answer is probably both simple and complex. Taking the role because it's a job and therefore an income. But maybe also a belief that other, different roles will come around. Some actors break free of typecasting, most don't. Many can swing between film, TV and theatre while others are stuck in TV and commercials.

I've seen much worse films than this one and I think this one is under appreciated.

Posted 2009/02/03 at 18h50ET in Movie Commentary.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Piece of the Action (1977)

Saturday, March 7, 2009 A Piece of the Action. Feature film. (1977, 135 mins) IMDB ... Who would you have over for dinner? Sidney Poitier or Bill Cosby. ... A PIECE OF THE ACTION is the third film starring Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier. Poitier also directed the films. (And yes, I would be fascinating to have both them sitting around a table for dinner.) We're in Chicago and I love the setup for this film. It's clever, fun and interesting. It starts during the dark of night. Crosby is a cat burglar robbing a vault in a bank. He's by himself, all the tools he needs, and doesn't speak a word of dialogue for at least the first twenty minutes of the film. It must have been killing him. His robbery goes off successfully. (It includes a jump from a six or seven story window. There was a similar scene in their earlier films.) When the cops arrive during the daylight, they haven't a clue and we catch a glimpse of James Earl Jones as a detect...
Post a Comment
Read more

If Only We Could Agree

Monday, June 11, 2012 ... have you been accused of misspelling a word you know is correct ... S usanne O’Leary wrote an interesting article on her experience with the variations of the English language in different countries. You know the obvious ones like colour with or without a “u” but less obvious ones like travelled versus traveled. Growing up in Sweden she learnt English in school—the UK variation. In publishing her books, she read reviews where she was criticized for improper spelling. False accusations as it turns out. While I write tire and cozy, it’s not incorrect to write tyre or cosy. Same language. Both accepted. Just different. You can read her write-up here along with the numerous comments posted by readers. I found it interesting, but that’s me. As a Canadian I deal with this issue everyday. I feel her pain when she’s criticized for something based on ignorance. No fun. I was told by a boss that “data are” isn’t correct. It should be “data is.” Read...
2 comments
Read more

No Reservations (2007)

Saturday, May 2, 2009 No Reservations. Feature film. (2007, 104 mins) IMDB ... I so much wanted to like this film but couldn't ... T his film had two things I like a great deal: romance and cooking, but they didn't come together for me in this film. I think I know why. The female lead doesn't strike me as a romantic leading lady. That's just me. I also found the story line stale and uninteresting. Our hero lives in NYC working at a fine dining restaurant where she is the chef and dictator. Everything about her life is about cooking. Nothing else seems to matter. No children. No relationships. Then her life is kicked apart. Her sister and niece travel to visit her but before they arrive, there's an accident. The mother dies and little Zoe has to live with her aunt. Our hero struggles to include a new person into her life but what follows is so predictable as to be boring. To add even more complications to our hero's life, her sous...
Post a Comment
Read more