The Racket, no noir just a big city crime story, is as predictable as a fig newton. Still, in some ways the movie as like finding out at first bite that your fig newton is made with pumpkin.
Captain Tom McQuigg (Robert Mitchum) is a big, tough cop in charge of a go-nowhere precinct. He's been bounced from precinct to precinct, not because he's a failure but because he's honest. His city is filled with corruption, vice, the numbers...you name it. Nick Scanlon (Robert Ryan), just as big a guy as McQuigg, just as tough and with a preference for violence, has run the city for years. Scanlon and McQuigg have a history that goes way back. Scanlon has the city under his thumb. It's Scanlon who sees to it that McQuigg gets the worst assignments and the lousiest precinct. If McQuigg won't play the game, Scanlon will make his life as hard as he can. Recently Scanlon has started a partnership with a big, out-of-town syndicate run by The Chief, a man no one knows. The Syndicate wants to grow opportunities in Scanlon's territory and Scanlon wants more of the big-time. It's a partnership as unstable as a one-legged man on a merry-go-round. And it looks like only Captain Tom McQuigg is determined enough and smart enough to stop Scanlon in his tracks.
There's nothing here that hasn't been done over and over. Director John Cromwell, however, keeps the clichés from bumping into each other too often. The story moves briskly along. But it's Mitchum and Ryan who make the movie worth watching. They're the unexpected pumpkin in the stale fig newton. Mitchum had finished his debt to society after his marijuana bust. Studio owner Howard Hughes wanted Mitchum in a role that would be on the side of the angels, with no fooling around on the other side. So Mitchum is a relentless good guy. He has no romantic interest except, seen one or twice, a good-looking, brave, supportive wife who Mitchum honors and loves. Mitchum's McQuigg plays by the book and even gives a speech or two condemning corruption. He's smart and clever, but his tricks to capture Scanlon are all aboveboard. Opposing him is Robert Ryan, who winds up playing a crook who is almost a psychopath. Scanlon cares for his younger brother, but slaps the kid around. He takes out inconvenient witnesses. He doesn't mind ordering a cop killed and doesn't mind doing the killing himself if need be. At times, he gets really, really mad.
Mitchum and Ryan were big men. When they face off with others in the room, the others look small. While this movie isn't all that good, both men give solid performances and neither, in my view, is able to outshine or out act the other. Mitchum had plenty of star charisma by the time the movie was made. Ryan has plenty of actor charisma. I wound up watching them both and wondering what either of them would do next.
The Racket is not an especially interesting movie, but Mitchum and Ryan give it what class it has. They played together in Crossfire, a film worth watching, with both men contributing a lot to that good movie. Lizabeth Scott, given little to do as a nightclub singer who turns on Scanlon, makes what she can of a seriously underwritten part.
If you're a Robert Ryan fan, you might be interested in these lesser known films of his: The Woman on the Beach, The Set-Up, On Dangerous Ground, Inferno and The Day of the Outlaw. They're worth tracking down.
Captain Tom McQuigg (Robert Mitchum) is a big, tough cop in charge of a go-nowhere precinct. He's been bounced from precinct to precinct, not because he's a failure but because he's honest. His city is filled with corruption, vice, the numbers...you name it. Nick Scanlon (Robert Ryan), just as big a guy as McQuigg, just as tough and with a preference for violence, has run the city for years. Scanlon and McQuigg have a history that goes way back. Scanlon has the city under his thumb. It's Scanlon who sees to it that McQuigg gets the worst assignments and the lousiest precinct. If McQuigg won't play the game, Scanlon will make his life as hard as he can. Recently Scanlon has started a partnership with a big, out-of-town syndicate run by The Chief, a man no one knows. The Syndicate wants to grow opportunities in Scanlon's territory and Scanlon wants more of the big-time. It's a partnership as unstable as a one-legged man on a merry-go-round. And it looks like only Captain Tom McQuigg is determined enough and smart enough to stop Scanlon in his tracks.
There's nothing here that hasn't been done over and over. Director John Cromwell, however, keeps the clichés from bumping into each other too often. The story moves briskly along. But it's Mitchum and Ryan who make the movie worth watching. They're the unexpected pumpkin in the stale fig newton. Mitchum had finished his debt to society after his marijuana bust. Studio owner Howard Hughes wanted Mitchum in a role that would be on the side of the angels, with no fooling around on the other side. So Mitchum is a relentless good guy. He has no romantic interest except, seen one or twice, a good-looking, brave, supportive wife who Mitchum honors and loves. Mitchum's McQuigg plays by the book and even gives a speech or two condemning corruption. He's smart and clever, but his tricks to capture Scanlon are all aboveboard. Opposing him is Robert Ryan, who winds up playing a crook who is almost a psychopath. Scanlon cares for his younger brother, but slaps the kid around. He takes out inconvenient witnesses. He doesn't mind ordering a cop killed and doesn't mind doing the killing himself if need be. At times, he gets really, really mad.
Mitchum and Ryan were big men. When they face off with others in the room, the others look small. While this movie isn't all that good, both men give solid performances and neither, in my view, is able to outshine or out act the other. Mitchum had plenty of star charisma by the time the movie was made. Ryan has plenty of actor charisma. I wound up watching them both and wondering what either of them would do next.
The Racket is not an especially interesting movie, but Mitchum and Ryan give it what class it has. They played together in Crossfire, a film worth watching, with both men contributing a lot to that good movie. Lizabeth Scott, given little to do as a nightclub singer who turns on Scanlon, makes what she can of a seriously underwritten part.
If you're a Robert Ryan fan, you might be interested in these lesser known films of his: The Woman on the Beach, The Set-Up, On Dangerous Ground, Inferno and The Day of the Outlaw. They're worth tracking down.