The Racket (1951)

Director:

John Cromwell
(more)

Writers:

Bartlett Cormack (play)
William Wister Haines (writer) ...
(more)

Release Date:

12 December 1951 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Film-Noir | Drama

Tagline:

YOU'LL LEARN WHO PAYS OFF WHO -- AND WHY! (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

The big national crime syndicate has moved into town, partnering up with local crime boss Nick Scanlon...

Plot Keywords:

Car Crash | Election | Crooked Cop | Police | Murder

Cast

Robert Mitchum	...	Captain Thomas McQuigg
Lizabeth Scott	...	Irene Hayes
Robert Ryan	...	Nick Scanlon
William Talman	...	Officer Bob Johnson
Ray Collins	...	Dist. Atty. Mortimer X. Welsh
Joyce Mackenzie	...	Mary McQuigg
Robert Hutton	...	Dave Ames ('City Press' cub reporter)
Virginia Huston	...	Lucy Johnson
William Conrad	...	Det. Sgt. Turk
Walter Sande	...	Precinct Sgt. Jim Delaney
Les Tremayne	...	Harry Craig (Crime Commission chief investigator)
Don Porter	...	R.G. Connolly (ward boss)
Walter Baldwin	...	Booking Sgt. Sullivan
Brett King	...	Joe Scanlon
Richard Karlan	...	Breeze Enright (round-faced Scanlon henchman)
Tito Vuolo	...	Tony, Nick's Barber
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Eric Alden	...	Sergeant (uncredited)
Gregg Barton	...	Rookie cop (uncredited)
Don Beddoe	...	Member of Craig's office (uncredited)
Kate Belmont	...	Operator (uncredited)
Robert Bice	...	Police dispatcher (uncredited)
Matthew Boulton	...	Simpson (Nick's butler) (uncredited)
Barry Brooks	...	Cameron (uncredited)
Howland Chamberlain	...	Roy Higgins (stool pigeon) (uncredited)
Claudia Constant	...	Girl (uncredited)
John Daheim	...	Mannick (young, dark-haired henchman) (uncredited)
Don Dillaway	...	Member of Craig's team (uncredited)
Art Dupuis	...	Police Car Driver (uncredited)
June Easton	...	Operator (uncredited)
Pat Flaherty	...	Policeman, Car 43 (uncredited)
William Forrest	...	Head of Crime Commission (uncredited)
Jack Gargan	...	Lewis (uncredited)
Dick Gordon	...	Man (uncredited)
Bret Hamilton	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Jayne Hazard	...	Girl (uncredited)
Curtis Jarrett	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Howard Joslin	...	Sgt. Werker (uncredited)
Hazel Keener	...	Secretary (uncredited)
Mike Lally	...	Sergeant (uncredited)
Harry Lauter	...	Officer Mosley (uncredited)
Ronald Lee	...	Elevator boy (uncredited)
Herbert Lytton	...	Police Doctor (uncredited)
Frank Marlowe	...	Pedestrian with morning newspaper (uncredited)
Allen Mathews	...	Man (uncredited)
Harriet Matthews	...	Librarian (uncredited)
John McGuire	...	Policeman in Locker Room (uncredited)
Ralph Montgomery	...	Man (uncredited)
Al Murphy	...	Newsboy (uncredited)
William J. O'Brien	...	Counterman (uncredited)
Eddie Parker	...	Garage Roof Thug (uncredited)
Ralph Peters	...	Davis (crooked bondsman) (uncredited)
Howard Petrie	...	The Governor (uncredited)
Joey Ray	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Walter Reed	...	Policeman at Roll Call & in Locker Room (uncredited)
Richard Reeves	...	Hefty henchman (uncredited)
Stephen Roberts	...	Schmidt, Police Car Driver (uncredited)
Jack Shea	...	Sergeant (uncredited)
Miles Shepard	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Charles Sherlock	...	Pedestrian (uncredited)
George Sherwood	...	Douglas (uncredited)
Milburn Stone	...	Member of Craig's team (uncredited)
Duke Taylor	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Herb Vigran	...	Paradise Club manager (uncredited)
Max Wagner	...	Durko (ugly henchman) (uncredited)
Bud Wolfe	...	Detective with Johnson at the Paradise Club (uncredited)
Sally Yarnell	...	Brunette police operator (uncredited)

Directed by
John Cromwell
Mel Ferrer		(uncredited)
Tay Garnett		(uncredited)
Nicholas Ray		(uncredited)
Sherman Todd		(uncredited)

Writing credits
Bartlett Cormack		(play)
William Wister Haines		(writer) and
W.R. Burnett		(writer)

Produced by
Edmund Grainger	....	producer

Original Music by
C. Bakaleinikoff		(uncredited)
Paul Sawtell		(uncredited)
Roy Webb		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
George E. Diskant

Film Editing by
Sherman Todd

Art Direction by
Albert S. D'Agostino
Jack Okey

Set Decoration by
Darrell Silvera
William Stevens

Costume Design by
Michael Woulfe		(gowns)

Makeup Department
Mel Berns	....	makeup artist
Larry Germain	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Cliff P. Broughton	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
James E. Casey	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Frank McWhorter	....	sound
Clem Portman	....	sound

Stunts
John Daheim	....	stunts (uncredited)

Music Department
C. Bakaleinikoff	....	musical director

Production Companies

• RKO Radio Pictures

Distributors

• RKO Radio Pictures (1951) (USA) (theatrical)
• C&C Television Corporation (1955) (USA) (TV)

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #15253) | Finland:K-16 | Spain:13 | West Germany:16 | Sweden:15

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

The only film that Robert Mitchum appeared in which was a remake of a silent film.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Foul Play (1978)

Soundtrack:

A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening

Against All Comers

THE RACKET is not a great film noir, but it is an interesting variant on the typical formula.

In normal film noir, the central figure is isolated - he or she is struggling to survive a secret enemy or to prove his or her innocence of a capital crime charge. Think of Ray Milland in THE BIG CLOCK. Think of Bogart in THE MALTESE FALCON or Alan Ladd in THE BLUE DAHLIA. But here that central figure is hardly sympathetic.

Robert Ryan is Nick Scanlon. He is an old fashioned criminal boss - a Capone, if you will, rather than say a Frank Costello. Capone chewed up all his enemies to make himself boss of Chicago. Costello could order violence too, but he preferred modern business methods. Although he had his prison periods, at the end of his life he was a highly respected criminal chairman of the board type (he enjoyed it when he entered a party or dinner of his cronies, and the band would strike up the theme from THE GODFATHER). Although Capone was to be involved in the formation of the national syndicate, he ended up in Alcatraz, and then went insane from syphilis.

Scanlon has never sought favors from anyone - he is his own law. He tells crooked politicians (like Ray Collins here) what they have to do. And Collins keeps warning Lt. McQuigg (Robert Mitchum) to lay off or go easy on Scanlon. But McQuigg has other ideas.

So does an unseen figure we hear of called "The Old Man". His representative is Don Porter, and Porter is explaining to the crime bosses of the area that "The Old Man" does have a specific plan of operations that is more in line with the Costello model than the Capone one. Everyone will be taken care of, and modern corporate technique will replace the tommy gun and dynamite bomb. But "The Old Man" and Porter do not reckon with one snarly critic: Ryan. He is not interested in falling into line for anyone. Who is "The Old Man" anyway?

So Ryan, by his personality and violent nature finds that the authorities represented by Mitchum are pushing in on one side, and the modern criminal syndicate (represented by Porter) is pushing in on the other side. And starting with that problem he decides that if they want a fight (and "they" means all comers) they'll get it. Capone might have approved - so would have Tony Carmonte in SCARFACE.

The situation is worsened by the activities of William Talman, one of Mitchum's best junior officers, who keeps thwarting Ryan's schemes, and inflicts damage on him. Ryan's answer is to mark Talman for destruction, no matter how this worsens the situations with Mitchum and with Porter.

As you can see this is an interesting situation. As an interesting enough film noir it is a "7" out of "10". A bit more character development of Ryan's kingpin might have raised a bit in the film noir pantheon, but (sadly) that was not done here. Worth watching but not as good as it could have been.