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| Tue. July 21 | 2:30 PM | TCM |
| 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 (as Joyce MacKenzie) | |
| 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 | ... | Mitchell - 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 - Nick's Driver / Henchman (uncredited) | |
| Don Dillaway | ... | Harris - Member of Craig's team (uncredited) | |
| Art Dupuis | ... | Police Car Driver (uncredited) | |
| Jane Easton | ... | Operator (uncredited) | |
| Pat Flaherty | ... | Policeman, Car 43 (uncredited) | |
| William Forrest | ... | Head of Crime Commission (uncredited) | |
| Jack Gargan | ... | Lewis (uncredited) | |
| Dick Gordon | ... | Pedestrian (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) | |
| Thomas Martin | ... | Governor's Butler (uncredited) | |
| Allen Mathews | ... | Pedestrian (uncredited) | |
| Harriet Matthews | ... | Librarian (uncredited) | |
| John McGuire | ... | Policeman in Locker Room (uncredited) | |
| Ralph Montgomery | ... | Pedestrian (uncredited) | |
| Al Murphy | ... | Newsboy (uncredited) | |
| William J. O'Brien | ... | Counterman / Short Order Cook (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 | ... | Leo - Driver / Scanlon Henchman (uncredited) | |
| Stephen Roberts | ... | Schmidt, Police Car Driver (uncredited) | |
| Jack Shea | ... | Night Desk 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 | ||
| William Wister Haines | (screenplay) and | |
| W.R. Burnett | (screenplay) | |
| Bartlett Cormack | (play) | |
Produced by | |||
| Edmund Grainger | .... | producer | |
Original Music by | |||
| C. Bakaleinikoff | (uncredited) | ||
| Paul Sawtell | (uncredited) | ||
| Roy Webb | (uncredited) | ||
Cinematography by | |||
| George E. Diskant | (director of photography) | ||
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 | |
Other crew | |||
| Howard Hughes | .... | presenter | |
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| Full cast and crew | Company credits | External reviews |
| IMDb Crime section | IMDb USA section | Add this title to MyMovies |
I'd never been able to get past the first couple of reels of The Racket on TV and it certainly looked like being the make-weight of Warner's new Film Noir collection, but once you get past the lunking Howard Hughes-imposed Nicholas Ray-directed prologue turns into a surprisingly engaging and gripping crime drama. Structurally it's certainly unusual, probably as a result of Hughes' typical interference - it's more than 17 minutes before Mitchum makes his entrance, and there are some sporadically awkward crosscuts to inserts shot by Ray and others after John Cromwell (who starred in the play the film was based on in the 1920s) had left.
Robert Ryan is surprisingly not quite there on screen for once: not exactly bad, but somewhere between phoning it in and, in his early scenes at least, possibly drunk on set - his timing is slightly askew, his usual excellent instincts abandoned along with his sense of proportion in moments that are just a little over the top. But there's so much to admire that even the unlikely escalation of the feud between the two protagonists is carried along. There's a fine shootout in a garage, a neat car chase that sees the cops plow through a billboard for a mob-backed political candidate and a terrific death scene at the end. The supporting cast are intriguing too, with William Conrad's cop and Ray Collin's DA both corrupt but not so entirely that they're lost causes: they exist in a gray area that throws the leads into sharper relief.
Eddie Mueller's audio commentary is the only extra on Warners' R1 DVD, but it's quite excellent and well worth listening to.