The Racket (1951)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

John Cromwell
(more)

Writers:

William Wister Haines (screenplay) and
W.R. Burnett (screenplay) ...
(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:

Police | Corruption | Election | Singer | Fall From Height

US TV Schedule:

Tue. July 21

2:30 PM

TCM

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 (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

Production Companies

• RKO Radio Pictures

Distributors

• RKO Radio Pictures (1951) (USA) (theatrical)
• RKO Radio Pictures (1952) (France) (theatrical)
• C&C Television Corporation (1955) (USA) (TV)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)

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:

Ray Collins and William Talman both co-starred in the TV series Perry Mason.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Smallville: Noir (#6.20)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening

A slow starter, but a fine crime drama

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.