This is a story that has been presented thousands of times on the big screen. What makes this film, The Racket, a cut above most of the other crime/drama films of the past 70 odd years is the standout performance by Robert Ryan as the gangster Nick Scanlon. I used the word "gangster"which is based on the Websters dictionary which defines the word "gangster: as follows: "a member of a gang of criminals : racketeer". In today's films we hear more about the word "mobster" defined as "someone who is part of a secret organized group of criminals : a member of the Mob" Nick Scanlon is not part of any criminal organization, not even if the criminal organization he associates with refers to their head honcho as "the old man". Robert Ryan's character is a formidable foe to the 7th Precinct Police station as well as to all the criminal elements as he certainly marches to his own drum and that drum is beaten often by his own fists on to the other criminals who do not take his orders without talking back to him. The 7th precinct police station has recently been advised of their new Captain an honest hard working and devoted officer of the law named Captain Thomas McQuigg played by first rate actor Robert Mitchum.Captain Thomas McQuigg and the feisty criminal Nick Scanlon share a common trait. They don't run away from trouble, no these two tough opponents they run head on towards trouble. This film also reflects how the criminal element has infiltrated the police and the judicial system with their brute force and cash influence. I guess some things such as in this film, the more they change the more they stay the same. (Police and justice corruption are still prevalent in the year 2018 as the current U.S. president, Donald Trump, has been under siege with non truth accusations, and the news stated pay to play by the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.)The film The Racket does have one clear message besides the strong performances by many of the actors and actresses in this excellent film and that message is "justice will prevail". I give the film a 7 out of 10 rating

Robert Mitchum stars in this crime story that has him star as Police Captain Thomas McQuigg, the only honest captain left in a corrupt police force paid off by local crime boss Nick Scanlon(played by Robert Ryan) who has to deal with the national crime syndicate moving in, and being pressured to conform to their methods, which isn't in Nick's nature. William Talman plays honest patrolman Bob Johnson, who helps McQuigg battle the gangsters and a corrupt D.A. turned politician(played by Ray Collins) even as his life is put in grave danger. Good cast cannot save routine and predictable story that also defies credibility one time too many.

The Racket (1951)A stellar cast and gritty photography can't quite lift this movie into the exciting classic it might have been. The basic problem here is the material, the story, which is slow and steady. It involves lots of conversations, all filmed with huge drama, about negotiating new ways of doing things as a national mob organization squeezes out the local mob boss.This is still a good movie, for sure. Robert Ryan plays the local boss getting overshadowed and he ramps it up as usual, beating a few people senseless. Robert Mitchum is given a dull role, not as a cop on the beat but as the chief of a precinct in charge of cops on the beat. And he was once buddies with Ryan, so they have a couple of one-on-ones. Lizabeth Scott is sharp and as good as she gets in her quirky femme fatale manner, but we don't see enough of her. Throw in Ray Collins as a slithering politico (a role he seems to have been born for) and William Conrad as a corrupt cop (with many pounds to gain before his days as t.v.'s Cannon, etc.) and you see how it looks like good stuff.A star behind the scenes is definitely cinematographer George E. Diskant, not a big name in the field but responsible for several terrific film noirs including the flawless "They Live by Night." He is in good form here even though there isn't much action. You only wish the director, John Cromwell, had more guts to let Diskant fly with things. Cromwell is one of those by-the-book directors who gets the job done but doesn't seem to see the opportunities to surprise the viewer. And he was loaded with opportunity here.The story is basically about life as a cop in a big city. That's why half the time (almost literally) we are in the police station. Or a squad car. There is no actual crime at the center of things (lots of crimes go zipping by, for sure). It's not about solving a crime, but about getting the old boss. It's Mitchum vs. Ryan. And Ryan is more fun. Things get fairly complicated, perhaps needlessly, but the overall trend is toward justice, and how it is best served in a corrupt world. Filled with good nuances, but packaged a bit awkwardly by the end.I say this isn't quite a film noir, but of course in the big picture most people would have to call it that. What it lacks (for me) is the loneliness of the lead character, and maybe even the evilness of the femme fatale. Mitchum is part of a big machine, and a sympathetic one (a huge police force). Ryan is just a thug, and a mean one with a small mind. It's pure crime stuff with noir stylizing. Good enough for a great evening--if you stay alert to all the details.

"The Racket" is a fast moving story about organised crime, political corruption and a dedicated police officer's struggle to restore the rule of law and order to a Midwest City, which is almost totally, in the grip of a national crime syndicate. Although this was a remake of a 1928 silent movie of the same name, it had some topical relevance in the early 1950s because television coverage of the Senate Committee hearings on organised crime (which were chaired by Senator Estes Kefauver) had captivated audiences on a large scale and made the general public at that time, sharply aware of how crime syndicates were operating.For dramatic purposes, the battle between good and evil is symbolised by the longstanding conflict between two men on different sides of the fence. Police Captain Tom McQuigg (Robert Mitchum) is the tough incorruptible cop who's determined to break the syndicate's stranglehold on the city and Nick Scanlon (Robert Ryan) is the local crime boss who's had to adjust to working for the syndicate since they've taken over the city.The syndicate wield immense power because they have a large number of politicians and law enforcement officers on their payroll and this power has frequently been used against McQuigg as he's repeatedly been transferred to unattractive jobs because of his stubborn refusal to be bribed into co-operating.When Scanlon becomes convinced that a man called Roy Higgins (Howard Chamberlain) has been spilling information about the syndicate to the State's Crime Commission, he arranges for one of his thugs to kill him. This action doesn't go down well with the syndicate who favour more sophisticated ways of dealing with trouble and they repeatedly try to get Scanlon to leave his old fashioned methods behind. Despite all their efforts, however, Scanlon is too entrenched in his ways to change and his continued use of violent methods becomes a constant source of tension between them.After a bomb explodes outside McQuigg's house and two suspects are chased by the police, one of the men gets trapped on a rooftop and fights with McQuigg before accidentally falling to his death. McQuigg is convinced that the other suspect was Scanlon's brother Joe (Brett King) and so sends an officer called Bob Johnson (William Talman) to find Joe and bring him in for questioning. Johnson arrests Joe for stealing a Rolls Royce that's in his possession and also arrests his girlfriend, a nightclub singer called Irene Hayes (Lizabeth Scott) as a material witness.The openly corrupt D.A. Mortimer X Welch (Ray Collins) quickly pulls the necessary strings to get Joe released from custody but no similar help is given to Irene Hayes because Scanlon doesn't like her. She reacts angrily to Joe's and the syndicate's lack of concern for her by threatening to spill the beans about Joe's involvement in Higgins' murder and this, in turn, sets off a sequence of events which lead to Scanlon's influence in the city being brought to an abrupt end.Robert Mitchum and Robert Ryan both give really muscular performances as the two extremely determined adversaries and Ray Collins and William Conrad (as Welch's special investigator) are excellent in their supporting roles.