The Racket is very exciting, and it pins Robert Mitchum against Robert Ryan. It's hunk versus hunk, and only the audience can pick their favorite! Poor Robert Ryan, always playing the villain, even when paired with other bad guys; he's always the even bigger bad guy!It's film noir, suspenseful, gritty, and even has elements of romance with Lizabeth Scott. Robert Mitchum stars as a police chief on the lookout for notorious gangster Robert Ryan. The trouble is, Robert Ryan has much of the police force in his back pocket, so Robert Mitchum doesn't get a lot of help from his coworkers as he tries to nab the bad guy. And when Lizabeth Scott enters the picture, he and the audience have to determine whether she's really falling for him or she's just been ordered to distract him. . .The Racket is extremely entertaining and reminds me of the grit of Pickup on South Street, so if you're a fan of that Richard Widmark flick, rent this one on a rainy afternoon. It's perfect for a girls' night, too, since you've got both Roberts to drool over! If someone forced me, really forced me to choose, I'd pick Robert Mitchum, but I'd hate to hurt Robert Ryan's feelings. What about you?

I wrote a rather extensive review of the silent crime drama on which this remake is based last December. This one's plot retains most of its elements, but still differs quite a bit. Both are tight, under 90 minute features and the remake actually feels shorter because it's action packed! Catch both on TCM if you get the chance.Robert Mitchum is the honest police Captain Thomas McQuigg that crime boss Nick Scanlon (Robert Ryan) can't seem to get rid of despite his having McQuigg transferred to different precincts whenever he wants. Scanlon "built this city" and has seemingly all the politicians - including District Attorney come Judge Welsh (Ray Collins) - in his employ.But the world is changing, as Scanlon's thugs sheepishly try to tell their boss, and the rough tactics that worked in the past are being replaced and becoming more organized in the shadow Acme Real Estate Company, run by Nick's never seen boss "the old man", who's represented by his 'secretary' Connolly (Don Porter).Ryan fleshes out Scanlon, giving his typical all-out performance as a streetwise violent tough guy that won't conform and can't be contained. Unfortunately Mitchum looks like he's sleepwalking by comparison.However, there are several other energetic or key characterizations including the one by Collins, William Talman as an ambitious honest cop under McQuigg's command, and William Conrad as a crooked but pragmatic police detective.Additionally, Lizabeth Scott (third billed!) plays a nightclub singer mixed up in the proceedings as the fiancée of Nick's clean younger brother Joe (Brett King), Robert Hutton as a cub reporter that figures in the end, Joyce Mackenzie and Virginia Huston as Mitchum's and Talman's wives, respectively.

Very enjoyable and well done film noir bolstered by an outstanding performance by Robert Ryan as the head bad guy. Robert Mitchum is the Police Captain goaded and ridiculed by a snarling Ryan; they go back a long way, you see, and Mitchum's virtue and purity bewilders Ryan. There are lots of recognizable Hollywood character actors that populate the cast, adding weight and gravitas to the story. Not sure it's necessary at this late date to summarize the plot, but suffice it to say that Ryan has a stranglehold on all the key politicians in this city, which sometimes looks like New York, other times not. And so Mitchum is determined to break Ryan's hold and put him in jail. It's not as easy as it sounds. I could watch film noir all day long and this was one of the best of the genre. Can't find a flaw in it, except to say that it comes off as a little stagey at times, as though adapted from the stage (it's not). And no one could project menace like Robert Ryan.

When it comes to dead-seriousness, I thought this 1951 Crime/Thriller's take on that was absolutely priceless. In fact, I got such an enjoyable kick out of The Racket's poker-faced story-line that I sat through it twice.Containing a nice mix of snappy, mean-mouthed dialogue, aggressive shoving around, and unexpected day-time shootings, The Racket certainly seemed to have all the right elements required to carry it through (without much disappointment) to its inevitable "crime-doesn't-pay" ending.When it came to the likes of the 2 Roberts (that's Mitchum as the no-nonsense cop, Capt. Tom McQuigg, and Ryan as the nasty villain, Nick Scanlon), I thought that these 2 bad-boys of crime-cinema filled their respective roles as comfortably as a pair of well-fitting gloves.My one beef about this picture comes down to The Racket's token femme fatale and lounge singer, Irene Hayes. Played by the tone-deaf Lizabeth Scott, man, when this cheap canary performed her big number at the Paradise Club, I absolutely cringed at her utter lack of talent.Even though Irene did, indeed, get slapped around and royally insulted, once or twice, it didn't come anywhere near close enough to what I thought she actually deserved.