The Racket

Robert Mitchum and Robert Ryan reteam for The Racket, a 1951 film, directed by John Cromwell, that is a bit too black and white to be interesting. The good cops are too good, the bad cops are too bad. But Ryan is pretty menacing as a crime boss.

The setting is an anonymous city that is rife with corruption. A mysterious figure, called "The Old Man," calls the shots, with Ryan being the on-the-ground crime boss. The corruption is so thick that it is an open secret that some cops, like a fat sergeant played by William Conrad, and the district attorney, who has been promised a judgeship, are in the pocket of the syndicate. But Mitchum is a squeaky-clean captain of the precinct who has vowed to take Ryan down.

This is the kind of film that's perfect for late, late show insomnia. It doesn't ask much of the viewer, and features old-fashioned, melodramatic performances. Watching Lizabeth Scott, as a chanteuse and gangster moll, is watching a style of acting that is long out of style but has its guilty pleasures.

The Racket is a kind of forerunner to more complex films about police corruption, like Serpico and Prince of the City. Also, though it is included in a box-set of noir films, it is not noir, as the protagonist, Mitchum, has absolutely no doubts or character layers.