Rent The Racket (1951)
3.5 of 5 from 54 ratings
1h 29min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Mobster Nick Scanlon (Robert Ryan) has bribed several local government and law-enforcement officials to make it easy for him to carry out his rackets; and those that can't be bought, are ruthlessly rubbed out. But the arrival of a new police captain, the maverick, incorruptible Tom McQuigg (Robert Mitchum) spells danger for Scanlon's mob. With the city's prosecuting attorney and police detective Turk (William Conrad) in Scanlon's employ, McQuigg's attempts to clean up the city are doomed to failure, until he persuades a sexy nightclub singer Irene Hayes (Lizabeth Scott) to testify against Scanlon. But can McQuigg prevent Irene and his honest officers from the revenge of the mob?
- Actors:
- Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, Lizabeth Scott, William Talman, Ray Collins, Robert Hutton, William Conrad, Walter Sande, Les Tremayne, Don Porter, Walter Baldwin, Brett King
- Directors:
- John Cromwell
- Producers:
- Edmund Grainger
- Writers:
- William Wister Haines, W.R. Burnett
- Studio:
- Odeon
- Genres:
- Drama, Thrillers
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Reviews (1) of The Racket
Classic b/w crime pulp - The Racket review by TE
Very fine, taut mobster thriller. No flab, just hard-nosed policing (Mitchum) and hard-nosed gangstering (Ryan) with an excellent supporting cast.
Besides the usual tropes, the film has a strong political commentary within the storyline.
The way it brings in city politics and the local media prefigures much later series like The Wire.
2 out of 2 members found this review helpful.