The Racket (1951)

Robert Mitchum, Lizabeth Scott, Robert Ryan, William Talman, Ray Collins ... see more  , Joyce Mackenzie , Robert Hutton , Virginia Huston , William Conrad , Walter Sande , Les Tremayne , Walter S. Baldwin , Brett King , Tito Vuolo , Iris Adrian , Eric Alden , Don Beddoe , Robert Bice , Matthew Boulton , Barry Brooks , Howland Chamberlain , John Day , Donald Dillaway , Pat Flaherty , Jack Gargan , Dick Gordon , Richard Karlan , Hazel Keener , Harry Lauter , Ralph Montgomery , Al Murphy , Eddie Parker , Ralph Peters , Don Porter , Joey Ray , Richard Reeves , Steve Roberts , George Sherwood , Milburn Stone , Herb Vigran , Max Wagner , Bud Wolfe , Jack Shea , Dulce Daye , Art Dupuis , Jane Easton , Richard H. Gordon , Howard Joslin , Michael Lally , Allen Mathews , Sally Yarnell , Bret Hamilton , Ronald Lee , Harriet Matthews , Miles Shepard , Duke Taylor

The Racket was based on a play by Bartlett Cormack, first filmed as a silent in 1928. The storyline was updated to include references to Estes Kefauver's Senate Crime Investigating Committee: otherwis... read more e, the plot (and much of the dialogue) was lifted bodily from the Cormack play. Racketeer Robert Ryan has managed to get several government and law-enforcement higher-ups in his pocket. But Ryan can't touch the incorruptible police officer Robert Mitchum, who refuses all attempts at bribery. Ryan pulls strings to get Mitchum transferred to a series of undesirable precincts, but Mitchum will not be dissuaded. The battle of wills between cop and criminal comes to a head when mob-connected nightclub singer Lizabeth Scott turns on her former protector Ryan. The Broadway version of The Racket starred Edward G. Robinson as the racketeer; the 1928 film version featured Louis Wolheim in the Robinson role and Thomas Meighan as the upright cop. Both the silent and sound versions of the property were personally produced by Howard R. Hughes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi