The Mob (film)

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The Mob
The Mob (film) poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRobert Parrish
Screenplay byWilliam Bowers
Based onWaterfront
1951 novel
by Ferguson Findley
Produced byJerry Bresler
StarringBroderick Crawford
CinematographyJoseph Walker
Edited byCharles Nelson
Music byGeorge Duning
Color processBlack and white
Production
company
Columbia Pictures
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • September 21, 1951 (1951-09-21)
Running time
86 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1,050,000 (US rentals)[1]

The Mob is a 1951 American crime film noir thriller film directed by Robert Parrish and starring Broderick Crawford.

Plot[]

Johnny Damico (Broderick Crawford), a detective going home in the rain one night, finds himself just a few feet from a shooting on a dark street. The gunman claims to be a detective from another precinct, flashing a real badge, and then slipping away. Damico discovers that the victim of the shooting was a witness who was to have appeared before a grand jury investigating waterfront crime, and that the same man who shot him also murdered the chief investigator on the case just a few hours earlier (which is where the badge came from). Damico could lose his job, but instead he's given the chance to redeem himself.

He is flown to New Orleans with instructions to work his way "back up", all under his cover as a New Orleans tough-guy named Tim Flynn. The city in which the action takes place seems to be unspecified. It is "up", relative to New Orleans, though palm trees are shown. Upon returning to his hometown, still under cover, he roughly insinuates himself into the local longshoreman society. He is particularly befriended by Tom Clancy (Richard Kiley), a fellow longshoremen who lives at the same hotel and drinks with him at the hotel's bar.

Damico manages to hook up with union thug Joe Castro (Ernest Borgnine) and his strong-arm man Gunner (Neville Brand). They try to frame him for a murder that also gets a potential stoolie Culio (Frank DeKova) out of the way and that hooks Damico up with crooked police sergeant Bennion (Walter Klavun), who arrests him.

After following one blind alley involving a federal agent, the man he'd known as Tom Clancy, Damico is given a tip by the hotel's bartender, known as "Smoothie" (Matt Crowley), and he is offered an introduction to the long-sought "Blackie Clegg", who has been posing as "Smoothie" throughout.

Cast[]

Reception[]

Spencer Selby, in his book Dark City: The Film Noir, calls The Mob: "About as close as noir ever came to resurrecting the 1930s gangster film."[1]

Film Noir: The Encyclopedia Reference to the American Style notes "Crawford takes the simple role of Johnny Damico and converts it into a noir characterization of toughness and vulgarity."[2]

Film critic Dennis Schwartz liked the acting and wrote, "The Mob covers the same territory as On the Waterfront [filmed three years after The Mob]. It is adapted from the novel Waterfront by Ferguson Findley and directed with a flair for lively action scenes by Robert Parrish. This ordinary minor film noir holds together until one twist too many turns it into one of those old movie theater chapter serial-like endings ... Broderick Crawford is believable in this heroic role and moves his character into a noir figure by his hard-boiled, no-nonsense approach to the dangerous situation, where he's not in control of his destiny. Ernest Borgnine has the natural look of a shady individual to give his role a sinister force. Neville Brand as a strong-arm enforcer for Borgnine adds to the violent atmosphere. The film has fistfights, tough talking thugs and cops, and a bleak view of the corrupt docks. The brutality of both the criminals and the police is what gives the film its shock value and special feel. Otherwise it's your ordinary violent crime film."[2]

See also[]

References[]

Notes

  1. ^ 'The Top Box Office Hits of 1951', Variety, January 2, 1952
  2. ^ Schwartz, Dennis. Ozus' World Movie Reviews, film review, April 21, 2002. Accessed: July 8, 2013.

Bibliography

  • Selby, Spencer (1984). Dark City:The Film Noir. McFarland Classics. ISBN 0-7864-0478-7.
  • Silver, Alain and Ward, Elizabeth (1992). Film Noir An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style. The Overlook Press. ISBN 0-87951-479-5.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

External links[]

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