The Mob (1951)

Director:

Robert Parrish

Writers:

William Bowers (writer)
Ferguson Findley (novel)

Release Date:

17 October 1951 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Film-Noir | Drama

Tagline:

The coldest crew since "The killers"

Plot:

Police detective Damico, outwitted by mob killer Blackie Clay, is nominally suspended; actually he goes undercover (as Tim Flynn...

Plot Keywords:

Undercover | Gangster | Murder | Dockyard | Based On Novel

Cast

Broderick Crawford	...	Johnny Damico
Betty Buehler	...	Mary Kiernan
Richard Kiley	...	Thomas 'Tom' Clancy
Otto Hulett	...	Police Lt. Banks
Matt Crowley	...	Smoothie, Bartender / Blackie Clegg
Neville Brand	...	Gunner, Castro henchman
Ernest Borgnine	...	Joe Castro
Walter Klavun	...	Police Sgt. Bennion
Lynn Baggett	...	Mrs. Peggy Clancy (as Lynne Baggett)
Jean Alexander	...	Doris Clancy
Ralph Dumke	...	Police Commissioner
John Marley	...	Tony

Also Known As:

Remember That Face (UK)

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:16 (nf) | Finland:(Banned) (1952) | Sweden:15

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In scenes set in a pawn shop and an all-night diner (apparently shot in interiors on standing street sets), actors' frosty breath can be seen even though they're supposed to be inside real businesses that would presumably have been heated.

Quotes:

Lt. Banks: Be careful.
Johnny Damico: Yeah, sure. I'll carry real bullets in my gun.

Tough Crime Movie with Dialogue Reminiscent of the Star's Real Mother

Broderick Crawford plays a cop in this excellent crime drama. (I wouldn't call it a film noir but I'd say it got to the location of "On the Waterfront" first. And, in my very humble opinion, pulled together a better story.) The dialogue has a snappy edge that isn't found much in gangster movies of this period. The guys -- and it's mostly all guys here -- have a sarcastic way of communicating. They talk like athletes or construction workers. I've been both and I know. A lot of calling each other cheerleaders and other ways of joking about their masculinity. But it's done in a good-natured, blue collar. There is no hint of anti-gay sentiment.

Broderick Crawford generally seems so different from his mother it's hard to imagine they were related in that way. But here we pick up his casually comic timing.

Crawford is excellent as a policeman who goes undercover on the docks. Richard Kiley shines as one of the guys -- giving nothing away, here -- he deals with. And Matt Crowley is fine as another. (I checked on him and he played Walter Burns in a TV version of "The Front Page in 1945. Wow! I didn't know there WAS TV in 1945.) The actress playing Crawford's girlfriend isn't bad. She plays a nurse and she seems wholesome. Wholesome and dull. She seems to have few film credits.

This has an authentic feel. And it's different, too. It's definitely a keeper.