Friday, October 9, 2020 at 10:34:00 P.M. EDT
TCM’s Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at 12:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. ET is The Racket (1951), with Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, Lizabeth Scott, William Talman, Ray Collins, William Conrad, Brett King, directed by John Cromwell.
Film Noir Guide: “Ryan gives a seething performance as a hopelessly old-fashioned gangster, a dinosaur who has been ruling his town with an iron fist but who refuses to give in to pressure from the new syndicate boss (known only as the ‘old man’) and his sophisticated henchmen to tone down the rough stuff and get with the times.
“Mitchum, an honest cop surrounded by crooked superiors and politicians, is out to nab Ryan and his younger brother (King).
“Scott is the wily torch singer with matrimonial plans for King, despite Ryan's disapproval.
“Collins plays a wishy-washy assistant D.A., who’s supported by the syndicate in his bid to become mayor.
“Conrad is one of the many cops on the syndicate’s payroll.
“Mitchum gives too laid-back of a performance, even for him, but Talman, as Mitchum’s gung-ho protege, is excellent.”
David in TN: Notable as pairing RKO’s two big stars (Mitchum and Ryan). Also, somewhat unusual for William Talman to be a heroic character.
N.S.: This may have been one of the inspirations for Fritz Lang’s The Big Heat, two years later.
John Cromwell ws the father of left-of-Stalin character actor, James Cromwell.
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TCM's Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 am ET is Destination Murder (1950), directed by Edward L. Cahn. It features Joyce Mackenzie, Stanley Clements, Hurd Hatfield, Albert Dekker, James Flavin, and Myrna Dell.
Film Noir Guide: "A messenger boy (Clements) has a deadly delivery for Mackenzie's father--two bullets--compliments of a sadistic hood (Decker). Mackenzie, who got a glimpse of Clements as he was fleeing the scene, romances the killer to find out more about her father's murder. Later, she goes undercover as a cigarette girl at Dekker's nightclub. Dekker's femme fatale moll (Dell), who has the unrequited hots for the club's manager (Hatfield), joins Clements in a badly thought-out blackmail plot against Dekker. <ackenzie, meanwhile, makes the rounds--dating Clements, flirting with Decker and falling in love with Hatfield, a dame hater from way back. At times, Destination Murder is a complicated mess that might leave you scratching your head, but it's still enjoyable if you pay close attention (or watch it twice). The diminutive Clements enjoyed a tumultuous marriage to noir icon Gloria Grahame from 1945 to 1948."
Destination Murder is another short (72 minutes) RKO film that has a noirish beginning with twists and turns.
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