The Racket

Directed by John Cromwell, The Racket follows a dedicated police captain (Robert Mitchum’s Thomas McQuigg) as he sets out to prevent a crime syndicate, led by Robert Ryan’s Nick Scanlon, from moving into his district. Filmmaker Cromwell, armed with William Wister Haines and W.R. Burnett’s screenplay, delivers a predominantly underwhelming and uninvolving endeavor that establishes its arms-length atmosphere right from the get-go, as The Racket‘s exceedingly (and excessively) familiar narrative is compounded by an often disastrously deliberate pace and overly talky script – with the general absence of compelling attributes enhancing the picture’s less-than-captivating vibe. (It doesn’t help, certainly, that Cromwell floods the proceedings with bland visuals and other questionable choices, including his bizarre decision to strip many sequences of Paul Sawtell’s score.) And while the movie admittedly does feature a very small handful of engaging sequences, including a terrific scene wherein Nick confronts his brother over the woman he’s been seeing, The Racket, which closes with an entertaining yet too-little-too-late final stretch, ultimately comes off as a palpable misfire that completely squanders the predictably solid efforts of its two leads. (Mitchum and Ryan’s climactic confrontation is as satisfying as one might’ve hoped, at least.)

*1/2 out of ****