Kick-Back Friday: #96

The Racket

(1951): Howard Hughes remakes his 1928 film of the same name, which was based on Capone-inspired play. (Unfortunately the earlier film, which is reportedly better, is not on DVD.) Certain aspects of the reworked plot don't make much sense, as commentator Eddie Muller (whose encyclopedic knowledge of film noir is just scary) admits; and Robert Mitchum pretty much phones it in as an incorruptible police captain. But Robert Ryan, as a snarly thug and the captain's longtime nemesis, is in usual top form. With an extremely laconic William Conrad as a corrupt cop and the husky-voiced Lizabeth Scott as a "tommy" "canary." Directed by, well, a number of people.

P.S. All physicians will have fun randomly quoting this line from Ryan's bully of a character: "Blow, shyster!"