The Racket (1928) DVD-R

Starring Thomas Meighan, Louis Wolheim, Marie Prevost, G. Pat Collins, Henry Sedley,
George E. Stone, Richard 'Skeets' Gallagher, Walter Brennan
Directed by Lewis Milestone

Print: black/white
Runtime: 84 min.
Genre: film-noir
Print Quality: B

Captain McQuigg, an honest Irish cop in Chicago, is targeted by a gunsel under the direction
of bootlegger Nick Scarsi, but the gunman deliberately misses and Scarsi informs McQuiqq
that it will behoove him to get along with him. McQuigg, rebuffing the crime boss, informs
him that he hasn't yet had the chance to draw his own gun. Despite the brazen activities of
his criminal empire and multiple murders committed by Nick and his gang, McQuigg can't
bring Scarsi to justice due to political corruption. Whenever McQuigg puts Scarsi or one of
his henchmen in jail, a lawyer is ready to gain their immediate release after a call to "The
Old Man," the force behind "The Organization" running Chicago. It is enough to make
McQuigg disgusted with The Law. After killing a rival bootlegger, Scarsi uses his political
clout to have the incorruptible McQuigg removed from his part of town and exiled to the
boondocks. McQuigg baits Scarsi through two members of the yellow press, claiming that
he has been exiled as Scarsi is afraid of him. Scarsi has them inform McQuigg that he is
waiting until after the upcoming election to deal with him. The worm turns on Scarsi when
his beloved kid brother Joe, out on a joy ride with nightclub chanteuse Helen Hayes, runs
over and kills a pedestrian in McQuigg' new precinct, a crime witnessed by one of
McQuigg's own policemen and Helen herself. McQuigg takes the law into his own hands
when he rebuffs the organizations' lawyer, tears the writ of habeas corpus up, jails the
lawyer for public drunkenness and starting a fight, and puts Helen behind bars as she is not
forthcoming with her testimony. The press, however, gets the story and The Organization
springs Scarsi's brother. But there are still witnesses to the kid brother's crime, the
policeman and Helen. Women have always been treated like "poison" by Scarsi, according
to McQuigg. Helen had been viciously rebuffed by Scarsi when she tried to make time with
his kid brother, but Joe was besotted. Not in love enough, however, after the accident, to
spring her from the slammer, thus enraging her. Will this woman and the chain of events
she has unleashed prove to be the Chicago crime boss' undoing? Will the better elements
of the press do their duty as citizens and members of the Third Estate and bravely strand up
for the American Way of Life? And how will The Organization, out to win next Tuesday's
municipal elections and keep the reformers out of office, deal with all the bad publicity?
Watch "The Racket" and find out!