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Post by rmichaelpyle on Dec 18, 2011 16:45:57 GMT -6
I watched "The Racket" (1928) with Thomas Meighan, Louis Wolheim, Marie Prevost, 'Skeets' Gallagher, G. Pat Collins, Henry Sedley, George E. Stone, Sam de Grasse, Johnny Darrow, and others. This is a very hard-boiled gangster/bootlegger versus honest cop show, with the underlying corruption beginning in City Hall. I'm sure it represented Mayor Jimmy Walker's New York City of the same time. Really well done, it takes simple plot and keeps it simple and works on simple until solved, but with immaculate pacing, great direction, and superlative acting, all thrown together into the cocktail shaker of steady action. Even though the viewer knows what's going to happen, basically, nevertheless, the relentlessness of Thomas Meighan's good cop versus the bad guys is really fun to watch. And Louis Wolheim, as Nick Scarsi, the bootlegger and killer - is dynamite!
This film was up in the first Academy Awards for "Best Picture" Oscar. It didn't win, but it's really very good still. It plays well today - and I have to say that after the introduction of the gangster genre in pictures like "Underworld", "Little Caesar", Public Enemy", "Scarface", and so forth, this more steady, silently relentlessly paced film is fascinating to compare against them. Not as showy, it still has great presence due to direction and acting. The characters gel well. Oh, and even though Thomas Meighan came first, most who see this will keep on thinking that he reminds them of Gary Cooper. Scene after scene after scene...
Very highly recommended!
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Post by Midge on Dec 18, 2011 16:54:01 GMT -6
Racket sounds like a very enjoyable gangster film. I remember George E. Stone (born George Stein) best as the harried stage manager in 42nd Street. (1933) Louis Wolheim was the perfect craggy-faced bad guy and superb as the sympathetic sergeant in All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). It's a shame that he died of cancer in 1931. Thomas Meighan only lived for five years longer, dying in 1936.
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Post by kelly on Feb 19, 2012 16:17:46 GMT -6
I wish the Racket is only dvd originally Flicker Alley was suppose carry on DVD somehow Howard Hughes estate didn't want DVD NUTS I don't know who run the estate I could imagine if you want MONEY put on DVD put in box set
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Post by Midge on Feb 19, 2012 17:28:15 GMT -6
Hi, Kelly! It's nice to see you again. : :
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Post by kelly on Feb 20, 2012 15:31:47 GMT -6
I been on another site I "forgot" about it
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