It took Broderick Crawford almost twenty years to become a star, with his Oscar-winning performance in ALL THE KING’S MEN (Robert Rossen, 1949). He then had a smash hit as the rich brute trying to corrupt Washington into doing his bidding in BORN YESTERDAY opposite William Holden and Judy Holliday (Cukor, 1950). THE MOB (Robert Parrish, 1951) is a programmer, but it was also a hit.

The advertising tried to ally it with THE KILLERS (Siodmak, 1946), which aside from its connection to crime and gangsters, I don’t quite see. The film is based on Ferguson Findley’s anti-corruption thriller, WATERFRONT and ON THE WATERFRONT (Kazan, 1954) might be a more apt comparison, at least up to a point.

Broderick Crawford plays a cop who lets a cop-killer escape at the very beginning of the film and is then charged with infiltrating the mob that runs various scams from the port in order to find the killer and smash the gang. THE MOB is not an A-film but Joseph Walker, the cinematographer who did such brilliant work for Capra and Hawks, makes it look smashing (see above). It’s got some crackling dialogue with contemporary references,–  ‘only gophers and communists go underground’; and its snappily edited and flows well. It’s got disguises, trick doors and even an ingenious ultraviolet gizmo designed to follow cars unobserved, elements that would only gain in popularity as the 50’s advanced.

Ernest Borgnine characteristically plays a union thug. Charles Bronson, uncredited, has a few lines as a dock worker (see below)

José Arroyo