La città corrotta

John Cameron Swayze does the intro and outro to this movie, without mentioning Camel cigarettes or Timex watches. Racketeer Pat O'Brien gets out of jail and goes to work to win the next UAW local election, part of "the Syndicate's" plans to take over the unions. Dennis O'Keefe is the honest union official flailing around to keep control. Mark Damon is O'Brien's son, and Tina Carver is the girl who's been running the rackets and making a play for Damon. The police are baffled.

It's a grand cast for a Sam Katz movie, and it's directed by the indefatigable Fred Sears. He had come to Hollywood after the War. By 1958, the year he died at 44 of a heart attack, he had appeared in seventy-five movies and directed 50. With a schedule like that, it's no wonder his bosses loved him; he didn't have time to come in over schedule or budget.

Even so, there's more to this movie that a tawdry story and good actors. Director of Photography Henry Freulich gets some nice point-of-view shots of a fight taking place on exposed girders. Everyone helps makes this, if not a great movie, at least a good one.