Smartorhypo
Highly Overrated But Still Good
Fairaher
The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
SanEat
A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."
bkoganbing
Crime, Inc. is one of those films that had it been done at a major studio it might have been a classic. It bears some resemblance to the MGM classic The Secret Six that starred Clark Gable, Wallace Beery, and Jean Harlow a decade and a half earlier.It also borrows a bit from Sherlock Holmes in that there is a thesis that crime is a tightly controlled business and there's a Moriarty like head of it in this city. When the identity of this particular Moriarty is revealed we can understand why the police have been powerless to crush the crime syndicate.The stars of this PRC film are Tom Neal as a crime reporter, Martha Tilton as a nightclub singer, and Danny Morton who is an independent operator and won't join the crime syndicate. Tilton is his sister and Morton's been a confidential source for Neal.A nice group of character players are in this one and they make it worth a look, people like Harry Shannon, Grant Mitchell, Sheldon Leonard, Don Beddoe, and Leo Carrillo. Most interesting is Lionel Atwill as a mob attorney, offbeat casting for him, but it works.But pedestrian direction and a script with enough holes in it to look like it was used for target practice consign Crime, Inc. to a mediocre fate.
Cristi_Ciopron
A gangster movie with a good supporting cast: Leonard, Beddoe, Atwill as a lawyer and the chairman of the mobsters' syndicate, G. Meeker. As for Carrillo, billed as the star of the movie, he looks like a perfidious, untrustworthy oldster, which was good for the role. The leading actress, nice but unskilled, seemed a Stanwyck wannabe. Neal is legendary, but I have never found him convincing or likable. Be it as it may, the role he makes here is passable.The acting highlight belongs to Leonard.The fact is they assembled quite a cast, partly by recycling veterans.The 2nd thing it's the exciting and eventful script it has: 'the invisible government', the organized crime, the syndicate, the rub-outs; one of PRC's best written movies, and one of their sensationalist dramas made in the '40s. Stultified audiences have been taught to despise them.By both look and story-line, it reminded me of '70s mafia movies made in Italy.This movie's reputation is unfair. Stylistically, unconsciously, it was way ahead of its time. The storytelling is very compelling. The reporter isn't idealized at all.For movie buffs endowed with a catholic sympathy, with catholicity of taste, for that elite of movie buffs, with the availability's of acknowledging good acting, and the awareness of its nature, and of wonders that enhance those offered by the stage, these fun-houses have the dimension of an acting fair.
dbborroughs
Reporter uses his friendship to mobsters to get the goods on the corruption and rackets in his city.Very good crime drama with a sterling cast (Tom Neal, Leo Carillo, Lionel Atwill, Sheldon Lenoard) keeps things moving with crisp dialog and a pace that just moves along at a clip. I really liked this since it just moves from the opening minutes when a shooting in a nightclub grabs and holds your attention. Definitely worth a look.7 out of 10 (If you're looking for a copy I would avoid some of the bargain basement copies since they are over scanned and crop out characters. Its worth spend more than a buck or two to pick this up.)
Mike-764
Jim Riley is a columnist who writes his daily Crime Reporter column discussing the moves and killings of noted racketeers. Riley gets much of his information from gangster Bugs Kelly, a friend, who is trying to leave the underworld and its business organization Crime, Inc. by testifying at a grand jury hearing on the organization. The heads of Crime, Inc. learn of Bugs' motives and put a hit out on him eventually nailing him at a carnival. Riley, now under investigation since Bugs was a close confidant of his, decides to turn states' evidence and appear before the grand jury. Crime, Inc. plans to be a bit more sadistic with the rubbing out of Riley by using Riley's sweetheart (and Bugs' sister) nightclub singer Betty Van Cleeve. Average and interesting poverty row gangster film with a good story and plot that does have some interesting twists. The ending does not seem to deliver the explosiveness promised from the earlier parts of the film but the crime does not pay mantra does take effect. Actors are decent here (surprised to see Carillo play a non-Hispanic speaking role here) but nothing special. Rating, 5.
