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Racket Busters
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Wikipedia article
'Racket Busters' is a 1938 film about crime in the trucking industry starring Humphrey Bogart and George Brent. The film was directed by Lloyd Bacon.
Plot summary
Attorney Hugh Allison (Walter Abel) is appointed Special Prosecutor to investigate and strike down gangster John "Czar" Martin's (Humphrey Bogart) racketeering scheme in the trucking industry. This is Martin's first step in controlling New York's produce market. However, Alison is unable to get testimony from witnesses because of Martin's brutal coercion. Denny Jordan (George Brent), a popular and influential trucker, refuses to join Martin's gang, and his truck is vandalized, causing Jordan to crash his truck on the side of a hill. To provide for his pregnant wife Nora (Gloria Dickson), Jordan robs Martin's office but is caught. Martin agrees to forgive him if he joins his "protective association". Jordan reluctantly complies. This allows the other truckers to also join Martin's corrupt organization, while Allison begins jailing witnesses who refuse to testify. Jordan's oldest friend, Pop Wilson (Oscar O'Shea), is murdered after testifying against Martin, and Jordan's partner, "Skeets" Wilson (Allen Jenkins), quits trucking and begins selling tomatoes. Although Jordan is arrested by Allison and his wife leaves him, he refuses to testify against Martin. In a move to control the entire produce market, Martin incites the truckers to go on strike, thereby causing a food shortage, until every commission merchant and produce dealer join his association. But, Wilson refuses Martin's entreaties and is killed by his gang. Jordan then leads the truckers into breaking the strike, and a free-for-all breaks out between the truckers and the racketeers. Jordan defeats Martin in a hand-to-hand fight as the police arrive. Denny eventually testifies against Martin, leading to his conviction.
Cast
* Humphrey Bogart as John 'Czar' Martin
* George Brent as Denny Jordan
* Gloria Dickson as Nora Jordan
* Allen Jenkins as 'Skeets' Wilson
* Walter Abel as Hugh Allison
* Henry O'Neill as Governor
* Penny Singleton as Gladys Christie
* Anthony Averill as Dave Crane, Martin's Henchman
* Oscar O'Shea as Pop Wilson
* Elliott Sullivan as Charlie Smith
* Fay Helm as Mrs. Smith
* Joe Downing as Joe Pender, Martin's Henchman
* Norman Willis as Gus Hawkins, Martin's Henchman
* Don Rowan as Cliff Kimball
Production
The film was based on the prosecution of real-life trucking racketeering schemes in New York City during Thomas E. Dewey's campaign against organized crime in the 1930s.Farris, Scott (2012). '[https://archive.org/details/almostpresidentm0000farr/page/111/mode/1up?view=theater Almost president: the men who lost the race but changed the nation]'. Internet Archive. Guilford, CN: Lyons Press. p. 111-112. ISBN 978-0-7627-6378-8. When the film was released in France, it was retitled 'Threat Over the City' to avoid mistakenly promoting itself as a tennis film.
References
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