Alicia I love this movie so much

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Spikeopath The Mob is directed by Robert Parish and adapted to screenplay by William Bowers from the novel written by Ferguson Findley. It stars Broderick Crawford, Betty Buehler, Richard Kiley, Otto Hulett, Matt Crowley, Neville Brand, Ernest Borgnine and Jean Alexander. Music is by George Duning and cinematography by Joseph Walker.Cop Johnny Damico (Crawford) is fooled by a mob killer during the slaying of a witness and is chastised by his superiors. Sent undercover to infiltrate the waterfront organisation to flush out the killer, Damico faces danger at every turn.He's a cop who is hell bent on atoning for what could basically be a career ruining error. It's this core essence that really oils the pistons of this tough and under seen slice of crime cinema. Awash with characters so shifty it's hard to locate a moral compass in the mix, director Robert Parrish (Cry Danger) takes a standard under cover plot and elevates it to a riveting tale of corruption, paranoia and the search for redemption at any cost.William Bowers' script positively pings with the sort of dialogue you could cut a joint of beef with, with most of it spat from the mouth of the excellent Crawford. No matter what the situation, what the danger, Damico has a quip or a put down to always exude a calm and carefree menace, he literally is a sardonic miserablist who is unflappable. It's a wonderful characterisation that's helped enormously by a screenplay that contains some surprises, with a nifty plot line standing out that sees Damico hired by the mob to enact a hit on himself! Wonderful.Parrish keeps the atmosphere side of things on the boil, always ensuring that Damico could be snuffed out at any moment, while Walker's (The Velvet Touch) photography is tight to the plotting. Around Crawford are a raft of familiar faces from film noir, with the villain roll call considerably boosted by Borgine and Brand. From the quite excellent opening murder played out in the nighttime rain, story unfolds in a whirl of sarcasm, set-ups, machismo, stand-offs and mobster machinations. The Mob, under seen and under valued, add it to your "to see lists", especially if you be a fan of Brod Crawford. 8/10

jdeureka I got to ask -- because so much of the plot of "On the Waterfront" is here. Broderick Crawford is first rate (not as good as in "All the King's Men"); because Crawford has none of the depth and range of Brando. Plus, this is not a longshoreman's movie -- it's the cops' movie. The police are the key players; they get the full camera foreground and background. But how could "On the Waterfront" (1954) have existed without "The Mob" (1951)? All the character and story leads are here -- plus our hero gets a threatening backseat ride in the car with a gun pointed at his gut. The police forensic details are excellent; not hokey (and probably based on WW2 techniques?). It's surprising this movie isn't better known. Again, quality-wise, it's not "A+" as a film -- more like "B+". It's got long, excellent passages that are then followed by filler, Hollywood product (like the scenes with Ernest Borgnine). But what's great about "The Mob" is how when it works it rings true about the life and struggles of blue collar Americans just after the victory of WW2. Where's their victory? Except for the cops. In sum, tough minded doozie of a film.

ccthemovieman-1 This was a good film because (1) it was fairly fast-moving; (2) had some humorous and clever dialog; (3) was nicely photographed; (4) and had solid acting. It's tough to ask for a whole lot more.I'm surprised this film has never been issued on VHS or DVD, at least not to my knowledge. It has well-known actors: Broderick Crawford, Ernest Borgnine, Richard Kiley, Neville Brand and others.The beginning was very original. Our cop hero, "Johnny Damico" (Crawford) comes across a killing and stops a man in the pouring rain who is standing over a dead body. The upright man has a gun in his hand. Damico stops him, but the man pleads "Don't shoot; I'm a cop" and shows him his badge. "Okay," says Damico, and hands the man back his badge and gun. He then tells him to go over to the nearby drug store and phone this one in while he stays with the body. That's the last our man sees the "cop" who, it turns out, had a fake badge and really was the killer. Unfortunately, the good guy never really got much of a look on the bad guy, too.Damico, being spared walking the beat for the rest of his life or being demoted to kindergarten monitor - or just plain being kicked out of the force for his (understandable) mistake - is given the option of atoning by infiltrating the local longshoreman's union and getting the goods on the big mobster in town. That part is nothing new in films but it was interesting to see how Crawford talked his way deeper and deeper into the mob.Also, the characters in this film were colorful. The amount of wisecracks, insults and the like also added greatly to the enjoyment of this film. There were excellent film-noir-type lines in here.Yet, this movie had more of a straight drama or crime film than "noir." The only thing that was odd was when one of the "dames" in here told Crawford a couple of times how cute he was. Broderick Crawford "cute?" Now, there's a first!

boblipton The title of this review says it all. In 1951, who knew who Ernest Borgnine, Richard Kiley and Charles Buchinsky were? But in this Columbia noir, made after Broderick Crawford became an unlikely star because of ALL THE KING'S MEN has the lead going undercover to investigate racketeering on the docks, we see how good actors can overcome a basically decent script overloaded with 'snappy' dialog, cheap sets and unexceptional directing. The actors are, frankly, amazing and this is as good as a movie can get with a major flaw like this -- ace DP Joseph Walker can't do much with the studio sets and back projection, but he makes a good effort with a highly mobile camera.