Racket Busters
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.
| Racket Busters | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Lloyd Bacon |
| Screenplay by | Robert Rossen Leonardo Bercovici |
| Produced by | Samuel Bischoff |
| Starring | Humphrey Bogart George Brent Gloria Dickson |
| Cinematography | Arthur Edeson |
| Edited by | James Gibbon |
| Music by | Adolph Deutsch |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 71 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Plot summary
Successful prosecution attorney Hugh Alison agrees to investigate gangster John "Czar" Martin's racketeering scheme in the trucking industry. However, he is unable to get testimony because of Martin's brutal coercion. Skeets Wilson quits his trucking business and begins selling tomatoes after being threatened for refusing to join the Martin organization, while his business partner Denny Jordan is intimidated into joining after stealing money from it. Although Denny is arrested by Allison and his wife Nora leaves him, he refuses to testify against Martin. Martin incites the truckers to go on strike and cause a food shortage, but Skeets convinces them to resist. After he is killed, Denny has a change of heart and 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 off of the prosecution of real-life trucking racketeering schemes in New York City during Thomas E. Dewey's campaign against organized crime in the 1930s.[1][2] When the film was released in France, it was retitled Threat Over the City to avoid mistakenly promoting itself as a tennis film.[2]
References
- Farris, Scott (2012). 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.
- "Racket Busters". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved 2022-01-06.
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