Racket Busters is touted as being a true crime drama presented as a warning against those who wish to pursue racketeering. What it does well is paint a portrait of how things really were during the era of racketeers and victims too afraid to speak out against them. The subject is of great interest, giving us a glimpse of an industry that the country still relies on to this day as well as the personal dramas of the people behind the industry. The film wisely chooses to give us just a few key characters as focal points to show us what good people can be forced to do if things get desperate enough for them. This could have been nothing more than a generic cautionary tale, and it doesn’t always avoid those trappings, but it elevates above tropes often enough to be compelling throughout its relatively short runtime.
The story is about Manhattan gangster czar John Martin (Humphrey Bogart) who is looking to expand his control on the rackets by moving into the trucking industry and, consequently, the fresh produce market in New York City. Through intimidation he secures the loyalty of most of the truckers but there are a few holdouts. Those holdouts find themselves beaten, their families threatened, their trucks destroyed. Meanwhile, the law is trying to crack down on Martin’s rackets but no one is willing to testify for fear of retaliation. The police, lead by Hugh Allison (Walter Abel), know who is behind all the unrest but, without testimony, can do nothing.
Young trucker Denny Jordan (George Brent) and his wife Nora (Gloria Dickson) are among the few holdouts from Martin’s trucking racket. Soon after an altercation with some of Martin’s men, Denny’s truck is torched and Nora, pregnant with their first child, is threatened. Denny hides Nora from them and, to help fund this, steals a large amount of money from Martin. Martin uses this theft as leverage to recruit him forcing Denny to drive for him knowing that if Denny falls in line most of the other holdouts will follow suit. This drives a wedge between Denny and his wife as well as his former co-driver ‘Skeets,’ whose tomato business is in jeopardy thanks to the efforts of the racketeers.
Racket Busters could have played things safe and simply told a tale of crime not paying. It aims higher than that by focusing more on the personal dramas of the people effected by the racketeers. An early example of this shows a trucker, Charle Smith, who is terrified of testifying after an assault. He eventually relents when Denny convinces him to identify who did it to him. What happens to him is horrifying, leaving him a ruined man, unable to even identify his own wife. Denny, the film’s primary focus throughout, refuses to be intimidated until his wife and unborn child are threatened and, already destitute for not falling in line, is forced into accepting his fate and getting back behind the wheel, even if it goes against everything he believes in. By putting the primary focus on Denny and his wife it humanizes the drama and helps us see what many of the other family men had to be struggling with.
This film does a good job of depicting escalation as well. During the first half the law is ineffectual in any way. This is punctuated in Hugh Allison’s first scene when he is offered the job of breaking up the rackets. He states the obstacles that prevent him from being effective at the job and for the next half hour we see that all dramatized. He is frustrated when no one will speak up and we feel that frustration every time. When laws are enacted to prevent people from refusing to testify, Martin brings the city to its knees by putting all the drivers on strike, preventing food deliveries in an attempt to starve out the city. It’s a very harrowing situation that realistically could happen, even today.
Humphrey Bogart has little screen time in this film. He’s in fine form in a role he had played many times before. He’s menacing, yet calculating as well, playing off the fear of the people in a way that is both realistic and chilling. The film uses him sparingly here and that actually helps keep him a formidable opponent right up until the end when it unfortunately falters into the tropes of other lesser gangster films. Still, it manages to avoid most of those pitfalls right up until the somewhat abrupt finale.
If there is a weak element to this movie it is Walter Abel’s portrayal of Hugh Allison. From the first scene he comes across as forced and unnatural. We see this in his abrupt change from not wanting the position offered him to being immediately sworn into the job. The rest of the film he is playing things one note, never really giving his character any real depth. It undermines much of the drama and makes it less compelling whenever he is on screen. Thankfully he, like Martin himself, is used sparingly.
Those few weaknesses aside, Racket Busters is a solid drama about real world issues that plagued the city during this era. It realistically depicted the dramas of people who didn’t want to get tied up in organized crime but were helpless to avoid it. It provides a believable protagonist in Denny, a man of principles who finds himself having to set those principles aside to protect his wife and unborn daughter. It’s a dilemma most people could understand and sympathize with. It’s not perfect but it is compelling. The ending is not the strongest but the journey is well worth the time.
Running Time: 71 minutes
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, George Brent, Gloria Dickson, Walter Abel
Directed By: Lloyd Bacon
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