''Smashing the Rackets'' is a 1938 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Lew Landers Lew Landers (born Louis Friedlander, January 2, 1901 – December 16, 1962) was an American independent film and television director. Biography Born as Louis Friedlander in New York City, Lew Landers began his movie career as an actor. In 1914, ...

, written by Lionel Houser, and starring

Chester Morris John Chester Brooks Morris (February 16, 1901 – September 11, 1970) was an American stage, film, television, and radio actor. He had some prestigious film roles early in his career, and received an Academy Award nomination for ''Alibi'' ( ...

, Frances Mercer,

Rita Johnson Rita may refer to: People * Rita (given name) * Rita (Indian singer) (born 1984) * Rita (Israeli singer) (born 1962) * Rita (Japanese singer) * Eliza Humphreys (1850–1938), wrote under the pseudonym Rita Places * Djarrit, also known as Rita, ...

Bruce Cabot Bruce Cabot (born Étienne de Pelissier Bujac Jr.; April 20, 1904 – May 3, 1972) was an American film actor, best remembered as Jack Driscoll in ''King Kong'' (1933) and for his roles in films such as ''The Last of the Mohicans'' (1936), Fri ...

and

Edward Pawley Edward Joel Pawley (March 16, 1901 in Kansas City, Missouri – January 27, 1988 in Charlottesville, Virginia) was an American actor of radio, films and Broadway. The full name on his birth certificate is Edward Joel Stone Pawley; he never ...

. It was released on August 19, 1938, by

RKO Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orph ...

Plot

Jim 'Sock' Conway, former boxer and

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

hero, is maneuvered for political reasons into a do-nothing job in the district attorney's office. He considers quitting but agrees to remain in his job to defend Letty Lane in order to court her much nicer sister Pat. Meanwhile, a gang led by White Clark and Chin Martin begins a

protection racket A protection racket is a type of racket and a scheme of organized crime perpetrated by a potentially hazardous organized crime group that generally guarantees protection outside the sanction of the law to another entity or individual from viole ...

to force local businesses to install

slot machine A slot machine (American English), fruit machine (British English) or poker machine ( Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively ...

s. Chin hires Letty's boyfriend Steve Lawrence, an attorney, to file an injunction to prevent the attorney from interfering with their plans. Steve begins plotting to take over the gang from Whitey, who he finds too brutal. After Whitey orders the brutal beating of Jim's friends Franz and Otto and Otto dies, Jim uses his position to prosecute the hoodlums and is promoted. He then secures an indictment of a major racketeer. Steve and Chin kill Whitey, and then Steve arranges for Chin to be caught in a

police raid A police raid is an unexpected visit by police or other law-enforcement officers with the aim of using the element of surprise in order to seize evidence or arrest suspects believed to be likely to hide evidence, resist arrest, be politicall ...

. A suspicious Letty tracks Steve to his home in country just as Chin arrives to kill Steve, and she fatally shoots him. Steve's mistress Peggy provides testimony that allows Steve to be indicted. Letty kills herself in an automobile accident in order to avoid damaging her sister's reputation. Jim and Pat are married, and he founds his own law practice.

Cast

as Jim 'Sock' Conway * Frances Mercer as Susan 'Pat' Lane *

as Letty Lane *

as Steve Lawrence *

as Chin Martin * Joe De Stefani as Franz *

Don Douglas Donald Douglas (born Douglas William Kinleyside, 24 August 1905 – 31 December 1945) was a Scottish actor in the United States who performed in films, on the stage and in radio. Background He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, 24 August 1 ...

as Harry Spaulding *

Kay Sutton Katherine Warburton "Kay" Sutton (June 14, 1915 – March 1, 1988) was an American actress. Personal life Sutton was married four times, Frederick Moulton Alger, Dan Topping (his fourth marriage), Clifton Stokes Weaver and Edward Cronjager. ...

as Peggy *

Ben Welden Ben Welden (born Benjamin Weinblatt; June 12, 1901 – October 17, 1997) was an American character actor who played a wide variety of Damon Runyon-type gangsters in various movies and television shows. Early years Welden was born in Toledo, ...

as Whitey Clark *

Paul Fix Peter Paul Fix (March 13, 1901 – October 14, 1983) was an American film and television character actor who was best known for his work in Westerns. Fix appeared in more than 100 movies and dozens of television shows over a 56-year career ...

as Maxie *

Eddie Acuff Edward DeKalb Acuff (June 3, 1903 – December 17, 1956) was an American stage and film actor. He frequently was cast as a droll comic relief, in the support of the star. His best-known recurring role is that of Mr. Beasley, the postman, in ...

as Joe * George Irving as District Attorney Edward Greer

Production

The film was based on Forrest Davis's series of articles on

Thomas E. Dewey Thomas Edmund Dewey (March 24, 1902 – March 16, 1971) was an American lawyer, prosecutor, and politician who served as the 47th governor of New York from 1943 to 1954. He was the Republican candidate for president in 1944 and 1948: although ...

's campaign against

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally tho ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

References

External links

* * * * 1938 films American black-and-white films RKO Pictures films Films directed by Lew Landers 1938 drama films American drama films Films about organized crime in the United States Films about lawyers 1930s English-language films 1930s American films {{1930s-drama-film-stub