''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. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

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 Ann Johnson (August 13, 1913Parish gives year of birth as 1912, but her grave marker says 1913. – October 31, 1965) was an American actress. Early years Johnson was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, the daughter of a single mother, Lilli ...

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 (character), Jack Driscoll in ''King Kong (1933 film), King Kong'' (1933) and for his roles in films s ...

and Edward Pawley. It was released on August 19, 1938, by

RKO Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the major film studios, "Big Five" film studios of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood's Clas ...

Plot

Jim 'Sock' Conway, former boxer and

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

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 vio ...

to force local businesses to install

slot machine A slot machine, fruit machine (British English), poker machine or pokie (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. A slot machine's standard layout features a screen disp ...

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, which aims to use the element of surprise to seize Evidence (law), evidence or arrest suspects believed to be likely to Tampering with evidence, hide evidence, res ...

. 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 * Edward Pawley as Chin Martin * Joe De Stefani as Franz * Don Douglas 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, her husbands included Frederick Moulton Alger, Dan Topping (his fourth marriage), Clifton Stokes Weaver a ...

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, Oh ...

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 be ...

as Maxie * Eddie Acuff 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's campaign against

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

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