The Mob

Broderick Crawford shines (and amuses) as a hardened cop playing both sides of the fence in Robert Parrish’s The Mob. Assigned to go undercover to infiltrate the mob on the New Orleans docks, Johnny Damico (Crawford) takes on a new identity as a troublemaking union member, soon attracting the attention of thugs Joe Castro (Ernest Borgnine) and Gunner (Neville Brand) who try to frame him for murder. The undercover cop is a familiar noir premise (see, for example, 1948’s The Street With No Name or 1949’s Border Incident), but Crawford is more effective in the role than most; his gritty, sarcastic, bear-like presence dominates the screen and throws out one hilarious zinger after another. In fact, William Bowers’ screenplay is packed with hard-boiled dialogue that works just so beautifully (“Great town, New Orleans; I had a girl there who used to play the piano with her teeth”).