Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Overrated

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

If one didn't know better, it looks like this might have been a training film for future police detectives. How'd you like the way the cops planted a phony picture of Johnny Damico (Broderick Crawford) in the paper with a phony story to back it up? Or the wise guy banter Johnny used in his guise of Tim Flynn to ingratiate himself with big time gangsters? And what about rigging Smoothie's (Matt Crowley) car with the dripping liquid that glowed in the dark under a fluorescent lamp? Can you really do that? I thought it was pretty clever.I wasn't quite ready to give this movie credit as a film noir because there are really no sultry femme fatales to speak of, but in this case I don't think it matters. There are all kinds of shady characters prowling around with the likes of Ernest Borgnine, Neville Brand and Richard Kiley as part of the main event, and if you're sharp, you'll pick up on quick cameos by character actors Harry Lauter, Don Megowan and a still unknown Charles Bronson, a real treat for gangster film fans.The picture has it's share of neat twists, as in Richard Kiley's Clancy character turning out to be another undercover cop, and the dopey bartender Smoothie proving to be the mastermind criminal Blackie Clegg. Crawford makes the picture with his snappy dialog that's quick witted and off the cuff, and he's good with his fists when he has to be, and sometimes even when he doesn't. The ending comes off as a bit forced with the rooftop snipers waiting for bad guy Blackie, but the best has to be the way Clancy sets up Johnny for the closing scene. You'll just have to check it out for yourself.

Those were the days, working with what was called "break hold cargo," loading and unloading sacks and crates from ships. Now everything is pre-packed and sealed in a container that a crane lifts neatly from the hold and sits down gently on the trailer of an eighteen wheeler. No fuss, no muss, no jobs. It's why San Francisco is no longer a port, having lost its business to the more modernized Oakland across the bay. When I was a kid I used to wander the docks on New York's waterfront and pick up oddments like rolls of cinnamon from Sumatra (or so I imagined) or shards of twisted cork from Portugal.In 1951, the period of this movie, a stevedore's job may have been hard to come by but the corruption was all over the place. The basic story is that of "On the Waterfront" except simpler and more careless. Instead of Marlon Brando discovering he has a conscience, we have gruff Broderick Crawford doing his job as an undercover cop, slugging and getting slugged. Among the bad guys who are ripping off the union are John Marley, Ernest Borgnine, and Neville Brand -- a real group of merry men. There are some women involved too, but not to any great extent.I realize other have found this more entertaining than I did. I thought it achieved the routine. Crawford is such a slob, he never looks right in a suit -- and a pretty blond tells him he's "cute", twice. And he growls like a German shepherd when he speaks, even when he's trying to be pleasant.Richard Kiley isn't too convincing as a waterfront working stiff. He sounds educated and looks it too. He once did a PBS special in which he did nothing much but read and enact poems that are high school standards, like "Richard Corey" and "Mr. Flood's Party." Can I quote the last stanza?"There was not much that was ahead of him, And there was nothing in the town below— Where strangers would have shut the many doors That many friends had opened long ago." What a portrait of desolation, and Kiley turned it into one of the most moving recitations I've ever heard. I love the guy but he seems miscast here.The art direction is pedestrian and the milieu is one of those unnamed cities. Unnamed because it describes miscreance in high place. The dialog, though, has little sparkles sprinkled throughout. Not Edwin Arlington Robinson but dismissible and neat exchanges. "Tell me all about yourself," says a a pretty blond gangster's moll to the drunk and disheveled Crawford. "I come from a typical family. My father was an oil executive and my mother was a socialite." The jealous Kiley asks: "Did they ever marry?"Well, if it's not exceptional for most of the movie, it livens up towards the end. It's not bad in any way but except for a few performances and the capacity shown by the dialog to insinuate its way out of the humdrum, it's just what you'd expect.

Off duty police detective Johnny Damico (Broderick Crawford) lets a killer slip through his hands after witnessing a mob hit. Damico is given a chance to redeem himself by going undercover to break up a waterfront crime racket and find the kingpin that ordered the hit. Damico under the assumed identity of small time New Orleans hoodlum Johnny Flynn, infiltrates the docks to find the 'big guy' known only as Blackie Clegg. Along the way Damico comes across an assortment of characters played by, at the time, relatively unknown actors like Ernest Borgnine, Neville Brand, Richard Kiley, and John Marley. Look for Charles Bronson in one of his earliest screen appearances in an uncredited role as a dock hand.Director Robert Parrish works what might have been routine police procedural crime drama into an edge of the seat mystery. A lot of the credit has to be given to writer William Bowers who Parrish teamed up with on his previous movie Cry Danger starring Dick Powell. Both enjoy a fast paced script with tongue in cheek banter, hinting of the same style that Bowers would use almost twenty years later when he wrote the script for Support Your Local Sheriff! While an actor like Powell would seem better suited for this type role, Crawford just off an Oscar win for All the Kings Men two years before, comes off surprisingly natural as a wise cracking undercover cop. The Mob though listed as film noir really isn't noir in the classic sense though it does have some of the elements. The Mob is an enjoyable 1950's style mystery crime drama. The run time of 87 minutes breezes by and keeps you guessing. Fans of the genre will enjoy this one.

Broderick Crawford is terrific as a police detective going undercover as a longshoreman. The film begins with Mr. Crawford, while off-duty, investigating a shooting; when he arrives, he's told to watch the victim by another detective - only to be left holding the victim (so to speak). After his "error", he is assigned to undercover as longshoreman at a mob-infested dock, and locate dangerous mob boss "Blackie".On the docks, the film really takes off - the story gets very exciting, with hardly a misstep. The camera is a sharp match for the players and script. Note, Ernest Borgnine throws a swell party. Broderick says "Oh, please…" like he was born yesterday. "The Mob" has enough twists and turns to keep the interest brewing... to a tight ending. ******* The Mob (1951) Robert Parrish ~ Broderick Crawford, Richard Kiley, Ernest Borgnine