Fred F. Sears

Fast, punchy, no nonsense plot sees a citizens committee being established to take on a mob syndicate, led by Tony Brill (Luther Adler), that is running the Miami underworld. The committee decide to fight fire-with-fire and bring in reformed Chicago gangster Mick Flagg (Barry Sullivan). Flagg wastes no time in disrupting the mob’s operation but Brill is quick to retaliate. Director Fred F. Sears and writer Robert E. Kent deliver a fast moving, docu-style gangster noir with absolutely no superfluous elements – which isn’t to say that Sears doesn’t deliver some nice noir touches and some decent shots. The film opens with a local politician spouting some nonsense and it has some numpty chiming in with an authoritarian vice-over at regular intervals. That, however, doesn’t hinder the rather implausible narrative, which barrels forward at an insane pace, with some great snappy, hard-boiled dialogue. Barry Sullivan is excellent as the fast-talking, fast thinking committee operative and Luther Adler is equally good as the cynical, violent mob boss hell-bent on defending his territory. Adele Jergens also puts in a decent turn as the femme fatale in charge of Brill’s prostitution rackets.… (más)