New York Confidential (1955) User Reviews

Conte takes on Crawford in mid-50s look at mobsters as organization men

[bmacv · 8/10 · 17 August 2002]

In Russell Rouse's New York Confidential, Broderick Crawford plays a darker extension of his Harry Brock character in Born Yesterday. Brock was a corrupt businessman, a wheeler-dealer with senators in his pocket, but the movie (a comedy, after all) never went so far as to label him a mobster, much less a killer. But five years later, in the wake of the televised Kefauver hearings which brought the scope of organized crime to a rapt public, Crawford has become a cog in a vast 'syndicate' or 'cartel' - an important cog in its Manhattan headquarters, yes, but only one piece of its unstoppable machinery.

When one of his vassals stages an unauthorized hit, Crawford calls in some talent from Chicago (Richard Conte) to enforce discipline. The widowed Crawford warms to Conte as the son he never had, though he does have a handful of a rebellious daughter (Ann Bancroft) as well as a high-maintenance mistress with a platinum chignon (Marilyn Maxwell). Maxwell has eyes for Conte, but his eyes stay affixed on the unstable, hard-drinking Bancroft, who wants nothing to do with her father's business - or with any of his minions.

The triangulated romance, however, takes second place to the mob's tangled business interests. When a recalcitrant lobbyist scuttles a scheme to profit from government shipping contracts, he's ordered killed. In the movie's best orchestrated sequence, torpedo Mike Mazurki accomplishes the hit but botches his escape from a hotel; wounded, he decides to flip and sing.

With the big heat now on, the executive board decides Crawford must take the fall; he, however, decides to join Mazurki in singing a duet. So the board contracts Conte to eliminate the now dangerous Crawford....

The gangster movies of the early 'thirties endure as character studies of flamboyant but flawed figures played by the likes of Edward G. Robinson, Jimmy Cagney and Paul Muni. This spats-and-tommyguns genre, however, fell out of favor in the 'forties (given global upheaval, bootleggers became small fry). When mob pictures reemerged in the 1950s, their difference in tone was palpable. From 711 Ocean Drive in 1950 to Phil Karlson's 1957 The Brothers Rico (also starring Conte), crime had become corporate, with formalized hierarchies, far-flung interests, and strict, if ruthless, rules for doing business. That's the thread that runs through New York Confidential: that no there's no individual who's indispensable, that the survival of the organization remains paramount.

Everybody's out for what they can get.

[hitchcockthelegend · 8/10 · 10 February 2019]

New York Confidential is directed by Russell Rouse and collectively written by Rouse, Jack Lait , Lee Mortimer and Clarence Greene. It stars Broderick Crawford, Richard Conte, Anne Bancroft, Marilyn Maxwell, J. Carrol Naish, Onslow Stevens, Barry Kelley and Mike Mazurki. Music is by Joseph Mullendore and cinematography by Eddie Fitzgerald.

The Kefauver Committee was set up at the beginning of the 1950s and its role was to investigate into the growing threat of organised crime. From this very real moment in time came a wave of films that jumped onto the possibilities on offer for dramatic filmic purpose, New York Confidential is one such picture.

In short order the plot has Crawford as New York Syndicate boss Charles Lupo, who borrows hit-man Nick Maggelan (Conte) from the Chigao branch to enact a hit. The pair quickly strike up a terrific relationship, but as problems within the Lupo home begin to mount up - and the heat starts to close in on the organisation - cracks begin to turn into chasms.

It says a lot about the efforts of the cast that this turns out to be better than it had right to be. The interesting slant here is the impact of family life on the main man. Lupo is a widower who still lives with his mother and daughter, he dotes on his mother and smothers his daughter Katherine (Bancroft) in what he thinks is fatherly love. She hates his criminal workings and rebels against it, something which Lupo can't quite understand. Thrust into the mix is Magellan, suave and good looking, he has tremendous loyalty to Lupo, so when Katherine grabs his eye he has to fight his feelings for her and his commitment to Lupo. Add in Lupo's sultry girlfriend Iris (Maxwell), who has no loyalty and wants to bed Magellan, then emotional conflict and tests of character are boldly prominent.

Beginning with shots of New York City and a narration telling us about how great and prosperous the city is, it is however the core of Syndicated Crime. We switch to a drive by killing, one which claims an innocent bystander, and the scene is set for Lupo and Magellan to meet and the story spins on from there. The dialogue is well written in quick fire noir speak, the best of which comes from Magellan who is calmness personified and Katherine who is bitingly bitter. There's a disappointment that we are sadly denied effective chiaroscuro, for the story demands it, more so when things go belly up and the world closes in on Lupo and Magellan's surrogate father/son relationship.

Come the last quarter the pic really hits its flm noir straps, where joyously it doesn't let us down. We are not fed improbables or lightweight fare, we get pure blackheart noirville, something which elevates a decent film into being a very good one. Family strife and conflicted matters of the heart blend with corruption and organised crime, all crammed into an hour and half of film making. Lovely. 7.5/10

Always The Syndicate First

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 27 January 2012]

Broderick Crawford borrows a great deal from his Academy Award winning Willie Stark from All The King's Men in playing underworld boss Frank Lupo in New York Confidential. Crawford is a combination of Stark and Don Corleone and he doesn't get the best of it.

Like Corleone and Stark, Lupo has trouble with his children, but unlike Stark, Lupo has a daughter played by Anne Bancroft. Now if Bancroft was content to be Connie Corleone she could have any number of willing suitors who are in the family business working for dad. She aspires to more and her father's reputation kills off any chance she can marry respectably.

Not that respectability guarantees honesty. When old line money WASP William Forrest pulls the rug out from under a multi-million dollar deal the Syndicate is bankrolling they decide to take care of him in the true Syndicate manner. Crawford though he opposes the idea gets the contract and from their the dominoes start to fall.

One thing however when the fires threatens, organized crime knows how to start backfires to make sure the organization itself is not touched. A whole lot of dead bodies start to pile up before the film ends.

Also starring in the film is Richard Conte playing an out of town hit man who Crawford takes a shine to and has him stay in New York. Conte was always great in noir films and he certainly is here.

New York Confidential touches upon a lot of the issues involving systemic corruption much the same way The Godfather films do. Of course it does not have the budget those blockbusters had nor an unforgettable music score, still New York Confidential makes it point. It's still a valid film for today's audience.

Terrific gem of a film noir

[searchanddestroy-1 · 12 June 2016]

That's the third or fourth time I see this authentic and unfortunately underrated film noir from the fifties. A true fierce, brutal, and so realistic tale of gangsters where the mob is presented as a big company and their members normal family men, such as Broderick - machine gun talking - Crawford, who is here at his best. So is Richard Conte, here as a cold, ruthless but also attractive killer. Many movie buffs speak of the GODFATHER when they present this feature. Yes, they are not wrong. If you compare with the other gangsters films made before, this one is rather close to the Francis Coppola's films. This movie is for me a little masterpiece, far better than more known gangster movies. Russel Rouse was also a damn good director. I have seen all his films, which I also have in my huge library. I confound this movie with Ken Hughes's JOE MACBETH, made at the same period, and starring Paul Douglas who, a long time ago, I confounded with Broderick Crawford. This another film noir was also a gangster family tragedy. Like this one.

well worth a watch

[christopher-underwood · 7/10 · 29 November 2011]

Flawed but always worth watching, this movie seems to have sprung from nowhere onto DVD. Certainly not pure 'noir' but neither is it simply a crime drama. Indeed with the documentary element and Crawford's wayward antics on the one side and the coolness of Richard Conte and his relations with the ladies on the other, this could be considered a bit of a mess. That it is not is due in the main to the tremendous performances of Conte, Bancroft and to a lesser extent, Marilyn Maxwell as Iris, Crawford's mistress. For me Crawford is over the top as the macho boss man and simply unable to deal with the more sensitive scenes, but he is overshadowed by Conte and we are soon persuaded to view the events through his steely eyes. A few location shots that really only go to show up the shoddiness of the studio ones but there is a great ending and as I say enough along the way to make this almost unseen film well worth a watch.

"The Organisation comes first"

[brogmiller · 7/10 · 16 October 2020]

Russell Rouse is well versed in this sort of material, his most notable writing credit being the excellent 'D.0.A'. His collaboration with producer/writer Clarence Greene has again turned up trumps in what to this viewer at any rate is a surprisingly effective piece. Rouse doesn't hang about here. His direction is taut, the dialogue snappy and Grant Whytock's editing is crisp. There are some truly marvellous types on display notably Richard Conte as a well-tailored and well-mannered assassin who has what his boss refers to as 'real class' which seems to be the ultimate accolade in the world of the Hoodlum. Lupo, his syndicate boss who believes that everyone has a price and if they don't, bump them off, is played by Broderick Crawford. What on earth can one say about this actor? A larger than life character whose meatiest roles, with the exception of the conman in Fellini's 'Il Bidone', were behind him but who never ceased to be great value, drunk or sober! He is gifted the best line here when exclaiming: "what a bunch of lousy crooks!" Definitely an instance of the pot calling the kettle black. Good support from Mike Mazurki and inveterate scene-stealer J. Carroll Naish. THE performance to take out of this is that of the wondrous Anne Bancroft who has by far the most interesting role as Lupo's daughter. This superlative actress suffered at the time from being typecast and her film career was going nowhere. Luckily for her and for us it was playwright William Gibson and director Arthur Penn who came to her rescue when she was given the chance to reprise on film her Tony award-winning performance in 'The Miracle Worker', for which she received a much deserved Oscar. As for the subject matter we have been here before with assorted low-lifes, shady lawyers, politicians on the take, dames who know which side their bread is buttered and the dubious, morally ambiguous code of honour which demands that one lives and dies 'by the rules'. Not to mention the sweet old Italian mamma who laments: "All dis a shooting and a hiding. Justa like de old days." This is all contained however within a well-paced, well-acted film which grips from first to last.

Broderick Crawford heads up the New York mob

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 23 September 2021]

A good cast is the highlight of "New York Confidential" from 1955.

The film stars Broderick Crawford, Richard Conte, Anne Bancroft, Marilyn Maxwell, J. Carroll Naish, Mike Mazurki, and Celia Lovsky.

Crawford plays Lupo, the big mob ruler of New York, who lives with his daughter (Bancroft) and mother (Lovsky). He has no problem ordering hits on people - for one hit, the mob brings in Nick Magellen (Conte) from Chicago. He's successful, and Lupo offers him a permanent position in the syndicate. Nick quickly becomes essential to the operation.

Bancroft hates what her father does and does what she can to get away from him.

This is a story of evil corrupting itself, until no one is safe. There is no loyalty when it comes to protecting the mob and its secrets. Everyone is expendable.

Good movie, strong performances.

New York Confidential

[kdbilesncoast · 10/10 · 29 September 2006]

It has been quite a long while since I've seen this film. Yet even though it has been at least 30 years since I last saw this movie it stands out as one of my favorite films. I have never been able to find it on VHS and it is just never shown on television. I can't understand why Turner Classic Movies hasn't shown it because it is definitely a classic film noir gem. But it is more than film noir; it is a genuine motif of organized crime brought to the screen. The cast is excellent as far as talent goes. Broderick Crawford, Richard Conte, and Ann Bancroft just being in the cast should merit it being shown on TV once in awhile.

One of the central themes of achieving success and the American dream through crime and corruption is an old staple of Hollywood, but it is presented in such a way as to provide the viewer with a definite amount of empathy for the main characters in spite of the fact that they are mobsters. It is entertaining and interesting without a lot of violence and since it was released in 1955, no profanity. In my mind I rate it along with another film of the same genre that was released some 12 years later titled "The Brotherhood" starring Kirk Douglas. I just wish I could get this film on VHS, DVD, or television. I would greatly appreciate any help anyone could give me in that endeavor.

New York Confidential (1955)

[MartinTeller · 7/10 · 3 January 2012]

A nice bridge from the gangster pictures of the 30's to the modern day mafia flick. You can see echoes of this film in GODFATHER and GOODFELLAS and others. Going inside a crime syndicate and also the private lives of the gangsters, it's a pretty satisfying drama with a lot of facets. Richard Conte is superb as a polite but cold-blooded hit-man turned consigliere, and there are also memorable performances from Anne Bancroft and the reliable heavy Mike Mazurki. Broderick Crawford is generally quite good although he does deliver a few stiff line readings. Unfortunately, the film suffers from utterly bland cinematography, and we spend so much time in well-lit rooms that it often feels like a stage production. A very good script, but the execution only provides a few exciting moments.

Fascinating, Hard-Hitting & Rich In Realism

[seymourblack-1 · 8/10 · 10 August 2016]

In the early 1950s, television coverage of the Senate Committee hearings on organised crime (chaired by Estes Kefauver) generated a huge amount of public interest and movies such as "The Enforcer" (1951) and "New York Confidential" (1955) capitalised on this brilliantly. The latter movie is essentially a low-budget, semi-documentary expose of the culture of a nationwide organisation that makes its money from murder, vice and corruption but is also in the process of blurring the lines between itself and legitimate business. In order to achieve an appearance of respectability, however, the organisation has to operate by strict rules and ensure that, as far as possible, it doesn't attract any adverse publicity.

New York City crime boss Charlie Lupo (Broderick Crawford) has to take action when a mobster in his territory kills another hoodlum purely for personal reasons and so hit-man Nick Magellan (Richard Conte) is imported from Chicago. Nick is the son of one of Charlie's old friends and the two men get on well. So after Nick kills the rule-breaking mobster, Charlie keeps him on as his bodyguard and steadily promotes him to a top position in his organisation. Nick is smart, confident and very efficient and Charlie admires his coolness and the fact that he's considerably more polished than any of the other men he has working for him.

Widower Charlie has three women who are important to him. His mother, who's very demanding and warns him of trouble ahead, his spoilt daughter Kathy (Anne Bancroft) who despises his line of work because it impacts badly on her ability to move in society circles and Iris (Marilyn Maxwell) who's his mistress. For some time, the organisation had been working with some corrupt politicians and lawyers to set up a highly lucrative oil-shipping contract but the whole deal suddenly falls through when a lobbyist they were relying on double-crosses them. A board meeting of the crime bosses from all of the cities where the syndicate is active follows and it's unanimously decided that the lobbyist should be eliminated for his betrayal and that Charlie should take responsibility for ensuring that the hit is carried out.

Charlie appoints three of his men to assassinate the lobbyist and although they achieve their goal, they also leave clues behind and kill a cop in the process. In order to cover his tracks, Charlie assigns Nick to kill the three men. Nick succeeds in eliminating two of them but a third eludes him long enough to turn state's evidence and in so doing, threatens to expose Charlie's involvement and by extension, that of the nationwide syndicate. Predictably, the consequences of this are enormous.

Richard Conte is astonishingly good as Nick in a performance that outshines everyone else in the movie and Anne Bancroft is extremely intense, feisty and contemptuous as she portrays her character's feelings about what her father does to make a living. Fast-talking Broderick Crawford successfully exudes all the toughness and power that one would expect of a crime boss of Lupo's stature but also displays the vulnerability that his character feels because of his health issues and the degree to which he's hurt by his daughter's angry condemnation of him.

"New York Confidential" is hard-hitting, rich in realism and provides a fascinating insight into the world of organised crime at a time when its involvement in business, politics and everyday life was extensive. The simplicity of the rules under which everyone operated were clear-cut and anyone who stepped out of line knew exactly what to expect. In this movie, Nick's character provides the clearest illustration of someone who conforms to the rules as he's unerringly loyal to the organisation, carries out all the orders given to him (regardless of his own feelings) and resists the attentions of both Kathy and Iris because of his respect for Charlie. Having been brought up as the son of a gangster, he knows better than anyone that the interests of the organisation always come first.

Solid Film Noir - New York Confidential

[arthur_tafero · 7/10 · 29 December 2021]

This is Richard Conte's role of a lifetime. He makes the most of it. The story of the syndicate in the US and what happens when some of its machine parts are damaged is a riveting film. Broderick Crawford and his mother, however, are about as Italian as I am Nigerian. Both very fine actors in their own right, Crawford is miscast here as an Italian mobster, whereas Conte is letter-perfect. Anne Bancroft is outstanding in one of her earliest film appearances; and this film helped launch her highly successful career. The film is a notch above the average gangster flick, and the mechanisms used by the syndicate are cold-blooded and efficient. A really good hood movie.

No picknick

[clanciai · 10/10 · 26 May 2020]

There are too many strong ingredients in this film not to give it the highest possible rates in spite of all its weaknesses and flaws. The acting above all is terrific, and the question is who is the most impressing star here, Richard Conte or Anne Bancroft. I don't think I have ever seen Conte as consistently straight in his role as here, not deviating one moment from the very difficult character he has to play. This is one of Anne Bancroft's early films, but already here you have her in full bloom as the marvellously intensive and brutally strong character actress she always was. The story is excellent as well, Broderick Crawford giving a virtuoso performance as the father of an extensive syndicate spread all over the U.S. and gradually getting fenced in by justice and the FBI, constantly losing his temper but brutally convincing as a godfather with a bleeding heart for his family, and especially for his daughter, Anne Bancroft, who deserts him in a en effort to get out of the hoodlum vicious circle, and tragically failing in her brave effort. The film is a tragedy of great proportions, many being involved and also executed, most of them righteously indeed, while you must regret the loss of some others, who just happened to get in the way while trying to keep out of the game. It's a dark and very solemn noir with sinister connotations bringing some lasting afterthought - this is not a drama you'll be likely to forget, like most dramas with innocent victims. In spite of its insufficiency and rather hasty and casual touch in its making, like the cool matter-of-fact consistency of Conte himself, this film should earn a place as one of the great classical noirs, almost like Jules Dassin's "Rififi" of the same year.

New York, where the Cartels run the World....

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 15 December 2013]

A shocking mid-town assassination results in two innocent bystanders being killed and what follows threatens to blow the lid off the ruthless big business of the organized crime world that reaches into the pockets of Washington D.C. politicians. The plot surrounds the head of one of the syndicate (Broderick Crawford) and his family life which includes his trampy mistress Marilyn Maxwell, aging mother Celia Lovsky and troubled daughter Anne Bancroft. She loves her father enormously but hates the person he is and goes into hiding to escape her legacy. Hit-man Richard Conte is assigned to find her, tame her and bring her home, but this likable killer, sympathetic to her plight, must betray boss Crawford in order to do it, choosing to romance her in hiding.

As the violence of the underworld increases, so does the threat of the downfall to this Corleone like dynasty. We have learned through "Scarface" and "The Godfather" that organized crime families have a code of honor within their clans and that they are just as normal as other families are. As Conte explains to Bancroft, "the waiter rips off the boss just as fast as the boss rips off the government", so the end justifies the means and all in a day's work. (He forgets to include, "Just don't get caught.") Yet, not every killer or crook is all black or white, so the fact that these characters have two sides to them is supposed to make them o.k.

It's hard to dislike a family man like Crawford (very loyal to his worried mama), but you just know that the downfall he faces will involve traitorous activity. There's an intense scene of two killers making their escape down a hotel elevator after taking care of one of the traitors that gets more and more crowded with each passing floor. Detectives are nearing the hotel and the expression on the killers' faces just gets more and more nervous.

Bancroft explodes in a scene with Conte after her identity has been discovered which most of her previous films lacked. You know that inside this stage trained beauty is a star waiting to emerge and it would take just the right part to turn her from "B" film actress with much stage training into the legend of stage and screen she would become in later years. The narration by Ralph Clanton is typical of "Naked City" stories and by 1955, a film noir cliché of its own. One point of interest is the presence of pin-up girl and "Phoenix City Story" actress Meg Myles in a party sequence where her fantastic figure is given more attention than she is lines.

a bristling Richard Conte performance, a peculiar film

[Howard_B_Eale · 23 May 2009]

NEW YORK CONFIDENTIAL is a perplexing film noir entry. Among its many merits is the astonishing cast: Broderick Crawford (who spits out his dialogue in Howard Hawks-rapidity as if he were on amphetamines), Anne Bancroft (astonishing) and the always reliable Richard Conte. But it never shakes the feeling of being two films in one, sitting uneasily side by side: a stern "semi-documentary" expose of the "syndicate" on one hand, and a bleak and brutal pre-Godfather mafia family saga on the other.

As such, it is wildly and tragically uneven. The leads all turn in brilliant performances, but the screenplay has all the earmarks of a committee job; fascinating ideas and characterizations butt up against terribly overwrought clichés. The main cast is on fire with weighty dialogue, but the supporting cast flounders about as if they were in the most pedestrian B-noir instead of a star-driven studio picture. For the most part, the design is static and lifeless, shot with little flair by Eddie Fitzgerald. Director and co-writer Russell Rouse's previous noir entry was the chancy THE THIEF, also an uneven experiment.

But the film has its scenes of incredible power, usually those revolving around Conte, as a cold and calculating hit-man for hire, and Bancroft, as the put-upon mobster's daughter who can't crawl out from behind dad's shadow; Conte dispatching with "hits", his gunshots creepily muffled by a silencer; Crawford's repeated near-meltdowns; murderous planning done completely straight in a corporate boardroom, just big business as usual.

A puzzler of a film, leaving the viewer to wonder what could have been, had it been shot by John Alton and penned by, say, Dalton Trumbo. Still, it's an extremely valuable entry in the film noir canon, strangely almost impossible to see.

You Make Da Hit, Nick.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 13 September 2012]

This isn't nearly as bad as it starts out to be or as it sometimes becomes. It has to overcome a couple of weaknesses that are so obvious they cry out for attention.

One is the utter absence of any local color. It's all about "New York" but we only see a minute or two of the city in some stock shots under the credits. The film is studio bound and the production design lacks any imagination. All the rooms and offices are cheap and strictly functional. Sometimes the painted backdrop outside the window is presented at the wrong angle and the effect is dizzying because the perspective is askew, as in a de Chirico painting. Speaking of painting, a gang of rival hoods takes a pot shot at the Syndicate Big Wig, Charlie Lupo (Crawford), and just wing him, though the bullet goes through a painting he "paid thirty grand for." I hope it was the one with the two Degas ballerinas because I've checked Degas' ballerinas up close and his pastels are far better than mine ever were, the swine.

This was also the period in which J. Edgar Hoover, President For Life of the FBI, was doing his best to convince the public that there was no such thing as a "Mafia" because he didn't want his boys to get too close to all that money. So there is no Mafia here, only "the organization" or "the syndicate." And, Crawford aside, nobody has an Italian name. They have names like Nick Magellan and Johnny Achilles and Whitey.

Richard Conte is Nick Magellan and with the revelation of his character the movie picks up pace. He's brought in from Chicago, pulls off a professional hit, and soon works his way up to a position as Crawford's trusted deputy. Crawford's trust is justified. Conte's character is a complex one. He is loyal, polite, well spoken, and plays by the rules. The rules are pretty tough. The Organization always comes first. Crawford made up the rules and suffers for it, as does Conte.

There isn't room to spell out the entirety of the plot. It's a crime thriller that puts Crawford, Conte, and Crawford's daughter (Bancroft) through the wringer. Crawford himself is the barking dog that he lapsed into whenever the direction was slack, as it is here. (He was much better elsewhere, as in "All The King's Men.") Conte's character is an honorable man and he plays it with restraint.

Poor Anne Bancroft as the put-upon daughter is resentful and alcoholic and is burdened with some of the worst lines. "What's the matter, Nick? TAKE me! I'm THROWING myself at you!" But Nick, a heterosexual, is still a man of honor and never violates someone else's territory. He gives Marilyn Maxwell, Crawford's main squeeze, the same treatment. Man, how she would love to have Conte stay for that nightcap. But the script isn't entirely dumbed down. Maxwell is a hardened whore, yet when Crawford finds his daughter has been killed, she is there to comfort Crawford and share his grief.

It's not a "film noir," a term that seems to have lost almost all meaning. It's a crime thriller that takes place mostly in daylight and with few expressionistic effects. Maybe Russell Rouse didn't have the time, the money, or the imagination to bring any poetry to the story. There is one tense scene that takes place in an elevator descending from the top floor to the lobby -- too slowly, because it's carrying three murderers who must get out of the building before the maid discovers the fresh cadaver. (The scene is lifted from 1947's "Kiss of Death".) And there's another scene in which Conte brings off a hit and we see the victim slowly twist and fall, but only his shadow.

In many ways the story isn't THAT different from "The Godfather". "New York Confidential" has the family values, the code of honor, the equivalent of the Five Families, the Italian connection, the need to kill one or two of their own, and even a consigliere. But it illustrates the difference between the work of studio hacks and the work of a talented director.

One of the Best of the "City Exposes" A Film-Noir Sub-Genre...Popular in the 50's

[LeonLouisRicci · 7/10 · 21 February 2023]

Like the "Police Procedurals", "City Exposes" was a Very Popular Sub-Genre that Formed in the 1950's, with Some, but Not Pure Film-Noir Style.

"NY Confidential" is 1 of the Better Ones with a High-Powered Cast, at the Top-of-Their-Game, a Rough and Realistic Tone, and Striking Dialog and Characters.

What's Missing, if You're Looking for "Pure" Film-Noir, is the Lack of Any Expressionism, Surrealism,

or Something that "Announces" and Ambience that is Other-Worldly, Dream-Like, and Places the Audience in a Crack Somewhere Between a "Vision" and Reality.

This, "Pulled From the Headlines" (not really confidential) Inside Story of the "Syndicate" (organized crime, also known as The Mob, The Mafia, The Organization, etc.).

All are Synonyms, that the Shameful FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, Insisted "Does Not Exist".

This is a Film that Employs Absolutely No-Frills.

The Sets are Bare-Bone and Dull, as is Most of the Costumes, Lighting, and Cinematography.

It is so Boring, that the Characters Must Stand-Out and Draw the Focus Away from Every-Thing-Else, and They Do.

Broderick Crawford Vacillates from Coming Unglued, to Warm Self-Reflection about "Spoiling" His Daughter, and Respect and Love for His Aging Mother.

Anne Bancroft in a Break-Out Sizzling Performance that Dominates when She is On-Screen.

Truly Great Acting, in a Secondary Part, but that Would Not Go Unnoticed.

Richard Conte, Oozing Screen-Presence, as a Hit-Man, the Son of Crawford's Life-Time Friend, is Cool and Collective, yet Loyal to a Fault, and Has Absolutely No-Time for Dames of Any Kind.

Mike Mazurki is the Head-Gunsel and Sleazes His Way into the Proceedings with a Few Powerful Scenes. J. Carroll Nash is Crawford's Partner, who has to Exile when the Heat is On.

Marilyn Maxwell, and Her Dresses Provide the Only Sparkle, as the Mistress of the Boss.

Despite a Total Lack of Style, and is as Straight-Forward as a "Bullet", the Film is so Rich in Great Acting and Good Characters that it's Certainly...

Worth a Watch.

Crawford Vacations from Highway Patrol To Be Mr. Big

[DKosty123 · 7/10 · 10 May 2020]

This is quite a little film. Richard Conte (Magellan)is very strong as is Broderick Crawford(Lupo) in a story about organized crime. The Syndicate is a nationwide organization that is run much like a big corporation, the people are expendable so that business can go on. The cast is very powerful with Marilyn Maxwell and Anne Bancroft in solid supporting roles.

There is no mercy here for anyone, just like a large corporation. Charlie Lupo (Crawford) is the big man who has to keep things in order for everybody. His daughter (Bancroft) does not like his business and wants to break away. His girlfriend is a kept woman who wants to desperately seduce Magellan (Conte) because she senses he is stronger than Charlie for the long run. Charlies daughter (Bancroft) also desperately needs to seduce him.

In the end, neither girl gets what they want (though it is possible that Maxwell has the keys to his safe deposit box at the end of the movie.) That along with some characters are loose ends in this one. Done on a shoe string through an independent studio this cast makes this movie better than it should be.

Spoiler - this one is good because in the end, there are no winners, except the Syndicate. Like any good major corporation, they have covered their tracks and gotten away despite all the problems. The syndicate covers it's but, and all the main characters in the movie have been hit.

Violent Noir with a great Cast

[gordonl56 · 8/10 · 4 November 2014]

New York Confidential – 1955

Broderick Crawford, Richard Conte, Anne Bancroft, Onslow Stevens, J.Carrol Naish headline this violent film noir from 1955.

Crawford is a New York mob bigwig who has moved the syndicate into being more like a business. He prefers to keep the violence to a minimum if possible. It draws too much attention from the media and the Police. Crawford though, has no problem putting out contracts on people who step out of line.

There has been a mob killing done without an OK from the top. Two civilians were caught in the hit as well, and the Police pressure is on. Crawford calls up his boy in charge of hits, Mike Mazurki. He has Mazurki call in a hitter from Chicago to do the job. Richard Conte is the up and comer brought in to take care of business.

Conte does the job, neat and clean, which impresses Crawford, who takes him in to his mob. Crawford had been a friend of Conte's father in the old days. Conte quickly moves up the ladder and into Crawford's inner circle.

Besides business, complicating Crawford's life is his daughter, Anne Bancroft. Bancroft is a girl who likes the booze and is somewhat of a spoilt brat. She also hates how people treat her once they discover who her father is.

Conte becomes Crawford's fixer of problems because he is so smooth and efficient at his job. He continues to move up in the organization as others are moved out. Conte is pleased with the life, flash cars, 200 dollar suits and plenty of night life.

Of course things go bad when a Federal Government type on the take, William Forest, screws up a multi-million dollar deal for the mob. The Mob bosses have a vote and decide to bump Forest off. Mike Mazurki, William Phillips and Henry Kulky draw the hit.

The hit goes bad and a cop is killed during the getaway. The media play up the cop's death and a big investigation is started. Crawford sends Conte to clean up the mess by eliminating the three hitters. He manages to dispose of Kulky and Phillips, but Mazurki gets away.

Mazurki decides the only way to stay alive is to turn State's evidence. He offers to exchange info on his bosses for protection and a deal. The Government uses this to go after Crawford, who then goes into hiding.

The Mob bosses have another vote and decide that Crawford has to go in order to take the Police pressure off. Conte is the man sent out to take care of the problem, which he does. What Conte does not know is that the Mob has also decided he knows too much as well. They have sent a man to eliminate Conte after Crawford is dealt with by Conte.

The first 35 minutes is real cracker-jack noir. Then it stumbles a bit in the middle before picking up steam again at the end. The look of the film is not what it could have been. A better director of photography would have helped. Eddie Fitzgerald was best known for being the d of p on the long running LASSIE television series. But, as a whole, it is an entertaining 87 minute fun ride.

Excellent!

[RodrigAndrisan · 10/10 · 21 May 2020]

Very good job done by Russell Rouse, a director I hadn't even heard of until this movie. I knew the three great actors in the film from other good or very good films. I knew the excellent Anne Bancroft from "The Miracle Worker", "The Pumpkin Eater", "The Graduate", "Silent Movie", "Jesus of Nazareth", "The Elephant Man", "To Be or Not to Be", "Fatso" (directed by her), or "The Naked Street", another youth film, in which she has as partner the great Anthony Quinn. Here, very young, she achieves another spectacular role. I knew Broderick Crawford only from the excellent film "Il Bidone" directed by the greatest filmmaker of all time, Federico Fellini. Here too he plays a great role. I knew Richard Conte from movies like "Assault on a Queen", "Tony Rome", "Lady in Cement", "Operation Cross Eagles", "The Godfather". But, I never thought he was capable of such a subtle role, here he has probably the best score of his entire career. Very good movie, especially thanks to the three actors mentioned.

Another great noir on YouTube

[tony-70-667920 · 9/10 · 22 December 2020]

In 1950 Senator Estes Kefauver chaired a Senate committee investigating nationwide organised crime, which thanks to the stupidity of Prohibition had become one of the biggest businesses in the States. Until then few had been aware of the existence of the Mob/Mafia/Cosa Nostra/Organisation (in this film The Syndicate), and the FBI's J. Edgar Hoover, obsessed with Reds under the bed, denied its existence. It was the ultimate expression of American corporate greed, red in tooth and claw. Russell Rouse and his partner, co-writer and producer Clarence Greene, had written "D.O.A.", directed by Rudolph Mate, with one of the greatest openings in cinema. Its success enabled them to make their own films. "NYC", available in a perfect print on You Tube, was their fourth and followed "Wicked Woman" starring the stunning Beverly Michaels, who became Mrs. Rouse and unfortunately for us then retired. Charlie Lupo (Broderick Crawford) is the New York boss of the Syndicate, with senators in Washington on his payroll. He anticipates Brando in "The Godfather" in that he's a devoted family man. He loves his mum and his daughter Kathy (Anne Bancroft), but the latter is ashamed of his "profession" and wants to escape him. To eliminate one of his men who's endangered the operation by pursuing a personal vendetta Lupo hires a hitman from Chicago called Nick Magellan (Richard Conte), the son of his old mentor, and becomes fond of him. Magellan likes Lupo too, but when a Kefauver-like commission is set up, and Charlie decides to sing to avoid a Murder One charge he becomes a liability to the organisation. There can be only one outcome. As in "The Godfather" it's nothing personal, only business. Crawford is his usual bullish self, and Bancroft is sensational, but the outstanding performance (surely his best) is Conte's. jromanbaker is on the money when he suggests this film may have inspired J.-P. Melville's crime films, but whereas Delon's attempts to emulate Conte's cool just made his characters blank ciphers, Conte is fascinating : someone likens him to a cobra, always ready to strike. Crawford also appeared in "The Fastest Gun Alive", with Glenn Ford, the Russell-Greene team's next film, always one of my favourite Westerns. The rest of their work isn't as interesting, but do yourselves a favour and catch this one and the others I've mentioned.

Tough....really, really tough.

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 19 November 2022]

Aside from a bit of unnecessary narration at the end about how crime is evil, I really loved "New York Confidential". It's because nearly all other mob films of the day, there are no good guys...just scum killing scum and a few innocents getting killed in the process. It's unrelentingly grim plot make it a great film...one well worth watching.

The film centers on two people...Mr. Lupo (Broderick Crawford), a mob boss, and Nick (Richard Conte), a hired gun who is intensely loyal. The film seems like a step-by-step instruction manual on how organized crime is conducted...complete with an aura of supposed respectability, cops and politicians in the bag, and absolutely no personal loyalty. Aside from later films like "The Godfather", I really cannot recall another movie quite like this one. Add to that some terrific acting, a dandy script and a toughness you will adore, and you have the recipe for an exceptional crime film. Well worth seeing.

A treat - a realistic "minor" crime drama and mafia film with three fine actors

[PaulusLoZebra · 8/10 · 10 July 2023]

Richard Rouse's New York Confidential is a fine movie. It feels realistic and genuine. It's portrayal of the mafia seems more sophisticated than the movies that came before it. It's a very good screenplay, easy to follow but plausible and with plenty of twists. It is a real pleasure watching the three stars at work. Broderick Crawford is great playing ... Broderick Crawford, showing power, bluster, urgency and frailty all at the same time. Richard Conte and Anne Bancroft are possibly even better, Conte exuding confidence, charm and self-control and Bancroft making us feel the desperation of being trapped inside a mafia clan. I applaud the producers and director for choosing to use only a few Italian American actors in a film about the mafia - only Conte, Bancroft and a few minor players - as it shifts the focus from the ethnic aspects to the business itself and the individual choices each of the criminals makes.

Did Jean-Pierre Melville see this film ?

[jromanbaker · 9/10 · 11 May 2020]

A tremendously good film showing the veneer of civilization, and giving us a glimpse of the corrupt politicians and mob bosses who really rule the world. I thought of the great Melville, and Alain Delon and wondered if Richard Conte had not been the prototype of his roles, especially in ' Le Samouri ' which is arguably Melville's greatest film. Russell Rouse directs and directs well. and his cast in near perfect. Melodrama ( face slapping etc ) only slightly mars the slick world depicted of anonymous rooms and lifeless interiors. There is nothing to attract the eye except the murders, the ruthless attacks and the soulless relationships. Anne Bancroft acts at too high a pitch and Marilyn Maxwell is there for decoration, but both Broderick Crawford and especially Richard Conte with his cool exterior who steal the film. Both actors show how given the right roles how great they were. A film to encourage anyone to think about how the world turns, and afterwards, if they have not before, watch Melville's films. In a way they were a homage to this kind of film, but sometimes the homage surpasses the source material. ' New York Confidential ' is perhaps not known well enough, and it was certainly one of the toughest of its genre.

Syndicate first but death levels all

[adrianovasconcelos · 9/10 · 1 December 2023]

Without ever rising to Oscar material, even in a supporting capacity, Richard Conte certainly deserves to be remebered as a very good actor. In this film he portrays the unflinchingly loyal and unsentimental to near-mechanical point assassin, Nick Magellan, and I rate this performance among his best, along with HOUSE OF STRANGERS and I'LL CRY TOMORROW.

Ann Bancroft emerges as Conte's character mirror image, independent and able to think and decide for herself. The difference is that she is good, a straight and utterly loving and lovable woman whose fate is determined by the fact that she was born into a top syndicate family in NY. Her father is superbly played by Broderick Crawford, also in one of his career's finest hours. Albeit in a minor role, even Mike Mazurki delivers what I see as his best role ever.

B&W cinematography by Eddie Fitzgerald and editing by Grant Whytock are absolutely first class, and the Lait and Mortimer script pays homage to the docu noir films of the 1950s with a voiceover narrator who never over-intrudes, letting the riveting plot unfold on its own.

Obvious moral of the story, even if never forcibly rubbed in: you fall into the orbit of crime and only death will separate you from it.

Definitely unmissable, especially if you are into film noir. 9/10.

Cast is the biggest virtue

[clore_2 · 10 July 2013]

The credits come on and one is really set up for something good. Broderick Crawford, Richard Conte, Anne Bancroft, Onslow Stevens, Marilyn Maxwell, J. Carroll Naish, Barry Kelley, Tom Powers, Mike Mazurki, Celia Lovsky...

The film starts with location footage and the stentorian tones of a narrator so you figure you're going to get one of those De Rochemont docudramas or at least a cheapie along the lines of Conte's The Sleeping City which was shot on location here in NYC.

No, soon we're on the Goldwyn lot which wouldn't be bad if there were some creative angles or lighting. But no, individual scenes are all harshly lit except for a fist fight when they needed to hide the stunt men (not very well either). Also, there are no dissolves, all scenes end with a fade to black and you half expect to see a commercial.

The story structure is no better - two major characters are just written out with no drama to punctuate the exits. The story in itself is promising enough, with hit man Conte imported from Chicago and recruited to remain with Crawford's mob after he neatly disposes of some upstart who causes headlines which "the syndicate" would prefer to avoid.

Crawford's daughter Bancroft seems to be falling for Conte, but that goes nowhere. Crawford's girl Marilyn Maxwell is definitely falling for Conte, but that goes nowhere, but hey, at least now the subtext folks have something to read into it. All I saw there was poor writing.

Conte's character is fairly bright it seems, then Bancroft uses the word "penchant" and he seems dumbfounded. That reversal happens again at the end of the film, but I won't reveal in what manner. Crawford keeps telling Conte he's brighter than all the other "pigs" he has in his employ who can't even spell their own names. So then, how has Crawford managed to head the East Coast mob and hold off trouble for 20 years if everyone working for him is an idiot? By the way, you will never hear the word "pigs" used so often in 87 minutes unless you're at a hog-calling contest.

Worth watching to see so many familiar faces in one film, but as to whether it's worth watching again is another matter. If I do, it won't be soon.