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| CHICAGO CONFIDENTIAL |
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| Actors: Brian Keith, Beverly Garland, Dick Foran, Douglas Kennedy, Paul Langton |
| Director: Sidney Salkow |
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Studio: MGM |
| DVD release: 18 April 2011 |
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Runtime: 73 minutes (1 disc) |
| Format: Black and white, NTSC, Widescreen, DVD-R |
| DVD features: Aspect ratio 1.85:1, Audio tracks (English - Mono)
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Chicago Confidential is pretty standard fare for crime dramas. The cast is great, though, and the acting solid, so this "ripped from the headlines" story of corruption and crusaders for justice goes down pretty easily.
Based on a nonfiction book by Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer, Brian Keith plays Jim Fremont, a state attorney determined to smack a little justice upside the heads of corrupt union officials. The writing is a little muddy here, as we are told (by a persistent and largely ineffectual narrator) that the prosecutor is a crusader for justice, but what we actually see is a ladder-climber motivated by ambition.
The story is pretty straightforward, drawing on mainstays of crime drama. The union mobsters - in cahoots with a gambling syndicate - want to pin a murder on Blane (Dick Foran), a union boss who won't play in the dirt with the rest of the gang. Fremont and his gal Laura (Beverly Garland) try to prove Blane's innocence and bring the real criminals to justice. Throw in a couple romantic twists and a plot setback or two, and you've got yourself a movie.
You may have seen it all before, but this is still a fun flick for lovers of the genre. Garland is looks great in a soup of otherwise mediocre photography and cliched framing while the bit part played by Elisha Cook Jr. as Candymouth Duggan is over-the-top fun.
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