The Big Operator *** (1959, Mickey Rooney, Steve Cochran, Mamie Van Doren, Mel Tormé, Ray Danton) – Classic Movie Review 10,121

Director Charles F Haas’s 1959 crime thriller The Big Operator [Anatomy of a Syndicate] stars Mickey Rooney as a union racketeer called Little Joe Braun, who sets off on the rampage when the US Senate starts investigating his affairs.

Steve Cochran plays the honest union member hero Bill Gibson, who threatens to testify to a Senate Committee that he saw the corrupt labour boss having an incriminating conversation with a criminal, which Braun denied on oath. Bill Gibson becomes a murder target and then retaliates when Braun (Rooney)’s henchmen abduct his son, and his buddy Fred McAfee (Mel Tormé) is torched.

Rooney, Cochran, Tormé, Ray Danton as Oscar ‘The Executioner’ Wetzel and Mamie Van Doren as Mary Gibson head a strong B-cast who do well and enjoy a finely written screenplay in this sturdily constructed remake of Paul Gallico’s Cosmopolitan Magazine story, filmed in 1942 as Joe Smith, American. Rooney really relishes his vicious bad guy role and regular film bad guy Cochran is also very effective cast against type in this commendably tough-nosed, tension-packed little gangster movie

Also in the cast are Jim Backus, Jackie Coogan, Charles Chaplin Jr, Ray Anthony, Ben Gage, Billy Daniels, Maila Nurmi [Vampira], Lawrence Dobkin, Leo Gordon, Jay North, Ziva Rodann, Don ‘Red’ Barry, Joey Forman, Hugh Sanders, Norman Grabowski, Larry Kent, Peter Leeds, Carey Loftin and Vido Musso.

The Big Operator [Anatomy of a Syndicate] is directed by Charles F Haas, runs 91 minutes, is made by Albert Zugsmith Productions and Fryman Enterprises, is released by MGM (1959) (US) (UK), is written by Robert Smith and Allen Rivkin, based on Paul Gallico’s story, is shot in Panavision and black and white by Walter H Castle, is produced by Albert Zugsmith and Red Doff, is scored by Van Alexander, with production designs by E Preston Ames and Hans Peters.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,121

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