The Racket - Lewis Milestone
All of the main story beats are missing. The reason for this is that there is no hero. The main character, Captain Quiggly (Thomas Meighan – The Land Of Promise, Eve’s Daughter), has no or little agency.
There is no Catalyst. The story takes place entirely in the ordinary world meaning at any time Quiggly could return to where he was at the start and there would be no ramifications.
The Crisis is affected by Quiggly’s actions: he makes the mob boss mad. As the DA is in the mob’s pocket Quiggly is shipped out to the sticks.
The Climax is the same. The mob boss confesses to the murder and is then killed because the DA won’t protect him. In response, he says he is going to tell the cops everything.
So they kill him. Quiggly is nowhere to be seen. There are a few saving graces for the film.
There is so much detail and complexity to the relationships. This is primarily because the film is silent and this forces so much more to happen because the action carries the plot.
The party scene for the mob boss’s nephew is fantastic as it shows the power that women are seen to have in society at this point. We get to see this through one of the performers.
There isn’t much more to say apart from the fact that this poor excuse for a film got nominated for best picture.
I wouldn’t bother with this old classic there are plenty of others that are good.
