In the style of the syndicate movies of the 1950s, in the wake of the Kefauver hearings on organized crime, there's an emphasis on the complex corporate structure of Stewart's illegal business operations. When she thinks O'Keefe can grease her way to the top, she throws herself at him (`Now you're romancing me like I was Liberace,' he puzzlingly tells her.) She becomes his helpmate and decoy. Her rival for his attentions (Allison Hayes) has a secret agenda: she's the orphaned daughter of the slain bookkeeper, nursing a vendetta. But even an attempt to `scare the girdle off her' fails, as she holds incriminating microfilm, stashed away as her insurance policy. His current trophy (Abbe Lane), who sings with bandleader Xavier Cugat in mob night spots, drinks too much and endures humiliation and beatings at his hands. He's right to be wary, because women hold the tools to destroy him. But apparently she's the exception that tests his misogynistic rule (`Everything gets better with age, except women,' he observes). Stewart idolizes his mother, who refuses to budge from his tough old neighborhood. In no time he's won the trust of boss Paul Stewart (whose start in movies was in Citizen Kane, as Raymond the sinister butler). When a renegade syndicate bookkeeper is gunned down on a crowded street in broad daylight (incidentally triggering his wife's suicide), federal agents enlist Dennis O'Keefe, a forensic accountant working for the police, to infiltrate the underworld. There's little in the late noir Chicago Syndicate that hadn't already been done, and more memorably, in the cycle, but, given the limitations of its director and cast, it does its job. He is one of the best of all noir actors. It kept reminding me of a certain comic on a classic TV show about writers for a TV comedy. The only distracting part of the movie is the O'Keefe character's name: Barry Amsterdam. She's an interesting presence: She looks like a meaner version of Jane Russell. Yes: The star of the immortal "Attack of the 50-Foot Woman." Hayes does a fine job. Though she gets lower billing, the main female is really Allison Hayes. Real-life husband Xaviar Cugat is on-hand, too: He's her band-leader and is pining after her. Lane had a good vocal style and she knew how to be sewn into a glamorous dress. That's because she's played by Abbe Lane. We hear her sing, and she is pretty darn good. With his eyes sunken and dark, Stewart is a highly effective villain (albeit a suave one.) His current girlfriend sings at a club he runs. He goes undercover to blow the lid off a syndicate run by mama's boy Paul Stewart. Fred Sears! That guy knew how to turn out these trashy but effective crime exposes! Dennis O'Keefe, who seems a little down-at-the heels, is the lead. It has a truly sleazy feel and is very well directed.
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