Detective Johnny Damico (Broderick Crawford) in search of a gift for his future wife comes across a murder scene. The killer dupes Damico into thinking he's a cop and skips. Humiliated and in danger of losing his badge he agrees to go undercover along the waterfront and work to break up a corrupt racket more than likely tied in with the murder of a cop.
There's an excess of close-ups in The Mob and when you are dealing with mugs the likes of Brod Crawford, Ernie Borgnine and Neville Brand, a thuggish expressionism evoking Georges Grosz evolves within scenes. The lummox like Crawford depending more on sarcasm than wit looks very much at home as a dock walloper managing to handle a forklift and downing drinks while alienating co-workers and Mr.Big. Not exactly the most deft undercover agent scenes devolve into screaming matches as Johnny looks for new ways to irritate instead of gathering evidence.
Robert Parrish direction is indistinctive outside of the opening table setter scenes and the expressionistic portraiture. It becomes static after that, leaving you rooting for hapless Brod as Johnny while on the look out for sightings of Charles Bronson and John Marley at the very start of their careers along with Ernie.
There's an excess of close-ups in The Mob and when you are dealing with mugs the likes of Brod Crawford, Ernie Borgnine and Neville Brand, a thuggish expressionism evoking Georges Grosz evolves within scenes. The lummox like Crawford depending more on sarcasm than wit looks very much at home as a dock walloper managing to handle a forklift and downing drinks while alienating co-workers and Mr.Big. Not exactly the most deft undercover agent scenes devolve into screaming matches as Johnny looks for new ways to irritate instead of gathering evidence.
Robert Parrish direction is indistinctive outside of the opening table setter scenes and the expressionistic portraiture. It becomes static after that, leaving you rooting for hapless Brod as Johnny while on the look out for sightings of Charles Bronson and John Marley at the very start of their careers along with Ernie.