This is one of those crime dramas that has the weird feeling of U.S government propaganda. I say that just because, at the beginning of the film, Senator George Smathers (Florida, 1951-1969) sits behind his desk and gives a brief pep talk about how the Government is working hard to stamp out crime.
I mean, that's fine and everything, but I've seen other films where a government official says a few words at the beginning of a film, and that just seems odd to me. Like crossing the line between church and state -- in this case, Hollywood and state. Just don't.
The narrator, too, has the sound of an old-school documentary film narrator. This is a film. Not a documentary. Not a government-produced film.
But those would be minor concerns if I connected more to actual content of the film, but I don't.
Basically, the good business leaders of Miami want to take action, and they heavy-handedly force an ex-Chicago gangster (now father and overall good guy -- yes, he was a Chicago gangster, but he wasn't exactly accused of the crimes they said he committed... and now he's retired and father anyway, so we should like him) to help them fight Miami's criminal element.
This ex-gangster, as good as he might be, still tells one young lad that he should go ahead and assassinate his crime boss. The crime boss has treated him like a son, but the lad is ready to do it... Shoots the crime boss, but discovers the gun had blanks. Crime boss, fortunately, has no hard feelings. Just admits that he's sorry that the young lad turned out to be a punk like all the rest...
Stuff like that, see.
Then, somehow, the retired gangster, now reunited with his kidnapped son and a woman he's picked up along the way, all live happily ever after in Indiana. Just weird.
Can't really recommend this one.
Rating: 2/5
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