New York Confidential (1955)

The head (Broderick Crawford) of a New York crime family called the syndicate brings in a hit man (Richard Conte) from Chicago and then builds him up in his organization. Loosely based on the novel by Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer and directed by Russell Rouse (an Oscar winner for his screenplay to PILLOW TALK). Often referred to as film noir, at heart the film is really an old fashioned gangster movie and antecedent to THE GODFATHER in its look at organized crime as a business with its own rules and regulations and the thin facade of "respectability" that is put up by the mob or syndicate as it is known here. The film is without sentiment (unlike THE GODFATHER) or proselytizing about its denizens and indeed, very cold and clear headed in its execution. Anne Bancroft has one of her rare early good roles as Crawford's daughter trying to escape the taint of being a Mafia princess. With Marilyn Maxwell, J. Carrol Naish, Barry Kelley, Mike Mazurki and Celia Lovsky.