Hoodlum Empire

A nice post-war noir that echoes 30s gangster pictures with 50s perspective on life. It's a good enough story with decent performances and the flashback filled narrative is well executed. There's nothing bad here, but not much ambition to strike for greatness either.

Senate committee hearings threaten the reputation of a former gangster gone good. Capitalizing on the Kefauver hearings, this is a pretty dull story with pretty dull characters and a messy, tedious flashback structure. None of the performances light up the screen, even Brian Donlevy and Claire Trevor are rather disappointing. The script is corny and clichéd, the execution of it is uninspired. Nothing about the film is outright horrible, but there's no reason to recommend it.

Showed so much potential the way it started, thinking it was going to be a gritty gangster drama, but then we get their backstory and it feels like one of the most sappy roads to gangster life ever put on screen. Did have a few personalities, like Claire Trevor, making it a serviceable drama, but it never comes together the way one could have hoped, even with the selection of tough faces they put up-front.