New York Confidential

Richard Rouse's New York Confidential is a fine movie. It feels realistic and genuine. It's portrayal of the mafia seems more sophisticated than the movies that came before it. It's a very good screenplay, easy to follow but plausible and with plenty of twists. It is a real pleasure watching the three stars at work. Broderick Crawford is great playing ... Broderick Crawford, showing power, bluster, urgency and frailty all at the same time. Richard Conte and Anne Bancroft are possibly even better, Conte exuding confidence, charm and self-control and Bancroft making us feel the desperation of being trapped inside a mafia clan. I applaud the producers and director for choosing to use only a few Italian American actors in a film about the mafia - only Conte, Bancroft and a few minor players - as it shifts the focus from the ethnic aspects to the business itself and the individual choices each of the criminals makes.