Loan Shark

OK: That's only at the beginning. catch the start of this nice little noir. Raft makes an entrance any diva would have been pleased with. And he arrives to visit his sister. On the way, he passes a squabbling couple. The sister greets him with love and concern, commenting on how tired he looks. And then he goes to soak in a hot bath! Later in the movie, we see that the authors have been influenced by another play that became a movie: The girlfriend of one of the bad guys suddenly sounds like Judy Holliday as Billie Dawn, from "Born yesterday." It may indeed have been unconscious. But wait: The climactic scene -- and this is giving nothing away -- is set in a theater.

All this said, it's an excellent movie for something on so obviously low a budget. Raft is the same as he usually was. He's not exciting but he gives a solid performance. The lead female, Dorothy Hart, is attractive and convincing. The supporting cast is very good and they're all well directed.

It's by no means a great movie but it's a decent, good one, worth your time.

Loan Shark is a nice little gangster melodrama centering in on the loan sharking racket. By the time this movie was made, George Raft's popularity was dwindling. But for George Raft fans, this movie still makes the grade. In my opinion, with the exception of "Each dawn I Die", "They drive by night" and "Invisible Stripes", his best movies were done in the 1950's. In Loan Shark, Raft is cast as Joe Gargan, a tough ex con who wants to settle down and go straight by working with his brother-in-law's tire company. But alas, the tire plant is infected by a wave of assaults and killings. The plant's general manager pleads with Raft to find the criminals responsible and perhaps put an end to the bloodshed. Watch for Russell Johnson (TV's "the professor" on Gilligan's Island")in an early role.

Very good noir that doesn't pause for a moment, gives us a good look at the inside of the tyre manufacturing factory and the allied thuggery via the loan sharks and plenty of violence. Indeed this is a fairly tough one with vicious beatings (if not always particularly convincing) and a very decent performance from George Raft. He seems a bit old to still be playing the ladies' man but when he makes a grab for his sister's friend and forces a kiss from her, we realize this is someone not to underestimate. The story moves along well and it is only a shame that after the tremendous opening with the rain soaked and heavily shadowed streets leading us to the first beating, things slow down, just a little. Plenty of good stuff though and a fine and unusually set finale.

George Raft is Joe Gargan, an ex con who is hired by a tire factory owner and a union leader to help smash a loan sharking mob that has been preying on factory workers. Joe works his way into the loan sharkers operation in order to get the goods on the guy who killed his brother in law and find out who the mobs top boss is. Since Joe can't tell anyone what he is up to, this puts a strain on his personal life; his sister no longer wants anything to do with him and he gets dumped by his girlfriend. Of course Joe clears everything up at the end.

Although LOAN SHARK has a somewhat weak script, the film is a fast paced, well acted, and efficient gangster thriller. Dorthy Hart, who played Jane to Lex Barkers Tarzan the same year as this film, looks lovely. Overall, LOAN SHARK is recommend for fans of George Raft and post war gangster movies.

Good little crime drama at a time when TV and Technicolor were shoving B-flicks off the marquee. Raft may be along in years (51) for his romantic clinches, but he sure as heck continues as one of Hollywood's premier tough guys. Then too, he's in rough company with two of the industry's best no-nonsense supporting actors, Hoyt and Stewart. Together the three create a solid core of tough-guy menace that carries the storyline.

Seems Joe (Raft) is just out of prison and wants to go straight, but his sister's husband has been killed by loan sharks whose ruinous effect on working people he soon learns about. So he decides to to expose the criminal organization by going undercover and using his savvy tough-guy skills to disrupt their operation. Those scenes of him undercover in an actual tire factory are riveting and heighten the movie's general sense of menace, almost like a mechanical version of hell. On the other hand, too bad the producers used empty studio sets for supposed city streets that disrupt that general sense of realism. Also, the shootout could use less clumsy staging. Nonetheless, be sure to catch the naughty innuendo between Vince (Hoyt) and his cheap blonde mistress (Dean) - yeah, censorship's deadening 20-year grip is loosening.

Anyway, the flick's got a solid core of drama and suspense that also rewards fans of the inimitable George Raft, so don't pass it up.