Vice Raid

This is not the best Edward L Cahn's film, unlike GUNS GIRLS AND GANGSTERSa, also starring Mamie Van Doren, but with Lee Van Cleef and Gerald Mohr, a film far more interesting, taut, tough than this predictable and tepid one. Brad Dexter is excellent as the mob leader but that's all. The overall atmosphere of a US noir movie is OK, for,moviegoers more or less craving for Mamie Van Doren, and I know this poor man's Jane Mansfield has a fan club all over the world, even now, eighty or at least seventy years old fans. It is shown as a kind of expose crime drama, with an off voice, but I repeat: everything is predictable here; the good cops and gorgeous moll against the evil syndicate...No, really, I prefered GUNS, GIRLS AND GANGSTERS. Even Sam Katzman's movies as a producer, with Fred Sears as a director were better than this one.

Syndicate crime boss Malone (Brad Dexter) wants to get do-gooder vice cop Whitey Brandon (Richard Coogan) out of his hair so he sets up a rather intricate plot of framing him. Malone gets "model" Carol Hudson (Mamie Van Doren) to come into town and lie that Brandon tried to extort her during a bust. Thankfully, the department is prone to believing the testimony of floozies over their most decorated cop and Brandon is fired. So he sets out to get his revenge and receives an unlikely ally in Carol after her teenage sister is raped by one of Malone's hoods. This was actually my first Van Doren film and I enjoyed it. She is definitely a looker and you can bet the soundtrack fills with swooning jazz when she enters the picture. She is also pretty decent as an actress. Also of note is Juli Reding, who has one scene early on as a "model" who is more than proud to show her magazine work to Brandon ("Close it up or you might catch cold.") Coogan, looking a bit like Robert Stack, is good in the lead, if a little stiff. Director Edward L. Cahn definitely won't be accused of doing anything inventive during the proceedings, although there is a nice dummy fall during the final shootout.

The film begins in New York City with two vice cops named "Whitey Brandon" (Richard Coogan) and "Ben Dunton" (Frank Gerstle) intercepting a mobster by the name of "Muggsy" (Shepherd Sanders) and a young female model he is escorting from Dallas named "Gertie" (Juli Reding). As it turns out, Muggsy works for a mob boss named "Vince Malone" (Brad Dexter) who has made a fortune operating a high-class prostitution ring which he fills with women coming from various cities to include Detroit, St. Louis and Chicago. In this particular case, Whitey has gotten wise to Malone's activities and all he needs is some inside information from Muggsy to help clarify a few things. What Whitey doesn't realize, however, is that his partner is also working for Malone and, rather than jeopardize his position, kills Muggsy the first chance he gets him alone. Needless to say, this creates a problem for Whitey's investigation. Conversely, it also creates a problem for Malone who decides to get rid of Whitey by framing him for a crime he did not commit. And to do this he calls Detroit and has them send a special call girl named "Carol Hudson" (Mamie Van Doren) who is as smart as she is beautiful. Unfortunately, what nobody counts on is Carol's younger sister "Louise Hudson" (Carol Nugent) arriving a few days later which severely complicates matters for all concerned. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was an okay crime-drama which, for all intents and purposes, relies more heavily upon the presence of Mamie Van Doren than anything else, as she totally dominated every scene. Yet even though she definitely adds a certain amount of pizzaz to what would otherwise be a rather drab picture, her presence alone wasn't quite enough for me to rate this movie any higher than I have. Average.

A vice detective goes up against a call girl (Mamie VanDoren) and loses in court. But once unemployed, the cop starts handling investigations his own way.

I really liked this film. As a historian who focuses on organized crime, I liked the idea of the "octopus" and "syndicate" without the film having to say Mafia or resorting to Italian-American stereotypes. While the Mafia probably was the dominant force at this time (the 1960s), they were hardly alone.

The subject matter was also handled really well. Although the story centers on prostitution, it was done in a clean manner -- no sex, no nudity, no vulgar language. There were some slinky outfits, but nothing racy. Today, I doubt they could make this film without plenty of sex in it, and I much prefer this version. I liked it even more because of the narration.

"Vice Raid" is a very good cop film with mostly little-known actors--apart from Mamie Van Doren. It's the story about an unnamed city's vice squad--one in which much of the force is on the take to the mob. However, one cop isn't on the take and isn't afraid of the crooks--and because of that, Mr. Big has decided to ruin him. So, using some help he imported from another city, he uses Carol Hupdson (Van Doren) and the cop's own partner to lie about his to internal affairs. Next thing you know, he's off the force--and itching for revenge. And what finally helps the now ex-cop in his crusade against the gangs? Carol's little sister is the key. How exactly it all works out is for you to see for yourself.

While this film lacks a huge budget and big-name stars, it makes up for it with tough dialog and a nice little story. The bottom line is that for an inexpensive noir film, it delivers the goods and is worth your time.