In 1955, Charles Bronson played a cellmate to Broderick Crawford in BIG HOUSE USA... and only four-years earlier (as Charles Buchinsky) he had a quick yet important part in the Waterfront noir THE MOB...
Where Crawford's an undercover cop (after the opening theme later used for THE BIG HEAT) seeking the leader/boss of a crime-syndicate screwing around the workers by choosing only their own... and Bronson's the one guy complaining during his single scene where they're calling out names for work (overseen by future GODFATHER horse-head victim John Marley), while Crawford and his newfound working-class buddy Richard Kiley look on...
After which THE MOB takes place mostly at night, sometimes in shadowy alleyways but mostly within economical studio interiors aping motel rooms or taverns... while random baddies from gun-wielding goon Neville Brand to bigger gun-wielding goon Ernest Borgnine put Crawford through the ringer, including an attempting wrong-man murder rap...
And like any noir there's a good girl in Crawford's nurse fiance, and a seemingly bad girl in a setup/date he has the hots for, and vice versa... but only because he's pretending to be single...
And while the future HIGHWAY PATROL icon definitely looks the part of a tough guy, he's simply too old and fat for sexy women to instantly adore or for his undercover ruse to seem legitimate... instead resembling one of the veteran police chiefs who sent him on the mission in the first place...
Overall, because of his size, age and teflon countenance, no matter what happens, Crawford never seems in any real danger -- taking the thriller out of what's more a rushed yet entertaining b-crime time-filler... with a pretty neat twist on who's actually running THE MOB.
Where Crawford's an undercover cop (after the opening theme later used for THE BIG HEAT) seeking the leader/boss of a crime-syndicate screwing around the workers by choosing only their own... and Bronson's the one guy complaining during his single scene where they're calling out names for work (overseen by future GODFATHER horse-head victim John Marley), while Crawford and his newfound working-class buddy Richard Kiley look on...
After which THE MOB takes place mostly at night, sometimes in shadowy alleyways but mostly within economical studio interiors aping motel rooms or taverns... while random baddies from gun-wielding goon Neville Brand to bigger gun-wielding goon Ernest Borgnine put Crawford through the ringer, including an attempting wrong-man murder rap...
And like any noir there's a good girl in Crawford's nurse fiance, and a seemingly bad girl in a setup/date he has the hots for, and vice versa... but only because he's pretending to be single...
And while the future HIGHWAY PATROL icon definitely looks the part of a tough guy, he's simply too old and fat for sexy women to instantly adore or for his undercover ruse to seem legitimate... instead resembling one of the veteran police chiefs who sent him on the mission in the first place...
Overall, because of his size, age and teflon countenance, no matter what happens, Crawford never seems in any real danger -- taking the thriller out of what's more a rushed yet entertaining b-crime time-filler... with a pretty neat twist on who's actually running THE MOB.