What's Your Racket? Is a B-Movie Fever Dream

Is it worth your time?

If you have a soft spot for grainy, low-budget crime dramas where everyone talks like they’re trying to impress a taxi driver, you’ll probably get a kick out of this. But if you need polished dialogue or a plot that doesn't feel like it’s held together by rubber bands and hope, stay far away.

This isn't exactly high art. It is the kind of movie you put on while you are reorganizing your junk drawer.

The Vibe

The whole thing feels rushed, which is honestly its best quality. You’ve got J. Carrol Naish doing that thing he does—looking intense while standing in doorways—and he somehow makes the whole thin script feel way more important than it actually is.

There is this one scene involving a telephone call that goes on for, I swear, an entire geological epoch. You can almost see the actors wondering if the director forgot to yell cut.

Little Details

• The lighting in the backroom scenes is so dark I had to squint at my screen like a confused owl.
• Noel Francis is doing a lot of heavy lifting here with just her eyebrows.
• The extras in the background of the club scenes look like they’re just waiting for their own scenes in High Stakes or something equally frantic.

There’s a strange lack of urgency in the way these mobsters handle their business. They spend more time posing in suits than actually doing crime, which is a weird choice for a movie about a gang war. It’s almost charming, in a 'my grandad’s old scrapbook' kind of way.

The Verdict

It’s not trying to be The Patriot, thank god. It’s just a scrappy, messy, occasionally fun slog through 1934 bad guy tropes. 🚬

I stopped paying attention to the plot about forty minutes in. Honestly, the movie seemed to stop paying attention, too. That’s probably when it got good.