Critics reviews

Every shot buzzes with intelligence and activity, like when Scarsi’s mob competition awaits news of his arrival. They sit on a rooftop discussing strategy until a burlap sack is raised up and a mustachioed informer pokes his head in, informing them of Scarsi’s impending arrival. There are a lot of these little bits of invention, negative space being turned into active ones.

Gangster films are among the most pleasurable to watch—who among us hasn't fantasized about running their own criminal enterprise?—and The Racket does not disappoint. For fans of pug-nosed strongmen, nihilistic good-time gals, and back door deals, Milestone's addition to the adolescent genre goes down like a jolt of bathtub gin.

The Racket offers a more classical silent-film look: sets that hardly try to mask that they're stiff studio backdrops, mostly stationary camera set-ups pointed directly at actors all lined up in a row. That said, there are some beautiful images, especially the first shot of a window opening onto an evocatively detailed city street, and Milestone was undeniably a master at eliciting emotional performances in close-up.