Big deal! I killed a guy, it just makes me a criminal. – Dance Hall Racket (1953)
Hello to all of the classic people that are returning. I am glad you are back. I want to welcome any new visitors. Today on Classic Movie Review, we are taking on Film Noir Dance Hall Racket (1953). This movie has one of the lowest ratings I have seen on iMDB.com, at 3.5[1]. On Rottentomatoes.com, the film has neither a TomatoMeter nor an audience score[2].
This movie is terrible. I highly recommend against watching it, and I’m a Lenny Bruce fan. Lenny wrote the story and the screenplay for this bomb. On my list of List of All Film Noirs, I am slotting this at 1,056. Dead last. A place I was reserving for Pillow of Death (1945). Please don’t watch it. You cannot get that time back. Watch the Bob Fosse-directed Lenny (1974) with Dustin Hoffman as Lenny Bruce and Valerie Perrine as his wife, Honey Bruce nee Harlow.
Actors – Dance Hall Racket (1953)
New
Timothy Farrell played Umberto Scalli. Farrell was born in California in 1922. He was a bailiff for the LA Sheriff’s office. While working as a bailiff, Ferrel was in twelve full-length films. The films were around the level of today’s fare, i.e., not very good. The Vice Squad raided the filming of Paris After Midnight (1951). Farrell had a 20-year career in law enforcement. He was convicted of a felony and was fired in 1975. Farrell died in 1989.
Comedian Lenny Bruce played the central role of Vincent. He was born in New York state in 1925. Lenny’s parents divorced when he was young. Lenny was sent to live with extended family while his mother tried to find a career in show business. In 1942, Lenny dropped out of high school and joined the Navy. Not caring for the military life, Lenny convinced doctors that he was having homosexual tendencies and was discharged.
Using his mother’s contacts, Lenny slowly found work. He was working in low-end nightclubs and strip joints. In 1951, he married Honey Harlow, which will be discussed below. Lenny was the vanguard of the new age of comics. As such, his topics and language received a lot of negative attention from the authorities.
Often, undercover cops would attend his shows and arrest him on obscenity charges following the show. The use of drugs and constant struggles broke Lenny. By 1965, he had trouble finding work and was in financial straights. He played his last show in 1965 in Los Angeles. He was found dead in his home from a drug overdose on August 3rd, 1966. He was 40 years old.
While not understood during his lifetime, Lenny has become a cultural icon. Lenny is mentioned in songs from Simon and Garfunkel, Genesis, R.E.M., and Bob Dylan. He was also pictured on The Beatles’ album “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”
The comedian was portrayed in the above-mentioned Lenny (1974), in a Broadway play of the same name, a character in All That Jazz (1979), and a recurring character in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” In 2003, New York Governor Pataki granted Lenny a posthumous pardon for his 1954 obscenity conviction.
Bernie Jones played Punky, a Swedish Sailor who skulked around looking for abandoned drinks. Jones looked like a Stan Laurel impersonator with the same hat and a much large jaw. He was very out of place and distracting.
At the film’s time, the former Honey Harlow was married to Lenny Bruce and was cast as dancehall girl Rose. Harlow was born in the tiny northeast Arkansas town in Mississippi County in 1927. Strike Two.
At 17, she was sentenced to a year in the Florida state prison at Raiford. As a teenager, she was incarcerated at Florida’s Raiford Prison. She was the youngest white woman sent to the state prison at the time of her arrest.
With flaming red hair, Harlow worked as a nightclub singer and as a stripper. Harlow met and married Lenny Bruce in 1951 while they were both working in strip clubs and dive bars. They had one daughter. The couple remained married for five years. Following the divorce, Harlow was incarcerated on narcotics charges. Bruce took custody of their daughter.
Harlow was in two films, Dance Hall Racket (1953) and Princess of the Nile (1954). She later remarried, wrote an autobiography titled “Honey, The Lives and Loves of Lenny’s Shady Lady,” and consulted on the film Lenny (1974). Harlow died in Hawaii in 2005.
I will assume Bruce gathered a bunch of his friends for this project. There is just not much to find on Sally Marr as Hostess, Bunny Parker as Dancehall Girl, Joie Abrams as Dancehall Girl, Ronald Lee, Bill King, Mary Holiday as Dancehall Girl, Harry Keaton, or Joe Piro as Henchman.
Phil Tucker was the film’s director. He directed seven full-length films. His first directing job was for today’s film. The last film he directed was the made-for-TV film “The Cape Canaveral Monsters” in 1960. I’ve seen it, and it is horrible. His seven films have an iMDB.com average rating of 3.47.
Story – Dance Hall Racket (1953)
A reporter is interviewing a Customs Agent (possibly Bill King) and asks for a current story. The agent begins the tale of the dance hall racket. The scene changes to the dance hall as the agent begins. This dance hall is unlike the ones often seen in Film Noirs, with overly excited bald men happily dancing with sore-footed, indifferent females in prom dresses. The dancing is a lively swing where the other dancers stop to watch ala Soul Train. The dance hall caters to merchant seamen.
Punky (Bernie Jones) cruises the joint, looking for free and abandoned drinks. In the back, Umberto Scalli (Timothy Farrell) counts money, Rose (Honey Harlow) lazily plays cards, and Vincent (Lenny Bruce) is leafing through a picture magazine.
A customer is sitting with a dance hall girl, and she asks if he wants to take a trip to Hawaii. The bartender brings over a plastic plant so the couple can have privacy while they smooch. A man with a dog leaves the bar and goes in the back to see Scalli. The man with the dog has smuggled illegal diamonds into the country by gluing them under the dog’s ears. Scalli tells Vincent to pay the man for the diamonds. He gives $5,000. When the seller squawks, Vincent threatens him with a knife. The man leaves with the dog and the money. Rose is sent to drink with the diamond seller and ensure he gets a Mickey Fin.
In the bar, the diamond man passes his dog to Punky. Rose sits, and they order drinks. In the back, Vincent reads the crime report on a former club partner, Victor Papus, who has been released from jail but still has $250,000 in gold that he stole. Vincent says he would like to meet Papus, and Scalli says he will give a party for the ex-con the following night. Vincent is sent on his rounds.
The diamond man has his head down on the table, and Rose clips his wallet. He perks up and says he knew she was like all the other dames in the dance hall. He pulls her hair and starts roughing her up. She calls for Vincent as the diamond man tries to burn her face with a cigarette. Vincent pulls a switchblade and kills the diamond man. Punky comes by and thinks the friend is drunk. Vincent calls for Scalli. Scalli chews him out for killing a guy in the club. They take the man out the back without anyone knowing.
When Scalli goes back to his office, Fortuna is waiting. She complains about how violent Vincent is. They have a little spat, and Scalli wants to marry her. She tells him he is a plaything. He explains that he will steal the gold from Papus after the party. He tries to impress her with his stolen diamonds. She says it may work out. She leaves, and Vincent, Rose, and Ice Pick (Joe Piro) report to the boss as ordered. Scalli says his crew are dummies and shouldn’t kill people selling to the boss.
Vincent and Rose are left in the office. Vincent drops one-liners such as, “Big deal, I killed a guy. This makes me a criminal.” They spat a bit and then discussed their love. Rose is a little indifferent. Rose says she doesn’t want to end up as a has-been.
Back in current times, the Customs Agent says they found a diamond, two dance tickets for the dance hall, and a dog license on the dead guy. They bring in an agent from New York to go undercover in the dance hall.
The undercover guy starts meeting the people from the dance hall. In the dressing room, a little bare skin is shown. A new girl is starting and is told that if a guy gets rough, she should call for Vincent. One of the older dance hall girls gives the new girl the what-what about the dance hall. She says the men are chumps, and the new dancer should go for old guys.
Punky does some one-liners.
Vincent brings a girl into the dressing room for an interview. He makes her take her dress off. He gives her a prom dress to wear but insists she remove her bra. Vincent leaves, and the girl cries. Another girl helps her get dressed, and they show more skin.
In the dance hall, a girl shows that they exchange tickets for time. Punky goes to drink the leftovers. The undercover guy tries to get info from Punky. Ice Pick thinks he knows the undercover agent from one of the ships. They start drinking and talking. Ice Pick says that customs hit the ship shortly after he left the ship. Ice Pick invites the undercover guy to the party for Papus.
Rose grabs Punky, and he has been using forged tickets. They throw him out. A blonde dancer is drunk and demanding more booze. Scalli sends another dancer to cut her off, and a big catfight breaks out. The bartender enjoys the show. The blonde beats the other girl and Ice Pick. Scalli and Vincent grab her.
At Wearhouse 1, the local Customs Agents wait to meet with the New York undercover. He tells that he is going to the party. They tell him they will have a squad of men standing by.
Scalli goes over the details with Vincent. He says only trusted dancers and good customers at the party. He lets Scalli know that Ice Pick has invited someone he trusts. Scalli says when he goes for something bigger, he will leave the dance hall to Vincent. Ice Pick comes in and says he is getting married and wants to quit the rackets. Scalli says okay.
A drunk customer does a bit about his hairpiece.
The girls in the dressing room talk about how cute Ice Pick is. One flirts with and kisses him. He is not interested. Vincent threatens the bartender with his switchblade. Scalli gives Ice Pick some money as he leaves.
After visiting the club, a guy complained that $800 was missing from his pocket. Scalli calls Vincent into the office. Vincent pulls out his switchblade and murders the man. The dancer is brought in and slapped for not sharing her stolen money. She lies about the money. Vincent pulls his knife and cuts her dress away until the money is found. They give her a smaller cut and make her take the rest of the night off.
Another man comes in and says he has almost 800 tickets saved. He says he will come and have the place to himself one night. He says he will take a Hawaii trip every 15 minutes. The guy with all the tickets wanders into the dressing room and sees the blonde who got slapped changing her clothes. When she catches him, the blonde demands all of his tickets. He gives over all of his tickets. He complains that he will never get to go to Hawaii. She gives him a kiss.
Scalli is at the head of a party table and says Papus will be there soon. Papus (Harry Keaton) arrives for the party. Scalli offers the ex-con a present for his return. One of the dancers says Papus can’t talk because fellow prisoners cut out his tongue because he wouldn’t tell where the gold was hidden. They have Maxine (probably Sally Marr) dance the Charleston for Papus.
After the dance, Scalli gives Papus his gift. It is Rose wearing only a fur coat. Vincent gets hot and pushes over another guy at the party. Punky goes onto the stage and does some native dancing. Rose flirts with Papus. Vincent goes into the back to ask Scalli what gives with Rose. Scalli goes for a gun, and Vincent grabs it first. Scalli says the bit with Rose was to get the location of the stolen gold.
Vincent shoots Scalli. The undercover agent pulls his gun, which I don’t know how he hides when he’s slow dancing. Vincent gets past the agent and drags Papus out into the alley. He pushes Papus into a doorway and has a gun battle with the undercover agent. Papus pushes Vincent into the alley, and he is shot dead.
The movie ends with the reporter and the Customs Agent. They said the dance hall has a new owner, and soon, they will be doing it all over. The movie ends with people happily dancing.
Conclusion – Dance Hall Racket (1953)
There is not a lot to say about this movie. If you’re a fan of Lenny Bruce, it might be worth your time, but I don’t recommend it. The iMDB.com records for this movie are a wreck. It is almost impossible to tell who is who. They list Joe Piro as henchman on the database but call him Ice Pick in the movie. Punky in the database is called Punchy in the movie, which makes a lot more sense based on how he acts. Harry Keaton is listed in the database but with no character name, and I believe he was Papus.
Just for fun, I calculated the dance hall rates with an inflation calculator. The 12-cent dance ticket would cost $1.37, which is quite a bargain. However, the kissy face trip to Hawaii would run you around $31.[3]
World-Famous Short Summary – Crime doesn’t pay, and neither do bad movies.
This show is now completely free and independent, brought to you without ads. If you enjoyed the show, please subscribe and leave a review where you get your Podcasts. It really helps the show get found.
As a technical note, references and citations are listed for each show on the site at classicmovierev.com.
Beware the moors.
[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045668/
[2] Dance Hall Racket – Rotten Tomatoes
[3] Inflation Calculator | Find US Dollar’s Value From 1913-2023 (usinflationcalculator.com)
Leave a Reply
Your email is safe with us.