The Frightened City (1961)

The crime drama, a sub-genre that was a dime a dozen in the 1950'-60's.  Almost every actor of this time was in at least one, but only a few could boast they were in one that was any good.  You can add The Frightened City to the mix of crime drama's you've never heard of that starred a few recognizable mugs like Herbert Lom (whose popped up in three early Connery films now) and of course the great master of suaveness Sean Connery.

The Frightened City is the story of a large time mob conglomeration that eventually grows to big for it's britches and ends up backfiring on those involved.  Herbert Lom plays Waldo Zhernikov an accountant and financial adviser to big time corporations as well as some of the cities more seedier business owners.  Waldo agrees to help a local mobster reinvest his ill gotten gains without the government finding out and comes up with a brilliant idea.  Why not pool all the cities resources into one brute force instead of the constant rivalry and competition between the separate mob bosses?  Everyone agrees to give the association a shot and the profits instantly increase compared to previous individual grossing.  A veteran cat bugler by the name of Paddy Damion (Sean Connery) is brought in to oversee the "insurance" collection from the local businesses that the mob is dealing with, but eventually things begin to get out of control when Waldo gets greedy and decides to start blackmailing big time corporations.  This ends up causing disagreement within the ranks of the association and begins to draw too much attention to their operation.

As a whole The Frightened City has it's moments, but eventually it turns into another cookie cutter crime drama without a whole lot going for it.  Connery gives good performance as low level criminal caught up in a big time racket that he eventually becomes uncomfortable with, and Herbert Lom is quickly becoming another cult favorite of mine.  I had never heard of him until embarking on watching all of Connery's films and have come to discover that he was quite the popular action in Britain during this time.  Aside from the performances of Connery and Lom, The Frightened City is simply another descent early Connery film that might be worth checking out if you're a fan of 1960's crime dramas and happen to stumble upon it, otherwise you're not missing much.

6/10