Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

Cooktopi The acting in this movie is really good.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

bkoganbing The Miami Story is a fast moving no frills noir story about organized crime in Miami and Dade County. The supposition is that the explosive post World War II growth of the area led to a rise in organized crime and the police force did not grow with the population as well.Which calls for some drastic measures and a citizen's committee similar to the one that aided in the takedown of Al Capone in Chicago is formed here. Their reluctant operator is former gangster Barry Sullivan who says he's fronting for a Cuban syndicate. It's all one giant con game on the local Miami kingpin Luther Adler. Adler plays and plays well a lot of criminal types on the screen. He's a smart operator and won't be easy to fool. He also has as his number one trigger man John Baer who really loves his work.Beverly Garland and Adele Jergens play a pair of sisters, Garland is an entertainer and falls for Sullivan. Jergens is part of Adler's team and I think this might have been her career role. She's a tough cookie in charge of the vice and prostitution part of Adler's criminal empire. I think she was the best in the film.US Senator George Smathers introduced the film. I suspect that Smathers was looking for a little of Kefauver type publicity to attach itself to him. He was half way through his first term in the Senate and there was sure no downside to him being part of the promotion of The Miami Story.Smathers is long gone but the film holds up well for today's audience.

Richard Chatten Mob involvement in Batista's Cuba before Castro closed down all the casinos was a major plot element in 'Godfather II', and it's interesting to see a gritty contemporary take on the subject, enhanced by location filming in Miami when all those Lincoln-Mercuries that are still a feature of downtown Havana were brand new. Columbia were evidently satisfied with the results, since they send director Fred Sears on a return trip to Miami two years later to make 'Miami Expose' (1956).Luther Adler plays another of his sybaritic crime bosses, complete with a tall, blonde henchman (John Baer) who thirty years later would have been played by Dolph Lundgren. Adler's Queen Bee second in command Adele Jergens and a young Beverly Garland both make vivid impressions during the relatively little screen time they get, although it's a tall order to accept that the two are sisters.SPOILER COMING: Once again surveillance technology in an old movie is far in advance of anything available in the 21st Century. The TV pictures provided by the spy camera planted in Adler's office produce sound and images of a clarity way ahead of anything you see in modern documentaries or news programmes (which almost always require subtitles as what is said is usually inaudible). The spy footage would probably also have been in colour had the film been.

kapelusznik18 ***SPOILERS*** Your usual 1950's crime movie-With a city in its title- that has ex-con Mick Flagg, Barry Sullivan, recruited by the Miami Police Department and citizens group to go undercover as a mobster in order to get the goods on mob boss Tony Brill, Luther Adler, who's in charge of the entire Miami & South Florida crime syndicate. It's Flagg who was framed on a murder charge, that he was found innocent of, by Brill 12 years ago that more then motivated him to do it. Flagg got help for one of Brill's bar girls, who hated his guts, Holly Abbott played by Beverly Garland who ended up being busted up and bed ridden-with a cracked skull-by one of Brill's men Ted Delacorte, John Baer, for her efforts.Working together with the Miami and Cuban police Flagg has Brill's casino bugged with the latest state of the art video and T.V equipment to get the goods on him in how he's cheating his paying customers on the crap card and roulette tables as well as laundering money for the mob. There's a falling out between Brill and his top henchman Delacrote who feels that their being set up by each other only to find out that it was Flagg that was doing the setting up.***SPOILERS****Sneaking on Brill's yacht Flagg's disarms and dumps Delacorte into Miami Bay and rescued his 10 year old son Gil,David Kasday,who was kidnapped by Brill's goon from a Northern Flordia orange grove with a wetting in his pants, in him knowing that the gig is up ,Brill meekly surrenders to the police with out a shot. That after him boasting like the late John Dillinger that he'll never be taken alive!P.S The movie "Miami Story" reunited both Luther Adler and Beverly Garland in the first film that they were in since the 1950 film noir classic "D.O.A".

XhcnoirX Luther Adler heads a crime syndicate that's running Miami, with a fancy lawyer making sure he's untouchable, and a coldblooded John Baer to do his dirty jobs for him. The latest one is the assassination of 2 Cubans as they exit an airplane, in front of a crowd. Frustrated and fearing things will go from bad to worse now, local businessmen hire an ex-gangster from Chicago, Barry Sullivan, to try and get enough on Adler to get him in front of a grand jury. Adler framed Sullivan years before, so Sullivan accepts, and enlists the help of Cuban cops to pretend he's part of a Cuban crime ring moving in on Adler's turf. He also meets a woman who flew to Miami with the 2 deceased Cubans, Bevery Garland, who has an unsuspected connection to Adler's squeeze, Adele Jergens.One of countless docu-noirs exposing every sort of crime ring in every major US city, this one even has a Florida senator chime in at the start, as well as the mandatory authoritative narration. Made on a low budget, it's pretty standard fare, but still manages to entertain. Sullivan ('The Gangster') is great as the former gangster who's still cold and callous when necessary, and Adler ('D.O.A.') played villains for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Jergens ('Armored Car Robbery') and Garland ('New Orleans Uncensored') play opposite roles, and esp Jergens is great as a bitter femme fatale just past her prime.The directing by Fred F. Sears and cinematography by Harry Freulich is competent and occasionally inspired (there's a great shot of Garland when Sullivan first meets her inside his hotel room). They worked together on a number of movies, including other city/crime exposés like'Chicago Syndicate' and 'Inside Detroit'. Sears would even return to Miami a few years later for 'Miami Exposé'. All in all, while there's nothing under the sun here, and there are no real surprises (maybe that it's slightly more graphic than usual), it's a fast-paced and enjoyable movie if yer into this subgenre/corner of film noir.