Gene Kelly vs. the Mob

 

Gene Kelly is largely remembered for his dancing and his musicals. This, of course, is how it should be. 

But he did occasionally take on a purely dramatic role. I think Black Hand (1950) is the first time he did so.

The movie begins in 1900, with an Italian-American husband and father secretly meeting with the New York cops. He's willing to testify against the Black Hand--the local Mafia. He's refusing to buckle under and pay protection money. But events do not play out in his favor and he ends up dead.

His wife and teenage son return to Italy. But the son (now grown into Gene Kelly) returns in 1908. Giovanni Colombo is determined to get justice for his dad.

But justice isn't easy to come by. The Black Hand has everyone too terrified to take action or testify in court. Even Giovanni's childhood friend Isabella urges him to give up his quest. So does police detective Louis Lorelli (perfectly played by J. Carrol Naish). No one believes you can beat the mob.

And it looks like they might be right. Giovanni has some success in organizing the neighborhood to take a stand, but when they have their first meeting, thugs toss Giovanni through the door with a broken leg. 

Still, he keeps trying. By now, Isabella and Lorelli are his firm allies. And they eventually come up with a plan. Lorelli will take a vacation and travel back home to Italy. He'll check the files of the big city police forces there, making a list of wanted men now living in the U.S. This would allow the New York cops to simply deport the mob.

But, not suprisingly, there are Mafia thugs in Italy as well. Lorelli's "vacation" may not go smoothly.

By the time the action moves back to New York, Giovanni is desperately searching for Isabella's kid brother, who is being held by the Black Hand to force Giovanni to hand over key evidence against them. What follows is a very tense sequence in which Giovanni is captured, but comes up with a clever and... well, rather explosive method of escaping. 

It's a great ending to an excellent movie. The director, Richard Thorpe, infuses the dark streets of New York with menace, then manages to do the same thing on the sunny streets of Italy. Gene Kelly gives a strong performance, while J. Carrol Naish really is spot-on as Detective Lorelli. Black Hand is worth watching.