The Miami Story

1954
A
1h 15m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Beverly Garland and Barry Sullivan in The Miami Story (1954)

Fed up with the rising crime rate in Miami, the police chief and leading members of the city council hire a former gangster who's gone straight to help eliminate the biggest crime syndicate ... Read allFed up with the rising crime rate in Miami, the police chief and leading members of the city council hire a former gangster who's gone straight to help eliminate the biggest crime syndicate in the city.Fed up with the rising crime rate in Miami, the police chief and leading members of the city council hire a former gangster who's gone straight to help eliminate the biggest crime syndicate in the city.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.1/10

430

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Top cast23

Edit

Barry Sullivan

Mick Flagg aka Mike Pierce

Luther Adler

Tony Brill

John Baer

Ted Delacorte

Adele Jergens

Gwen Abbott

Beverly Garland

Holly Abbott

Dan Riss

Frank Alton

Damian O'Flynn

Police Chief Martin Belman

Chris Alcaide

Robert Bishop

Gene Darcy

Johnny Loker

George E. Stone

Louie Mott

Wheaton Chambers

Harry Dobey - Editor
(uncredited)

Tom Greenway

Charles Earnshaw
(uncredited)

John Hamilton

Clifton Staley
(uncredited)

Al Hill

Simmons, Detective
(uncredited)

David Kasday

Gil Flagg
(uncredited)

Ray Kellogg

Police Lieutenant
(uncredited)

Guy Kingsford

Kingsford - Detective
(uncredited)

Peter Mamakos

Gangster
(uncredited)

User reviews13

Featured review

7/10

ABOVE AVERAGE FOR TYPE...SOME STYLE WITH PROPAGANDA TROPES

Viewed Out of Time these 1950's Police Procedurals and City Exposes, both Sub-Genres of Film-Noir, are so Blatantly Chest-Thumping "The Authorities are Your Friend and We Got This"...

Reek of Post-War Propaganda Platitudes to Placate and Control the Masses, it is a Wonder that Anyone at the Time didn't Barf on Their Britches at such Jingoism.

But Apparently Not, and it was a Common Opening to make Audiences Feel Safe and Sound in America.

In this one it is one of Miami's Senators.

Moving On...The Film is Slightly Above Average for its Type with some Stylish Blood-Letting and the Movie is Draped with Shadows.

Barry Sullivan is His Manly Self Punching and Assaulting Everyone in Sight, even Women, to Establish His Force as He Infiltrates Organized Crime in Miami.

B-Babe Beverly Garland, Plays a "Good Girl" in an Early Role and is Expressionistic Introduced to Sullivan with Face in Complete Shadow.

A Couple of Scenes Later Her Face is Beaten to a Pulp by Gangsters because..."She Clammed Up"...

Not Tolerated by the Mob even though this is Seaside.

Photos8

+ 5

More like this

7.0

New York Confidential

6.3

6.6

6.4

6.5

6.9

6.2

5.8

McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force

6.7

6.6

6.3

6.8

Storyline

Edit

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
Even though this was filmed while the Motion Picture Production Code (colloquially referred to as the Hays Code) was still being enforced, the filmmakers were able to push back on some of the limits, evidence that the Code was weakening in the 1950s. This film fairly graphically shows two men after being shot dead, shows a woman who had been badly beaten, and talks openly about prostitution and underage prostitution. The filmmakers most likely argued these "shocking" scenes would reiterate the pro-law-and-order message.

Goofs
Mick Flagg obviously pulls his punches in several shots.

Quotes
[first lines]
[as a montage starts, a voice can be heard narrating]
Narrator: In the years following World War II, organized crime in the United States grew to such proportions that it's scope was greater than the law enforcement agencies that tried to fight it.
[a shot of the U.S. Capitol Building can be seen]
Narrator: Finally, in the nation's capitol, the Senate Investigating Committee presented a new threat to gangland, and panic began to grip the overlords of crime.
[a montage of Miami can be seen playing]
Narrator: They sought a new central headquarters for their operation. The city where they felt they could be safe. They chose the Miami area, a vacation wonderland, a Mecca for tourists, who swelled the normal population of 600,000, to more than 2 million in the winter season. A city where the tough, honest police force was inadequate in size to protect the tremendous overflow of people. Then, out of sheer necessity, a way was found to crush crime in Miami. As Senator George Smathers, of the State of Florida relates...