Hoodlum Empire

This rather plodding crime melodrama, inspired by the Kefauver investigations into organized crime in 1950-51, features Donlevy as a crusading senator (a la Senator Estes Kefauver) out to destroy Adler's criminal empire. The flabby story begins with Russell, a onetime mobster who has gone off to war, has performed heroically, and has undergone a moralistic transformation, refusing to have anything to do with his former associates upon his return. He seeks anonymity by opening a gas station, but mobsters find Russell, then use his name in a vast money-laundering scheme that brings him to the attention of Donlevy and law enforcement officers. Russell fights back with...