Horrors! The Florida legislature is going to consider legalized gambling in their state. If approved, casinos, the numbers racket (state lottery), and sports betting will be on their way. Yep, in 1956, this was big news. Mobsters funneled into the Sunshine State to get a piece of the action, bribe pols and civic leaders, and grab up licenses to begin building these casinos. Miami was a nice place back in 1956, before legalized gambling took hold. In 2025, Miami is not a good place. In an era where every professional sport has been hijacked by gambling apps, and many of the players are on the take, our film today may serve as a nostalgic piece of history to a better time. Let us look at 1956's "Miami Expose," directed by Fred F. Sears.
Organized crime is trying to take over Florida. Gambling interests (mobsters) from Vegas and Havana are flocking to the state ready to tap into a huge tourist population with a lot of cash. Raymond Sheridan (Alan Napier), one of those mobsters, has a plan. Bribe politicians, blackmail gambling skeptics, and murder gambling opponents. Doing this, his assassins leave a witness...the sultry dame wife of some mobster, Lila (Patricia Medina). Detective Bart Scott (Lee J. Cobb) is also on the case when the same peeps murder his captain. Lila runs to Havana believing she will be killed in Miami. Bart follows and takes her away from her BF Louis (Michael Granger) and brings her up to Miami to testify. Lila can't take two steps without an attempt on her life, so Bart hides her in a cabin in the Everglades.
Now Bart needs to piece some facts and events together to make a case against Sheridan. Knowing he's a target, too, Bart sends his GF Ann (Eleanor Tanin) and her little boy with Lila to the cabin in the swamp. Brilliant idea...I can just see it, catfight in the swamp! Could be an early pay-per-view event. The mobsters and assassins are smart and of course will figure out where this cabin is as Bart reacts to carnage and shootings of relevant witnesses and civic leaders.
Will Bart be able to put a case together, and keep witnesses alive, against Sheridan? Will Lila and Ann rip off one another's blouses, pull the other's hair, and scratch at the other's eyes while rolling around the swamp mud? In 2025, would a public safety crusader like Detective Bart Scott be considered a puritanical villain? How times have changed, but anyone who lives in Miami will tell you about the crime and murder rate and the vice that has conquered that city. See "Miami Expose" and take it as a warning of who ultimately controls the gambling that even permeates your smart phone.
No comments:
Post a Comment