Backdrop fallback

The System

The System

Share

The System

"The shakedown shootout monster-reign that crimedom called... The System"

1953

1h 30m

5.3(10 votes)

Crime

Overview

A gambling boss is pressured by the law and press when a crusade is started against him after one of his collectors becomes a killer.

Links & Resources

Social & External

Production Companies

Warner Bros. Pictures

The people behind it

Cast & crew

10 featured cast members

Starring

Frank Lovejoy

Frank Lovejoy

John E. 'Johnny' Merrick

Joan Weldon

Joan Weldon

Felice Stuart

Robert Arthur

Robert Arthur

Rex Merrick

Paul Picerni

Paul Picerni

David Wiley

Don Beddoe

Don Beddoe

Jerry Allen

Jerome Cowan

Jerome Cowan

Barry X. Brady

Dan Seymour

Mr. Marty

Sarah Selby

Sarah Selby

Liz Allen

Fay Roope

Fay Roope

Roger Stuart

Frank Richards

Frank Richards

Charley, Merrick's Butler

Creative team

Directed by: Lewis Seiler
Written by: Samuel Grafton
Edith Grafton
Produced by: Samuel Bischoff

Similar Movies

Dead Man's Eyes

Dead Man's Eyes

Artist David Stuart is blinded by a jealous model whose portrait he is painting. His fiance's father generously offers his eyes for a sight restoring operation. There's only one hitch: Stuart has to wait until after the man dies. Not surprisingly, when the benefactor dies a very premature death, suspicion falls on the artist.

Pillow of Death

Pillow of Death

Attorney Wayne Fletcher and his secretary have an affair. When Wayne's wife is found smothered to death, he becomes the prime suspect. As the police investigate the murder, a psychic with questionable motives tries to contact the deceased woman. Soon, Wayne begins seeing visions of his dead wife, and other people involved with the case begin to be killed, one by one.

The Frozen Ghost

The Frozen Ghost

When a man dies of a heart attack, a stage and radio mentalist believes he has willed him to die because he was angry with the man. Riddled with guilt, the mentalist cancels further shows, breaks off his engagement to his female partner, who can read minds while in a hypnotic trance, and takes refuge in the eerie wax-museum-cum-home of another woman friend.

The Red Goodnight

The Red Goodnight

A young aspiring boxer is lured by a powerful impresario into a dangerously compromising situation.

Tarzana

Tarzana

A private detective takes on a strange case.

Mr. District Attorney

Mr. District Attorney

An assistant district attorney gets mixed-up with a woman who is working for the group that he is investigating.

Post Office Investigator

Post Office Investigator

A mailman leads PO-men to a pistol-packing stamp thief and her gang.

The Sinister Illusion

The Sinister Illusion

16mm Starring Charls Carroll

Elevator to the Gallows

Elevator to the Gallows

A self-assured businessman murders his employer, husband of his mistress, which unintentionally provokes an ill-fated chain of events.

Touch of Evil

Touch of Evil

A border-town bombing draws Mexican investigator Miguel Vargas into a corruption-ridden police investigation led by crooked captain Hank Quinlan, setting off a deadly struggle over power, justice, and truth.

The Girl with the Golden Chain

The Girl with the Golden Chain

A wistful PI reflects on the case of Alice Draper, a young starlet whose death he failed to solve.

Dead Man's Hand

Dead Man's Hand

A gang of bootleggers play a game of poker after the death of a recently murdered member.

Key Largo

Key Largo

A hurricane swells outside, but it's nothing compared to the storm within the hotel at Key Largo. There, sadistic mobster Johnny Rocco holes up - and holds at gunpoint hotel owner James Temple, his widowed daughter-in-law Nora, and ex-GI Frank McCloud.

Un vestito di piombo per il signor Chalmers

Un vestito di piombo per il signor Chalmers

Private eye Billy Cooper hopes to conclude his assignment by the end of the night, but he'll have to deal with unexpected consequences.

In the Gray

In the Gray

A young detective in 1950’s Los Angeles comes to terms with their identity while tracking down a serial killer targeting the city’s top detectives.

Killer's Kiss

Killer's Kiss

Davey Gordon, a New York City boxer at the end of his career, falls for dancer Gloria Price. However, their budding relationship is interrupted by Gloria's violent boss, Vincent Rapallo, who has eyes for Gloria. The two decide to skip town, but before they can, Vincent and his thugs abduct Gloria, and Davey is forced to search for her among the most squalid corners of the city, with his enemy hiding in the shadows.

The Stranger

The Stranger

An investigator from the War Crimes Commission travels to Connecticut to find an infamous Nazi, who may be hiding out in a small town in the guise of a distinguished professor engaged to the Supreme Court Justice’s daughter.

Black Angel

Black Angel

A falsely convicted man's wife, Catherine, and an alcoholic composer and pianist, Martin, team up in an attempt to clear her husband of the murder of a blonde singer, who is Martin's wife.

Au K par K

Au K par K

While Le Tampon might seem peaceful, Katiana goes undercover as a delivery driver to solve the mystery of the neighborhood florist and his hidden romantic life.

Cry of the City

Cry of the City

Petty crook and cop-killer Martin Rome, in bad shape from wounds in the hospital prison ward, still refuses to help slimy lawyer Niles clear his client by confessing to another crime. Police Lt. Candella must check Niles' allegation; a friend of the Rome family, he walks a tightrope between sentiment and cynicism. When Martin fears Candella will implicate his girlfriend Teena, he'll do anything to protect her. How many others will he drag down to disaster with him?

Recommended Movies

The Face Behind the Mask

The Face Behind the Mask

A kindly, enthusiastic, newly-arrived American immigrant from Hungary is forced to turn to a life of crime after his face is badly disfigured in a hotel fire.

Plunder Road

Plunder Road

A spectacular heist starts to unravel as the crooks take it on the lam.

Nightfall

Nightfall

An innocent man turns fugitive as he reconstructs events that implicate him for a murder and robbery he did not commit.

5 Against the House

5 Against the House

Former war-time Army buddies now students in college decide to rip off a Reno casino.

The Glass Key

The Glass Key

A crooked politician finds himself being accused of murder by a gangster from whom he refused help during a re-election campaign.

They Live by Night

They Live by Night

An escaped convict, injured during a robbery, falls in love with the woman who nurses him back to health, but their relationship seems doomed from the beginning.

You Only Live Once

You Only Live Once

Based partially on the story of Bonnie and Clyde, Eddie Taylor is an ex-convict who cannot get a break after being released from prison. When he is framed for murder, Taylor is forced to flee with his wife Joan Graham and baby. While escaping prison after being sentenced to death, Taylor becomes a real murderer, condemning himself and Joan to a life of crime and death on the road.

The Big Combo

The Big Combo

Police Lt. Leonard Diamond vies to bring a clever, well connected, and sadistic gangster to justice all the while obsessing over the gangster's girlfriend.

The Asphalt Jungle

The Asphalt Jungle

Recently paroled from prison, legendary burglar "Doc" Riedenschneider, with funding from Alonzo Emmerich, a crooked lawyer, gathers a small group of veteran criminals together in the Midwest for a big jewel heist.

Johnny O'Clock

When an employee at an illegal gambling den dies suspiciously, her sister, Nancy, looks into the situation and falls for Johnny O'Clock, a suave partner in the underground casino. Selfish and non-committal by nature, Johnny slowly begins to return Nancy's affection and decides to run away with her, but conflict within his business threatens their plans. As Johnny tries to distance himself from the casino, his shady past comes back to haunt him.

The Big Knife

The Big Knife

Movie star Charlie Castle draws the ire of Hollywood producer Stanley Hoff when he refuses to sign a new seven-year contract. Castle is sick of the low quality of the studio's films and wants to start a new life. While his estranged wife supports him in the decision, Castle's talent agent urges him to reconsider. When Castle continues to be uncooperative, Hoff resorts to blackmail in order to get his way.

The Web

The Web

A brash young lawyer takes a short-term, high-paying job as bodyguard for a slick business exec being threatened by a former partner, and quickly realizes he may be in over his head.

The Damned Don't Cry

The Damned Don't Cry

Fed up with her small-town marriage, a woman goes after the big time and gets mixed up with the mob.

The Set-Up

The Set-Up

Expecting the usual loss, a boxing manager takes bribes from a betting gangster without telling his fighter.

They Made Me a Fugitive

They Made Me a Fugitive

After being framed for a policeman's murder, a criminal escapes prison and sets out for revenge.

The Man Who Cheated Himself

The Man Who Cheated Himself

A veteran homicide detective who has witnessed his socialite girlfriend kill her husband sees his inexperienced brother assigned to the case.

Side Street

Side Street

A struggling young father-to-be gives in to temptation and impulsively steals an envelope of money from the office of a corrupt attorney. Instead of a few hundred dollars, it contains $30,000. When he decides to return the money, things go wrong - and that is only the beginning of his troubles.

The Blue Gardenia

The Blue Gardenia

Upon waking up to the news that the man she’d gone on a date with the previous night has been murdered, a young woman with only a faint memory of the night’s events begins to suspect that she murdered him while attempting to resist his advances.

The Naked City

The Naked City

After a former model is drowned in her bathtub, Detective James Halloran and Lieutenant Dan Muldoon attempt to piece together her murder.

The Locket

The Locket

A dark personal secret drives a young woman to use every man she encounters.