Bullets or Ballots

“WHO Rules The Rackets ? This picture puts the finger on the political higher-ups!”

In 1936, a city's rackets run on money and fear, and Johnny Blake (Edward G. Robinson) is a former detective who walks into that world by punching the new police commissioner in public. The stunt convinces boss Al Kruger (Barton MacLane) that Blake wants in, though Bugs Fenner (Humphrey Bogart) is sure he's still working for the police. William Keighley frames the choice of the title plainly: a man can live by the gun or by the law, and either one can kill him.