The Mouthpiece Reviews

Hard-hitting crime drama starring William as an assistant DA who is horrified to discover that a man he sent to the chair was proven innocent only moments after the execution. Totally demoralized, William begins drinking heavily and accepting work from mobsters as their "mouthpiece." Bitter and cynical toward the legal system, William proves a great success at keeping swindlers and killers out of jail. With his newfound success also come expensive habits and lots of fast women. William begins to have doubts about his new lifestyle when he meets and falls hard for plain, wholesome stenographer Fox. Unfortunately, Fox has a steady boy friend, but when the kid gets in a legal jam, William comes to his rescue and saves the boy, even though it means double-crossing his mobster pals. Eventually the mob catches up to William and he is machine-gunned on the street while he reads a newspaper. Grim and powerful, with few signs of aging. Remade unsuccessfully as THE MAN WHO TALKED TOO MUCH (1940) and ILLEGAL (1955). The story is partly based on the life of New York City attorney William J. Fallon. When the film opened in Syracuse, New York, Ruth Fallon, daughter of the late lawyer, filed a libel suit against the theater owner, who was fined $100. She later agreed to an out-of-court settlement with Warner Bros.