Mel Tormé, born in 1925, made his mark in the late 1950s with a series of notable performances. He appears in The Big Operator (1959), where he navigates the gritty underbelly of the entertainment industry, and Girls Town (1959), a film that explores the lives of troubled teens. Tormé's transition from music to acting highlights his versatility, and his work in these films adds a distinct flavor to the cult cinema landscape of the era. His role in The Private Lives of Adam and Eve (1960) further cements his place in the genre, blending humor with a touch of the risqué.
The Big Operator
Ruthless union leader "Little Joe" Braun (Rooney) is due to face questioning from a Senate committee. On the night preceding the inquiry, he sends a hit man, Oscar "The Executioner" Wetzel, to kill a witness named Tragg and steal incriminating documents in Tragg's possession at a factory. The union has two very different factions, and one group are surprised to find the other on strike when they arrive at work. Demanding a meeting with Braun it is clear that unless they toe the line they are out. McAfee is thrown out of the union allegedly because his dues are not up to date. Factory workers and friends Bill Gibson and Fred McAfee are accidental eyewitnesses to Wetzel meeting with Braun shortly after the crime. Braun pleads the Fifth Amendment during his Senate testimony and vehemently denies knowing the mob enforcer Wetzel. But with a perjury charge facing him, Braun realizes that Gibson and McAfee could potentially put him behind bars. A campaign of intimidation against the two men begins. They are harassed at work and then fired on false grounds. McAfee is set afire and nearly dies from the burns. Gibson and wife Mary panic after their son Timmy is taken captive. Gibson, who had been blindfolded in Braun's car, recreates and retraces with great difficulty the way to a hideout where Timmy is being held. After fighting and subduing Wetzel and his accomplices, Gibson and the authorities can't find Braun or the boy and are about to give up when they spot Braun's cigar, still burning in an ashtray. They find him cowering in a closet with the boy, then drag him away to jail.
