In "Shakedown," Howard Duff plays a photographer named Jack Early, who will do anything to get to the top of the success ladder. He gets a job at a major newspaper because of how hard he works, and it's not long before he makes a name for himself by getting a famous crime boss, Nick Palmer (Brian Donlevy), to let him take his picture. Palmer takes him under his wing, but Early decides to bite the hand that feeds him and turns Palmer and another crime boss, Colton (Lawrence Tierney), against each other. He uses pictures to force Colton to give him a steady income while he sneaks up on Palmer's wife and dates the photo editor at the newspaper where he works.