In "Shakedown," Jack Early (Howard Duff) is a photographer who will stop at nothing to climb his way to the very top of the success ladder. On the strength of his sheer tenacity, he gets a job with a major newspaper, and it's not long before he's made a name for himself by charming a notorious crime boss, Nick Palmer (Brian Donlevy), into allowing himself to be photographed. Palmer takes him under his wing, but Early decides to bite the hand that feeds him and sets Palmer and another crime boss, Colton (Lawrence Tierney), against one another. He uses photos to blackmail Colton into providing him with a steady income while he sidles up to Palmer’s wife on the sly, all the while romancing the photo editor of the paper at which he works.