Johnny Eager is a 1941 American film noir directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Robert Taylor, Lana Turner and Van Heflin.

Johnny Eager masquerades as a taxi driver for his gullible parole officer, A. J. Verne, but in reality, he is the ruthless head of a powerful gambling syndicate.

When childhood friend Lew Rankin gets fed up with his subordinate role in the gang and starts plotting against him, Johnny murders him without the slightest qualm.

Mae, a prior girlfriend, asks him to help get her incorruptible policeman husband transferred back to his old precinct because his long bus commute is straining their marriage.

Eager kills Halligan and Julio, but as he attempts to flee, he is spotted by a policeman disembarking from a bus, and is shot down.

Van Heflin provides a sardonic portrait of Johnny's Boswell, full of long words and fancy quotations.

[5] Variety reported "Johnny Eager is an underworld meller with a few new twists to the usual trappings, but by and large it's the familiar tale...of slick gangster vs innocent rich girl.