The Payoff is a 1935 American dramatic film directed by Robert Florey. James Dunn stars as a newspaper reporter promoted to the sports desk, but saddled with a wife whose spending habits drive her into a relationship with a blackmailing racketeer.

Plot
Joe is a reporter who is looking for his big break and he gets it when he takes over George Gorman’s sports column. Marty is a hood who would fix any sporting event he could and Joe keeps the pressure of the paper on him. His wife Maxine, however, wants only the finer things in life and when Joe is on the road, she becomes Marty’s Gal. That and the money that she owes Marty ends Joe’s career as a New York Register columnist and starts his new career as a drunk. But Connie, who has had a crush on Joe for years, will try to make him the reporter he once was.

Cast
James Dunn as Joe McCoy
Claire Dodd as Maxine McCoy
Patricia Ellis as Connie Travers
Alan Dinehart as Marty Bleuler
Joseph Crehan as Harvey Morris
Frankie Darro as Jimmy Moore
Frank Sheridan as George Gorman
Al Hill as Mike
Paul Porcasi as Nick
George Chandler as Reporter