Themes: Cons and Scams, Sibling Relationships, Fall From Power
Main Cast: John Garfield, Thomas Gomez, Marie Windsor, Roy Roberts, Beatrice Pearson
Release Year: 1948
Country: US
Run Time: 80 minutes
Plot
John Garfield, in the best performance of his career, portrays Joe Morse, an ambitious attorney who has long since abandoned his scruples in favor of monetary reward. Morse now represents the interests of crime boss Ben Tucker (Roy Roberts), who plans to take over the numbers racket in New York. Morse has devised a way of doing this legally and above-board, with no violence: Tucker's people will bring about the collapse of the illegal numbers racket in the city, using a race track-betting scam that will bankrupt the small-time underworld numbers banks; an investigation will ensue, along with a call for a legal numbers operation in the form of a lottery, which Tucker will control through Morse's machinations. The whole plan hinges on Morse's estranged brother, Leo (Thomas Gomez), a small-time numbers banker who is to be shielded from the collapse, and who will serve as the "legitimate" front for Tucker. Leo is the flaw in the plan, however, because not only can't he stand the sight of Joe, but he is also too honest to participate in the plan -- he doesn't want his employees, all decent people just looking to earn a living, forced into the employ of real gangsters. Joe orchestrates a series of police raids that force Leo into his corner, and Joe's plan seems to be working out, but then the whole enterprise is threatened when a rival mob, run by Tucker's former Prohibition-era partner, Fico (Paul Fix), starts pressuring Leo, trying to get to Joe and Tucker. Fico and his men aren't any different from Tucker's mob, except that they're prepared to start shooting sooner to get what they want. Tucker decides to hang tough and expects everyone, including Leo, to do the same, even when Fico starts sending thugs around to frighten everyone. Soon Joe is beset by problems on three fronts -- he wants his brother out of Tucker's combination and safe; he is trying to romance Leo's bookkeeper (Beatrice Pearson), who is too nice a girl for who he is; and his own well-being is threatened by both Fico and Tucker, and a state investigator who has already tapped the phone of Joe's otherwise respectable partner. All of these threads are pulled together in the final section of the film, which is as violent and disturbing, yet poetic and graceful a resolution as any crime film of the 1940s ever delivered. Force of Evil was star-crossed almost from the start, as many of the people involved, including star John Garfield and director Abraham Polonsky (a writer making his debut behind the camera, with help from assistant director Don Weis in doing the camera set-ups and blocking), were suspect at the time for their leftist political views. Indeed, the company that made Force of Evil, Enterprise Productions, was also in trouble for the leftist leanings of its films in the midst of the Red Scare, and went out of business just as the movie was finished -- dropped by United Artists and picked up by MGM, of all studios, Force of Evil made it into theaters during Christmas week of 1948, not the ideal schedule for something as grim (albeit great) as this film was. As it turned out, it was Polonsky's last chance to direct for more than 20 years, and Garfield's last completely successful film. And a movie that should have been a triumph for all concerned ended up a cult favorite. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
Review
Force of Evil helped define many of the elements of the post-war film noir. The film has developed a strong cult following as much for its influential stylistic touches (such as using shades of black, white, and gray to play on themes of good, evil, and the shades in-between) as for its gorgeously shaded cinematography, adapted from 1920s German Expressionist films. John Garfield's portrayal of a corrupt mob lawyer, with its combination of weariness, idealism, and greed, would come to define the noir hero. As became common in noir films, characters often behave contrary to their better judgment because they feel trapped by forces beyond their control or are torn by multiple loyalties. Beatrice Pearson turns in the prototypical performance of a good girl attracted to the wrong guy for the wrong reasons. Garfield's clean-living banker brother is played elegantly by Thomas Gomez, and the conflict between the two provides the film's moral battlefield. Director and co-screenwriter Abraham Polonsky, whose fingerprints are all over the poetic and brooding script, would be blacklisted after the release of this film: it uses illicit numbers running as a metaphor for unethical business practices in post-war America, and some people weren't too pleased with Polonsky's "subversive" politics. He would not work for the studios again for twenty years. Despite his potent and rounded performance, the film nearly derailed Garfield's career as well. While few people may have heard of it, Force of Evil is a seminal work in film noir despite its overt political message, unusual for a work in this genre. Martin Scorsese, for one, has cited the film as an early influence on his own sensibility. ~ Dan Jardine, All Movie Guide
Howland Chamberlain - Freddy Bauer; Paul McVey - Hobe Wheelock; Jack Overman - Juice; Tim Ryan - Johnson; Barbara Woodell - Mary; Raymond Largay - Bunte; Stanley Prager - Wally; Beau Bridges - Frankie Tucker; Allen Mathews - Badgley; Barry Kelley - Egan; Sheldon Leonard - Ficco; Georgia Backus - Sylvia Morse; Sid Tomack - "Two & Two" Taylor; Murray Alper - Comptroller; Jessie Arnold; Sam Ash - Man; Margaret Bert; Larry Blake - Detective; Mildred Boyd - Mother; Ralph Brooks; John Butler - Banker; Douglas Carter - Man; William Challee - Gunman; Cliff Clark - Police Lieutenant; John Collum; Jimmie Dundee - Dineen; Ralph Dunn - Policeman; Jay Eaton; Helen Eby-Rock - Secretary; Budd Fine - Butcher; Paul Fix - Ficco; Joel Fluellen - Father; Sherry Hall; Chuck Hamilton - Policeman; Ray Hyke - Policeman; John Indrisano - Henchman; Perry Ivins - Mr. Middleton; Milt Kibbee - Richards; Will Lee - Waiter; George Magrill - Policeman; Bill Neff - Law Clerk; Paul Newlan - Policeman; Arthur O'Connell - Link Hall; Edward Peil Sr. - Counterman; Joey Ray - Gunman; Richard Reeves - Policeman; Shimen Ruskin - Sorter; Carl Saxe - Policeman; Esther Somers - Mrs. Lowry; Bobby Stebbins - Norval; Jim Toney; Phil Tully - Policeman; Max Wagner - Policeman; Joe Warfield - Collector; Stanley Waxman - Manager; Mervin Williams - Goodspeed; Robert B. Williams - Elevator Starter; Margo Woode - Receptionist; Jim Davies; Paul H. Frees - Elevator Operator; Bert Hanlon - Cigar Man; Frank O'Connor - Bailiff; Mickey Rooney - Boy; Frank Pharr - Bootblack; Bert Davidson - Attorney; Jim Drum; Estelle Etterre - Secretary; Richard H. Gordon; Bob Reeves; Carl Sklover; Diane Stewart - Girl; Robert Strong - Court Reporter; Brick Sullivan - Policeman; William H. O'Brien - Dancer; Roger Cole; Richard Elmore; Carl Hanson; Ray Hirsch - Newsboy; David McKim - Cashier; Louise Saraydar - Hatcheck Girl; Fred Somers; Bud Wiser - Policeman; Charles Evans - Judge; Dave Fresco - Gunman
Credit
Richard Day - Art Director, Jack Baur - Casting, Louise Wilson - Costume Designer, Robert Aldrich - First Assistant Director, Abraham Polonsky - Director, Art Seid - Editor, Walter Thompson - Editor, David Raksin - Composer (Music Score), Rudolph Polk - Musical Direction/Supervision, Gus Norin - Makeup, George Barnes - Cinematographer, Bob Roberts - Producer, Edward Boyle - Set Designer, Frank Webster - Sound/Sound Designer, Abraham Polonsky - Screenwriter, Ira Wolfert - Screenwriter, Ira Wolfert - Book Author
Force of Evil (1948) is a film noir directed by Abraham Polonsky who had already achieved a name for himself as a scriptwriter, most notably for the gritty boxing film Body and Soul (1947). Like Body and Soul it starred John Garfield. The movie was adapted by Abraham Polonsky and Ira Wolfert from Wolfert's novel Tucker's People.[1]
In 1994, Force of Evil was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
The drama tells of a lawyer, Joe Morse, (Garfield) working for a powerful gangster, Tucker, who wishes to consolidate and control the numbers racket in New York. This means assuming control of the many smaller numbers rackets, one of which is run by Morse’s older brother Leo Morse (Thomas Gomez). The plot which unfolds is a terse, melodramatic thriller notable for realist location photography, almost poetic dialogue and frequent biblical allusions (Cain and Abel, Judas’s betrayal, stigmata).
