Rating: 
Summary: "It's business."
Review: John Morse (John Garfield) is an ambitious attorney. He's forged a partnership with crime boss Ben Tucker (Roy Roberts), and they've devised a scheme to hijack the numbers racket in New York. They fix the liberty number, 776, for July 4th, and as a consequence, the small betting operations or 'banks' will be unable to pay off the claims. At this point, Tucker and John Morse plan to move in and consolidate all the small banks and take over. Unfortunately, John's brother, Leo (Thomas Gomez) runs one of the targeted banks. This leads to some division of loyalties and a question of morality. John is eager to make his first million, and although he doesn't care who he hurts in the process, he doesn't want to flatten his brother.
Many films tackle the good brother/bad brother phenomenon, but in "Force of Evil" both brothers are on the wrong side of the law. Up until the numbers fix, John has simply worked for a crook--now he's about to join the ranks. Older brother, Leo, runs his betting operation as a friendly small business, and his employees feel that way too. Leo's employees are happy and comfortable with the way things are, and the rude reality of big crime muscle quickly changes all of that. John's relentless ambition--which includes some idea that he's helping his brother to the 'big time', ensures Leo's involvement. There's a lot going on between these brothers under the surface. Does John really want to help Leo, or is he locked into the idea that as a little brother, he has to top Leo?
"Force of Evil" starts off very strongly, but the film weakens in its denouement. Still, it's always fun to watch John Garfield--he never loses that edge of desperation, and Marie Windsor as Tucker's wife, Edna, would make a formidable femme fatale if she could be unleashed a little more. In contrast to Edna, is the goody-two shoes girl, Beatrice Pearson (Doris Lowry). Doris represents the sort of woman John would like to be involved with, and he hints that she could save him from the life he's leading. Fans of film noir will want to catch this one. The film quality is excellent--displacedhuman
Rating: 
Summary: fine noirish effort
Review: Not quite on a par with the best film noirs such as Touch of Evil, Double Indemnity, and Sunset Blvd., FORCE OF EVIL is still a fine film starring John Garfield. Garfield is an attorney, caught up in a drama with an older brother, the numbers racket, and a life spiraling out of control. Excellently made, it only lacks in topnotch performances. Truly this is not a film noir, because our protagonist is corrupt from the beginning. Still, it often gets classified as a noir; it has much in common with the famous film noirs, and I would recommend it to any fan of the noir genre, as well as fans of 1940s cinema. I loved it. 90 minutes well spent, and I'm recommending it to all my friends. five stars
Rating:
Summary: Up there with Out of the Past and Sweet Smell of Success
Review: One of the great post-war noir/crime movies. The bleak cityscapes of cinematographer George Barnes, spot-on performances by John Garfield and Thomas Gomez, spare score by David Raksin, the script, the direction---everything comes together into a film that's somehow both an archetypal genre piece and also a highly individual entertainment. One wonders what kind of career Abraham Polonsky would have had if it weren't for the blacklist. Good to see, though, that this once-neglected film has lately been getting some of the recognition it deserves. Fans of John Garfield should not miss one of his most indelible performances, but just as an example of high-quality Hollywood product from the late studio era, or as one of the great "New York" movies of the forties, this film is a must-see.
Rating:
Summary: Up there with Out of the Past and Sweet Smell of Success
Review: One of the great post-war noir/crime movies. The bleak cityscapes of cinematographer George Barnes, spot-on performances by John Garfield and Thomas Gomez, spare score by David Raksin, the script, the direction---everything comes together into a film that's somehow both an archetypal genre piece and also a highly individual entertainment. One wonders what kind of career Abraham Polonsky would have had if it weren't for the blacklist. Good to see, though, that this once-neglected film has lately been getting some of the recognition it deserves. Fans of John Garfield should not miss one of his most indelible performances, but just as an example of high-quality Hollywood product from the late studio era, or as one of the great "New York" movies of the forties, this film is a must-see.
Rating:
Summary: A Film Noir Classic from blacklisted Abraham Polonsky
Review: This 1949 Film Noir classic directed by Abraham Polonsky, later a victim of the Hollywood blacklist, is based on the dense and convoluted novel "Tucker's People." The script, by Polonsky and author Ira Wolfert, clearly shows the influence of James Joyce with its repetition and elaborate unpunctuated sentences. This rather unique dialogue gives the film a feel decidedly like other noted films in this genre. John Garfield plays lawyer Joe Morse, who wants to consolidate all the small-time numbers racket operators into one big powerful operation run by his boss. But his elder brother Leo, in a riveting performance by Thomas Gomez, is just a small-time operator who does not want to move up to the big leagues in which he will become a nobody. This makes "Force of Evil" a highly personal drama of the American underworld. Garfield has several excellent scenes with Beatrice Pearson as Doris Lowry, but it is Gomez's character, a large and grotesque figure whose violence is always on the edge who dominates the screen, ominously pointing out at one point, "All that Cain did was kill Abel." Marie Windsor as Edna, Leo's secretary, provides the sense of common decency that reminds Joe of when he had a conscience, although neither she nor anyone else can provide the moral anchor that will stop Joe from descending into Hell. The most memorable sequence in the film--with all due credit to George Barnes's stark cinematography--is the brutal murder of the bookkeeper Freddie Bauer (Howland Chamberlain) in the cellar, his glasses broken and his face covered in blood as his voice rises higher and higher in terror. By the time "Force of Evil" ends, with Garfield walking down flights of steps into an absolutely hopeless existence, the film has achieved an almost poetical potency. The majority of the credit for this classic film clearly goes to Polonsky, who had written the screenplay for "Body and Soul" and provides clear evidence in his directing debut of great things to come. However, because he refused to name names to HUAC he was blacklisted. Uncredited as the director of the 1957 version of "Oedipus Rex," Polonsky did not direct/write another Hollywood film until "Tell Them Willie Boy is Here" in 1969. Polonsky is one of the lesser known names on the infamous blacklist, but "Force of Evil" strongly suggests there might not have been a greater loss in terms of the films that were never made than those he would have written and/or directed. This was a first class talent, cut down after his first giant step in the industry. Polonsky died from a heart attack in 1999. Final Note: "Force of Evil" was also released in the United States as "The Numbers Racket," "Tucker's People" and "The Story of Tucker's People."
Rating:
Summary: A Film Noir Classic from blacklisted Abraham Polonsky
Review: This 1949 Film Noir classic directed by Abraham Polonsky, later a victim of the Hollywood blacklist, is based on the dense and convoluted novel "Tucker's People." The script, by Polonsky and author Ira Wolfert, clearly shows the influence of James Joyce with its repetition and elaborate unpunctuated sentences. This rather unique dialogue gives the film a feel decidedly like other noted films in this genre. John Garfield plays lawyer Joe Morse, who wants to consolidate all the small-time numbers racket operators into one big powerful operation run by his boss. But his elder brother Leo, in a riveting performance by Thomas Gomez, is just a small-time operator who does not want to move up to the big leagues in which he will become a nobody. This makes "Force of Evil" a highly personal drama of the American underworld. Garfield has several excellent scenes with Beatrice Pearson as Doris Lowry, but it is Gomez's character, a large and grotesque figure whose violence is always on the edge who dominates the screen, ominously pointing out at one point, "All that Cain did was kill Abel." Marie Windsor as Edna, Leo's secretary, provides the sense of common decency that reminds Joe of when he had a conscience, although neither she nor anyone else can provide the moral anchor that will stop Joe from descending into Hell. The most memorable sequence in the film--with all due credit to George Barnes's stark cinematography--is the brutal murder of the bookkeeper Freddie Bauer (Howland Chamberlain) in the cellar, his glasses broken and his face covered in blood as his voice rises higher and higher in terror. By the time "Force of Evil" ends, with Garfield walking down flights of steps into an absolutely hopeless existence, the film has achieved an almost poetical potency. The majority of the credit for this classic film clearly goes to Polonsky, who had written the screenplay for "Body and Soul" and provides clear evidence in his directing debut of great things to come. However, because he refused to name names to HUAC he was blacklisted. Uncredited as the director of the 1957 version of "Oedipus Rex," Polonsky did not direct/write another Hollywood film until "Tell Them Willie Boy is Here" in 1969. Polonsky is one of the lesser known names on the infamous blacklist, but "Force of Evil" strongly suggests there might not have been a greater loss in terms of the films that were never made than those he would have written and/or directed. This was a first class talent, cut down after his first giant step in the industry. Polonsky died from a heart attack in 1999. Final Note: "Force of Evil" was also released in the United States as "The Numbers Racket," "Tucker's People" and "The Story of Tucker's People."
Rating:
Summary: A Film Noir Classic from blacklisted Abraham Polonsky
Review: This 1949 Film Noir classic directed by Abraham Polonsky, later a victim of the Hollywood blacklist, is based on the dense and convoluted novel "Tucker's People." The script, by Polonsky and author Ira Wolfert, clearly shows the influence of James Joyce with its repetition and elaborate unpunctuated sentences. This rather unique dialogue gives the film a feel decidedly like other noted films in this genre. John Garfield plays lawyer Joe Morse, who wants to consolidate all the small-time numbers racket operators into one big powerful operation run by his boss. But his elder brother Leo, in a riveting performance by Thomas Gomez, is just a small-time operator who does not want to move up to the big leagues in which he will become a nobody. This makes "Force of Evil" a highly personal drama of the American underworld. Garfield has several excellent scenes with Beatrice Pearson as Doris Lowry, but it is Gomez's character, a large and grotesque figure whose violence is always on the edge who dominates the screen, ominously pointing out at one point, "All that Cain did was kill Abel." Marie Windsor as Edna, Leo's secretary, provides the sense of common decency that reminds Joe of when he had a conscience, although neither she nor anyone else can provide the moral anchor that will stop Joe from descending into Hell. The most memorable sequence in the film--with all due credit to George Barnes's stark cinematography--is the brutal murder of the bookkeeper Freddie Bauer (Howland Chamberlain) in the cellar, his glasses broken and his face covered in blood as his voice rises higher and higher in terror. By the time "Force of Evil" ends, with Garfield walking down flights of steps into an absolutely hopeless existence, the film has achieved an almost poetical potency. The majority of the credit for this classic film clearly goes to Polonsky, who had written the screenplay for "Body and Soul" and provides clear evidence in his directing debut of great things to come. However, because he refused to name names to HUAC he was blacklisted. Uncredited as the director of the 1957 version of "Oedipus Rex," Polonsky did not direct/write another Hollywood film until "Tell Them Willie Boy is Here" in 1969. Polonsky is one of the lesser known names on the infamous blacklist, but "Force of Evil" strongly suggests there might not have been a greater loss in terms of the films that were never made than those he would have written and/or directed. This was a first class talent, cut down after his first giant step in the industry. Polonsky died from a heart attack in 1999. Final Note: "Force of Evil" was also released in the United States as "The Numbers Racket," "Tucker's People" and "The Story of Tucker's People."
Rating:
Summary: An excellent, down-and-dirty noir
Review: This film feels a bit low-budget in places and some of the peripheral actors are just okay but the film overall is one of the toughest, smartest, most realistic film noirs ever made. Garfield is incredible in the lead and you feel for him even as he gets his hands dirty for a fast buck. No one is safe in this film, especially the innocent. Martin Scorsese has pointed out that this was the first film he ever saw that captured the world in which he grew up--the low-rent hoods, the numbers racket, and the ordinary people who either played along or got run over. A vastly underrated picture that deserves more attention.
Rating:
Summary: One of Garfield's best films is thankfully on dvd!
Review: This was one of John Garfield's final films before he was wrongfully "blacklisted" & it's easy to see why it was a "major influence" on director Martin Scorsese's crime dramas. Garfield plays a wise young Wall Street lawyer who works for a mob boss in order to make money "the easy way". However, when Garfield forces his older (& weaker) brother to join the crooked organization, problems quickly arise, & there's plenty of backstabbing & double-crossing involved! I'll admit the movie starts off a little slow, but Garfield's incredible acting had me hooked in no time. The photography in this gripping film noir is simply amazing, & although Garfield's the only "big star" the cast is very good. Unfortunately, the dvd has absolutely no special features, not even a trailer or cast bios. Oh well, this classic is so awesome that I'm satisfied with the dvd release. Maybe someday a special edition will be released. If you're a John Garfield or film noir fan than this is a definite must!
Rating:
Summary: One of Garfield's best films is thankfully on dvd!
Review: This was one of John Garfield's final films before he was wrongfully "blacklisted" & it's easy to see why it was a "major influence" on director Martin Scorsese's crime dramas. Garfield plays a wise young Wall Street lawyer who works for a mob boss in order to make money "the easy way". However, when Garfield forces his older (& weaker) brother to join the crooked organization, problems quickly arise, & there's plenty of backstabbing & double-crossing involved! I'll admit the movie starts off a little slow, but Garfield's incredible acting had me hooked in no time. The photography in this gripping film noir is simply amazing, & although Garfield's the only "big star" the cast is very good. Unfortunately, the dvd has absolutely no special features, not even a trailer or cast bios. Oh well, this classic is so awesome that I'm satisfied with the dvd release. Maybe someday a special edition will be released. If you're a John Garfield or film noir fan than this is a definite must!
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