[.ca] Force Of Evil

From Amazon.com:
Based on an obscure crime novel titled Tucker's People, Abraham Polonsky's Force of Evil has attained classic status since its release in 1948, when film noir was thriving on the fringes of the Hollywood studio system, where the shadowy attributes of noir were allowed their fullest expression. Which is to say, this gritty drama is drenched in greed, cynicism, and corruption of the soul, as embodied by John Garfield in one of his most memorable roles. He's perfectly cast as Joe Morse, a lawyer whose connection to a ruthless racketeer has nearly destroyed his sense of morality. His participation in a rigged numbers racket could prove disastrous for his high-strung older brother (superbly played by Thomas Gomez), whose small-time policy bank stands to go broke when the rigged numbers pay off--a financial windfall for Joe's powerful boss at everyone else's expense. Joe's corruption is tempered only by remnants of guilt and his redeeming attraction to Edna (Marie Windsor), his brother's secretary, whose common decency gnaws at Joe's rotten conscience. But before Joe can rise from his self-made hell, Force of Evil takes him to the darkest pit of tragic humanity--a downward spiral perfectly expressed through George Barnes's exquisitely stark cinematography. In style and substance, this is quintessential noir, its plot unfolding with uncompromising toughness and intelligence. More's the pity, then, that director Polonsky was later victimized by the Hollywood blacklist, curtailing a promising career for two decades until Polonsky directed Robert Redford in 1969's Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here. It seems only fitting, then, that Polonsky's remarkable debut is now recognized as one of the finest dramas of its kind. --Jeff Shannon

One of the classic noirs, with a great performance by John Garfield:
Joe Morse (John Garfield) is a smart, cocky New York lawyer, and as corrupt as they come. "This is Wall Street," Joe tells us at the start of Force of Evil, "and today was important because tomorrow, July Fourth, I intended to make my first million dollars. An exciting day in any man's life. Temporarily, the enterprise was slightly illegal. You see, I was the lawyer for the numbers racket." Joe has a problem. His older brother, Leo (Thomas Gomez), runs a neighborhood numbers operation. Leo is a decent small-timer with a bad heart who worked his tail off so that Joe could go to law school. He knows his brother for what Joe is, a slick legal crook. Joe is in partnership with a tough gangster, Ben Tucker. They plan to break the banks of the small numbers operations, then move in and consolidate them under their own hand. They'll make millions. Joe realizes his brother will be ruined and tries to save him. Events begin to spin out of Joe's ability to control them. Joe finally finds a conscience, but only after people die. There are a lot of elements that work in this movie. The screenplay by Abraham Polonsky and Ira Wolfert centers squarely on Joe's character and his dilemma. There's no let-up for Joe as his life of legal crime slides into real crime and tightens around him. The script is not exactly poetic, that would make it self-conscious, but it is tough, thoughtful and vivid. Polonsky's direction packs a lot of action into only 82 minutes. You need to pay attention, but it all makes sense. The movie looks gritty and bleak, from the crummy apartment where Leo runs his numbers operation to the empty New York streets at dawn to the sad but redemptive scene on the banks of the East River under the bridge. There are lots of low-angle shots that emphasize the essential emptiness of Joe's character. The movie also is well cast. Some of the actors I particularly enjoyed are Howland Chamberlain as a frightened, weak numbers accountant; Paul McVey as Joe's experienced law partner; Roy Roberts as Joe's business associate, Ben Tucker, a gangster who is more ruthless than Joe thought; and Marie Windsor in a small but memorable performance as Tucker's slow-talking, smoldering wife. More than anything, the movie depends on the excellent performances of John Garfield and Thomas Gomez. Gomez has to play a sick, excitable, overweight small-time crook who has a bedrock decency. "The money I made in this rotten business is no good for me, Joe." he says. "I don't want it back. And Tucker's money is no good either." Joe just looks at him. "The money has no moral opinions," he tells Leo. Leo stares at his brother. "I find I have, Joe. I find I have." Gomez has to show his complete disdain for what his brother has become but still show us there's some strength left in the relationship. Garfield is the center of the movie. He was an actor who looked tough and sounded tough, yet he was able in his movies to show enough vulnerability not to alienate the audience. He not only had a lot of charm when he wanted to show it, he knew his craft and was good at it. The movie also is resonant because we know what happened to Polonsky and Garfield as a result of the Communist witch hunts that overtook Hollywood during the late Forties and Fifties. Polonsky was an outspoken and enthusiastic Marxist. It's no accident that Force of Evil can be seen as a parable for Big Business squeezing out the hard-working little guys. When Polonsky refused to testify before the House un-American Activities Committee, his career vanished. He continued to write screenplays but only under assumed names. It took 21 years before he was permitted to direct another film. Garfield suffered perhaps a sadder fate. He came from a poor, working class background and had always been a strong supporter of the working man. He'd never been a Communist but he had supported liberal causes. Garfield was as politically naive as a deer who has a target tattooed on his side. He agreed to testify before HUAC but refused to offer any names of people the committee wanted to know were Communist sympathizers. He was unofficially blacklisted. He had become a major star in the Forties, but the job offers suddenly dried up. He made a couple of so-so movies, then tried to re-establish himself on Broadway. He was mystified and depressed at what was happening to him. He died of a heart attack in 1952 at 39. The DVD transfer is just fine. There are no extras.

One of Garfield's best films is thankfully on dvd!:
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!

Classic Garfield Noir:
Force of Evil is a fine example of 1940s film noir. Polonsky's direction is crisp and the pacing perfect throughout. John Garfield turns in an above average performance as Joe Morse, a lawyer turned enabler for mob boss Ben Tucker, who is played by a not entirely convincing Roy Roberts. Force's plot turns around the effort of Tucker and Joe Morse to monopolize "policy" (i.e., the numbers racket) in New York, and Morse's effort to keep his brother, who runs a small-time numbers bank, from being crushed in the process. It is the brother-to-brother aspect of the plot that provides the real juice for this noir, with Thomas Gomez turning in a riveting performance as Joe's brother, Leo Morse. The female lead, Doris Lowry, is played well by Beatrice Pearson, but, in the end, the character stands to serve only as a sounding board for Joe as he struggles with what he has done to himself, and to his brother. Technically, it looks as though Artisan, a perennial purveyor of poor quality dvds, has finally gotten a release right. The transfer here is crisp with solid blacks and a serviceable grayscale. The only obvious flaw on the disc can be found in the chapter selections, where the stills for the last two scenes are reversed. The audio is quite acceptable, and the score for this work is incrementally more memorable than most. As for features on this dvd, there are none -- it's the film, and just the film. However, because Artisan must learn to walk before it runs, the absence of special features is forgivable in light of the effort Artisan has finally put into getting the film right. All things considered, I recommend this dvd to those wondering what film noir is all about, and strongly recommend it to confirmed fans of the genre. If you know what noir is about, and are not a fan, this dvd is decidedly not for you.