Force of Evil ***** (1948, John Garfield, Thomas Gomez, Marie Windsor) – Classic Movie Review 2556

Co-writer/director Abraham Polonsky’s dynamic, first-rate 1948 film noir crime thriller stars John Garfield, who gives a superlative performance as Joe Morse, a gangster’s attorney who lets his greed overcome his sense of morality.

Morse is working for the powerful gangster Ben Tucker (Roy Roberts), who wants to consolidate all the small-time numbers racket operators in New York into one big powerful operation. The trouble starts when one of the small-time numbers racket competitors Morse is asked to frighten off turns out to be his own older brother Leo (Tomas Gomez). Marie Windsor also stars as gangster’s moll Edna Tucker.

Polonsky’s complex screenplay, based on Ira Wolfert’s novel Tucker’s People, and written with the novelist, is a compelling study in guilt, corruption and the evils of ambition. The script is notable for its poetic dialogue and biblical allusions.

Polonsky directs a tense movie in menacing film noir style with striking cinematography on New York locations. Indeed, George Barnes’s realist camerawork is a major aspect of its success and so is David Raksin’s urgent and insistent score.

It is Beau Bridges’s film debut, aged seven, as Frankie Tucker. Also in the cast are Beatrice Pearson, Howland Chamberlin, Paul McVey, Tim Ryan, Sid Tomack, George Backus, Sheldon Leonard, Stanley Prager, Jack Overman, Raymond Largay, Paul Frees, Bert Hanlon, Barry Kelley and Bob Williams.

Polonsky had already made his name as a scriptwriter, notably for the gritty boxing film Body and Soul (1947), also starring Garfield. He was a Marxist and member of the Communist Party. Now working in the terrible shadow of the McCarthy witchhunts, Polonsky was soon blacklisted and shamefully could not direct again till 1969 with Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here.

After being named by former fellow wartime O.S.S. member Sterling Hayden, Polonsky was arraigned before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1951. Refusing to name names, he was blacklisted for 17 years by the US film industry.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2556

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com