Force of Evil (1948)

There's something fun about watching fare by blacklisted directors. I feel like I'm sticking it to the McCarthyists whenever I do. And heck, Jules Dassin's Rififi is a contender for my favorite film noir. Why not try Abraham Polonsky's best-known work in the same genre, favored by Martin Scorsese?

Attorney Joe Morse (John Garfield) plays a key role in maintaining a numbers racket. If that doesn't sound like a major crime to you, then you miss the bigger picture. When he gets involved in his client's plan to force all the rackets in New York City to unite under one head or simply fold, it means strong-arming his estranged brother Leo (Thomas Gomez), among others, by any means at his disposal. Joe falls for Leo's secretary, who finds herself drawn to Joe in turn despite not approving his style. But for all the money he stands to make, Joe retains enough humanity to stop feeling comfortable with the arrangements....

As noir goes, it takes a long time to develop any real violence instead of the occasional implied threat. When the first murder arrives, it's pretty shocking. (Might I add that I never expected an American newspaper in any decade to put the photo of a bloody corpse on the front page. Did that actually happen often, or was it sensationalized for cinema?)

Joe is one of the most wretched protagonists I've ever seen on screen. Sidney Falco in Sweet Smell of Success might call him a slimeball. That said, when nearly every major character is a career criminal to some extent, he doesn't always stand out for it. And he does basically redeem himself in the end, slightly curtailing the otherwise relentless noir pessimism.

While I've seen several of the actors before, only Garfield's name rang a bell. That's fine by me. The less familiar I am with a man's face and voice, the more easily I can pretend that he's not himself. The acting is at least adequate at all times.

At a mere 78 minutes, FoE is taut and intense. I hadn't noticed at the time, but sometimes the dialog lapses into iambic pentameter. It's not on par with Rififi, but it has given me my noir fix for the foreseeable future.