CrimeDrama

Force of Evil

- Sensational Story Of a Numbers King Whose Number Was Up!

Lawyer Joe Morse wants to consolidate all the small-time numbers racket operators into one big powerful operation. But his elder brother Leo is one of these small-time operators who wants to stay that way, preferring not to deal with the gangsters who dominate the big-time.

Release Date : 1950-08-24

Language :English

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : Roberts Pictures Inc.Enterprise ProductionsMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Production Country : United States of America

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Character Name : Joe Morse

Original Name : John Garfield

Gender : Male

Character Name : Leo Morse

Original Name : Thomas Gomez

Gender : Male

Character Name : Edna Tucker

Original Name : Marie Windsor

Gender : Female

Character Name : Freddie Bauer

Original Name : Howland Chamberlain

Gender : Male

Character Name : Ben Tucker

Original Name : Roy Roberts

Gender : Male

Character Name : Bill Ficco

Original Name : Paul Fix

Gender : Male

Character Name : Wally

Original Name : Stanley Prager

Gender : Male

Character Name : Detective Egan

Original Name : Barry Kelley

Gender : Male

Character Name : Hobe Wheelock

Original Name : Paul McVey

Gender : Male

Character Name : Doris Lowry

Original Name : Beatrice Pearson

Gender : Female

Character Name : Link Hall (uncredited)

Original Name : Arthur O'Connell

Gender : Male

Character Name : Sylvia Morse (uncredited)

Original Name : Georgia Backus

Gender : Female

Character Name : Sorter (uncredited)

Original Name : Margaret Bert

Gender : Female

Character Name : Secretary #4 (uncredited)

Original Name : Estelle Etterre

Gender : Female

Character Name : Sorter (uncredited)

Original Name : Sherry Hall

Gender : Male

Character Name : Elevator operator

Original Name : Paul Frees

Gender : Male

Character Name : Juice (uncredited)

Original Name : Jack Overman

Gender : Male

Character Name : Johnson

Original Name : Tim Ryan

Gender : Male

Character Name : Mary (uncredited)

Original Name : Barbara Wooddell

Gender : Male

Character Name : Bunte (uncredited)

Original Name : Raymond Largay

Gender : Male

Character Name : Frankie Tucker (uncredited)

Original Name : Beau Bridges

Gender : Male

Character Name : Badgley (uncredited)

Original Name : Allen Mathews

Gender : Male

Character Name : Mrs. Sylvia Morse (uncredited)

Original Name : Georgia Backus

Gender : Female

Character Name : Two and Two (uncredited)

Original Name : Sid Tomack

Gender : Male

Character Name : Cigar man (uncredited)

Original Name : Bert Hanlon

Gender : Male

Character Name : Law clerk (uncredited)

Original Name : Bill Neff

Gender : Male

Character Name : Secretary (uncredited)

Original Name : Eileen Coghlan

Gender : Male

Character Name : Attorney (uncredited)

Original Name : Dick Gordon

Gender : Male

Reviews

John Chard

@John Chard

2024-05-16

Black sheep like to make everybody else look black. Force of Evil is directed by Abraham Polonsky, who also adapts the screenplay from the Ira Wolfert novel Tucker's People. It stars John Garfield, Thomas Gomez, Beatrice Pearson, Marie Windsor, Howard Chamberlain and Roy Roberts. Music is by David Raksin and cinematography by George Barnes. Plot finds Garfield as lawyer Joe Morse, who works for powerful gangster Ben Tucker (Roberts). Tucker has a plan to control all of the numbers rackets in New York, something that with the fix on the numbers up and coming for the 4th July, will see all of the smaller number rackets go bust. This is a problem for Morse because his big brother Leo (Gomez), is one such operator, an honest good guy who did everything he could to ensure that Joe had a proper start in life. It has come to be regarded as an influential and important movie in the film noir pantheon. Big critics, big film makers and film noir aficionados, all have queued up to salute Polonsky's film. If it's worthy of such elegant praise will always be debatable, but film does have a uniqueness about it, using stylised dialogue passages and in opening up a corrupt and socially bankrupt can of worms for the cinema loving world, Polonsky has crafted a thematically potent 1940's crime picture. The exchanges between Garfield and love interest Pearson, have an almost poetic flow to them, this in a film that for most of its running time shows that badness can not be beaten, or at best that it can't be railed against or broken away from so easily. While the biblical tones, both allusions and allegorically speaking, also give the picture some added power. Though mostly talky in the main, it does burst into shocking violence for its final quarter, with a finale that contains distress segueing into the possibility of spiritual regeneration…or maybe that, too, will prove futile? Added to the biting narrative are great cast performances and evocative music scoring, and with skilled location photography adding authenticity, it's not hard to see why it has come to be so revered. Not as bleak as the title suggests, and veering a bit close to being too arty for its own good sometimes, but still a fine experience and it rewards more on further viewings. 8/10