Force of Evil (1948)

Directed by Abraham Polonsky. Starring John Garfield, Thomas Gomez, Beatrice Pearson, Howland Chamberlain, Roy Roberts, Paul Fix, Marie Windsor, Barry Kelley, Stanley Prager.

In a sweeping move to consolidate the numbers racket, gangster lawyer Garfield convinces his small-timer brother (Gomez) to go along, the pervasive corruption of which seems destined to doom him. Compelling, insidious film noir affects gradually, like a slow-acting poison, and the shortcomings in Garfield’s sometimes dazed and unconvincing tough-guy performance are redeemed by Gomez’s crusty but sad-eyed dignity breaking before our eyes. The allusions sometimes overreach (and simplify), but soundly-constructed dramatic storytelling sometimes needs to shine brighter through the cracks of the genre’s unrelenting pessimism in order to “hit ‘em ‘cross the jaw,” and the final product bears some comparisons to Elia Kazan’s later film, On the Waterfront, with its low-key romance with local “good girl” Pearson influencing the protagonist’s sense of morality (not to mention the parallel of featuring a riveting scene in the back of a taxicab); being mentioned alongside that Oscar-winning masterpiece is about all the recommendation that’s needed. Windsor has a small but memorable role as a smoky, slow-talking moll who tries to lead Garfield astray; a six-year-old Beau Bridges makes a brief uncredited appearance.

81/100