Movie Details
| Title: | Force of Evil | |
| Director: | Abraham Polonsky | |
| Year: | 1948 | |
| Genre: | Noir | |
| Times Seen: | 1 | |
| Last Seen: | 11.05.06 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (0)
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 11.05.06 | DVR | This Screening is part of event: DVRfest 2006 Force of Evil originally came to my attention in Martin Scorsese's big "My Journey through American Film" doc, where he said he identified with it because it wasn't about hitmen or the top bosses or any of that but the street guy running a numbers racket out of an apartment on the third floor of some building. John Garfield plays a mob lawyer with a numbers bank older brother. He's on the eve of fixing the day's lucky number so all the local numbers banks go bust paying everyone out in order for a bigger gangster figure to come in with a combine corporation. Marie Windsor plays the gangster's moll wife. This is the kind of movie made specifically for stand-out performances. Both Garfield and the guy playing his brother have several scenes where they give it all they got. It's great though... the movie walks the line between noir style and realism. Plenty of location stuff but also tons of really elegant low-key lighting and camera setups. It's surprising that this was a first-time directing effort by soon-to-be-blacklisted Abraham Polonsky. So my memory of this movie has not been tinted in rose at all. It's still really good. I'm a fan of noir in general but this is really one of the movies that stand out for me. Particularly because it's not super well-known like Maltese Falcon or Double Indemnity. It's really great. Got me all pumped up for a three hour racing epic! yes! |
