There are times a movie can push all the right buttons for me and yet somehow still not be a completely fulfilling experience. For me, one of those movies was 1948 noir Force of Evil. It has some incredibly sharp dialog. It has some great chiaroscuro photography. Martin Scorsese has cited it as a major influence on his career.
Part of the problem might have been the complexity of the plot. All I know for certain is a corrupt lawyer (John Garfield) is working with a client who is an underworld figure (Roy Roberts). Supposedly, the goal is to bring down illegal numbers rackets in the city and replace it with the first legal state lottery. Instead, all they seem to be doing is perpetrating a scam that will ruin the illegal “banks” through which wagers are placed. A great many people have been putting money on “776” each July 4th, and the gangsters work out a way that will be the winning number that day.
Thomas Gomez, as Garfields’s brother, runs one of those banks. The lawyer tried to warn him to get out of the business before the fateful day that number comes up, but Gomez won’t listen. From what we learn from the bookie’s tirade when Garfield shows up, he has every reason to be distrustful. He put Garfield through college while he struggled day to day, and still continues to struggle. As Gomez puts it in a great line: “All Cain did to Abel was murder him.”
The most interesting aspect of the plot is how Gomez and his employees in this illegal enterprise are the most ethical and decent people here. Garfield, on the other hand, may be a legitimate lawyer, but he is also an incredibly repulsive person. One of the minor characters I felt the most sympathy towards is a gentle giant in Gomez’s office whose claustrophobia has him terrified of riding in the back of the police wagon. The compassion shown towards him by Gomez throws into sharp relief Garfield’s every action.
Also working in that office is Beatrice Pearson, whom Garfield immediately starts trying to sweep off her feet. In one early scene, he does that literally, as he sets her up on a high mantle in an apartment building lobby and leaves her then. It’s a memorable image, and seemed to show a downside to the old phrase of putting somebody up on a pedestal. The glib lawyer always has sparkling things to say her, though many of Garfield’s lines scanned as a hair too clever for my taste. Consider: “You tell me the story of your life and maybe I can suggest a happy ending.”
Garfield is at the same time trying to dodge the advances of Robert’s wife (Marie Windsor). She is serviceable as the obligatory femme fatale, but is so underused in the picture that she isn’t memorable. Her most significant moment is when she plants the idea in his head that his phone might be bugged. After he hurries her off, he caves to the temptation to check his phone. The close-up on his expression when he hears a telltale click on the line is priceless.
Another key employee of Gomez’s is Howland Chamberlain as a duplicitous accountant. I wasn’t sure why he was so determined to not work for the combined bookie operations, but he is so opposed to this that he gives the police the information they need to raid every joint in town.
What is most notable about this picture is the amount of effort that clearly went into something which would normally be a B production. I suspect this was made on the cheap, yet it has more camera set-ups than most major studio A pictures of the time. A scene where there is a raid on Gomez’s operation has as many edits in a few seconds as an action movie made today, and those who made this film didn’t have the benefit of computer editing to do these rapid-fire cuts. The scene is energetic and exciting, and I can appreciate the craft behind it.
Still, there is something that left me feeling unfulfilled by Force of Evil. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why this didn’t gel for me, regardless of how much I wanted it to. I love smart dialog, yet something felt a bit too precious about lines such as “A man could spend the rest of his life trying to remember what he shouldn’t have said.” I love black-and-white photography, but too many shots seemed to be for the beauty of the image and less to serve the story. I found this to be like a meal where every dish has elements of things you love, but where there is perhaps a bit too much of everything overall.
Dir: Abraham Polonsky
Starring John Garfield, Thomas Gomez, Beatrice Pearson
Watched on Olive Films blu-ray