FORCE OF EVIL
(1948)With John Garfield, Thomas Gomez, Beatrice Pearson, Marie Windsor, Roy Roberts
Directed by Abraham Polonsky
Black and White
Reviewed by JL
Ignored for years after its
release, FORCE OF
EVIL became a cult classic of film noir once its political subtext
seemed less threatening. The film's use of the illicit
numbers
racket as a metaphor for big-business corruption is all but lost on
most viewers today (perhaps because corporations have found entirely
new ways to be corrupt), yet FORCE OF EVIL still works as a study of
greedy mob bosses and shady lawyers, and the morally ambiguous world in
which they operate. John Garfield is fine as the mob lawyer
on
the take who may or may not eventually be overcome by his own
decency. But it's Thomas Gomez who nearly steals the picture
as
Garfield's brother, the boss of the local numbers operation.
There's several moral shades of gray in the powerful scenes between
Garfield, a man of questionable ethics in a respected profession, and
Gomez, a man of moral strength in an illegal profession. 
- JL
http://thestuffyougottawatch.com
Copyright © 2008 John V. Brennan, John Larrabee