Noir Watch: Force of Evil (1948)

Watched:  09/01/2025

Format:  Disc

Viewing:  Third

Director:  Abraham Polonsky

So, what I remembered about this movie from my prior viewings:

• it's super dark
• it's a bit confusing/ complex
• John Garfield and Thomas Gomez are in it
• Marie Windsor is in it and clearly taller than Garfield and it impacts the blocking
• Windsor, as always, looked smashing

I mean, I don't smoke, but I guess I could

And, yes, Force of Evil (1948) is a complex movie and should be part of your noir canon.  It's a movie with a pitch black heart, and it's hard to say who, if anyone, in the film is redeemable.  It sure as hell isn't our lead, John Garfield, here playing a lawyer for a former bootlegger and gangster who now is in the numbers racket.  

He's not just the attorney running cover for Tucker, the gangster (Roy Roberts).  He's become part of the operation, and is helping form a combination of all the individual numbers "banks" across the city, through force and fixing some games.  

Garfield's brother (Thomas Gomez) is 15 years older than him, in ill-health and running one of those independent "banks".  He believes himself a businessman running a legitimate business and doesn't want to get wrapped up in what he sees as gangsterism.  

In his way, Garfield tries to protect Gomez by bringing him in - but things get out of control. His brother and brother's team get arrested - people working simple jobs.

It's interesting how this movie refuses to have anyone who is the clear good-guy, there's just layers of suckers, bad people and off-screen law.  In most of these movies - especially in the 1950's, we have a femme fatale and then a virginal girl who embodies the promise of sticking to the straight and narrow.  And we sort of get that in Doris (Beatrice Pearson), but even Doris is aware of how she's being corrupted and is okay with it if means a way out of poverty.  

Our femme fatale isn't really in it much.  It's Windsor of course - playing the wife of Tucker, who is looking for someone to show her emotion of any kind.  And she's great.  Why the movie didn't do more with her, I cannot say.

Because the movie starts well after the corruption of Garfield's character, it's all down hill from the start as Garfield gets further in, dragging down his brother, the girl and as the law and a rival gang take an interest.   The point being, those big opportunities in crime draw all sorts of attention.  And that will take you, and everyone else, down.

The film looks like a million bucks, which is due in part to the work of cinematographer George Barnes, who worked on films like Rebecca and Spellbound.  We're still early in what would become the noir cycle, but the use of deep shadow, extreme angles and other features is there.  

The movie was not universally loved in our house - Jamie didn't find anyone she liked, and I don't blame her.  As a noir exercise, I find the movie interesting, if weighed down by some lack of exposition that makes it feel overly complicated at times.  Many noir films have a protagonist who isn't a hero, but this lead in particular is just a real piece of work, and by the time his world falls apart, the audience is left thinking "well... good."

Beatrice Pearson left the film business after two movies to go back to the stage.  Pretty wild.  She's good, and camera-friendly, certainly.  

The disc contains an endorsement by no less than Martin Scorsese, who points to the film as having major impact on him, and you can see it.   There aren't a lot of white hat heroes in Scorsese's work - and this sort of thing wasn't unheard of in film.  But here it feels immediate and even personal.  You think about Goodfellas and the good-girl willingly going along along with a guy who is a bad idea for what they feel is love and opportunity.   

Anyway - I like this movie quite a bit, but I don't know if I would sell it as your first noir.  The film is speaking to a 1940's audience in language that may have fallen by the wayside in the 80 years since.  But the themes remain relevant, and I think it's a movie with great performances and which has a look it's worth checking out.

The studio also used it as a showcase for Pearson, so I'm very curious what actually happened there that she gave up so quickly on Hollywood after getting showcased alongside John Garfield in a major movie.