Force of Evil (1948)

Directed by Abraham Polonsky; produced by Bob Roberts

Lawyer Joe Morse (John Garfield) has big plans for the coming week: he and his client (Roy Roberts), an important man in the numbers racket, have fixed the coming draw, in order to break a swarm of small operations and then move in and take them over. In the meantime, they hope to persuade the government to legalise the numbers game and turn it into a lottery, which Morse and his boss would already run. But Morse comes up against three obstacles: his brother (Thomas Gomez), who runs one of the little operations, a new girlfriend (Beatrice Pearson), and a reforming commission, intent on crushing the numbers racket. It’s going to be a tough week for Joe Morse.

I was disappointed in Force of Evil. It is a classic of American cinema, especially in the crime genre. Certainly, it has its advantages, foremost being the leading man. Garfield is excellent, his understated acting perfect for a character who hopes things will go smoothly but knows he is on the edge of an abyss every moment of his life. His bravado is clearly too cool, his confidence too superficial; he waits for the click on the telephone line signifying a wire-tap, balances strategies like a juggler. All the time, there is an innocence to his character suggesting that, despite his experience and knowledge, he can’t understand why people don’t do as he does, think as he does.

The problems with the film, however, are multiple. The female lead, though adequate, seems to have been chosen more for her dewy-eyed expressions of incredulity than for her acting abilities, and I never found Garfield’s attraction to her credible. It might have been due to a mere desire for romantic conquest, but if so, Garfield’s choice comes across as entirely random.

Indeed, this issue highlights a larger problem: that the actors are let down more by the script than by their skills. Gomez’s anxiety borders on hysteria much of the time, no doubt intending to reflect his constant imminent heart attack; Howland Chamberlain plays a small-time accountant whose betrayal seems thinly motivated at first, then non-existent. Marie Windsor puts in an appearance as Roberts’s wife and has two scenes, neither of them necessary; her considerable talent is wasted here. As well, the supporting players are in a melodrama, while Garfield retains control in a purely dramatic manner.

Even his character undergoes a transformation which the script thinks is deeper than does the viewer. We see him with no sympathy at all for the millions of people who play the numbers. He thinks only of himself and his brother, with the later, unaccountable, addition of his girlfriend. By the film’s end, though, we are asked to believe in his metamorphosis into an almost heroic figure. Many works of fiction achieve this. Force of Evil does not.

While the script abets the overwrought performances, the story appears to have been pared down from something that made more sense. The numbers racket is well-explained, as is the intended take-over by Garfield and Roberts of the small ‘banks’ - the people who take in gamblers’ money. After that, there comes the desire of a rival (Paul Fix) to meet with Gomez, presumably to do a deal; there is a kidnapping, which seems pointless; another meeting between Roberts and Fix, which should have negated the earlier meeting… It’s possible that I missed something; if so, I must have missed a lot.

There is one aspect that, while it could not have saved Force of Evil, could be used for an interesting premise of its own. Looming over all the villains is the shadow of the unseen crime-fighter, Hall, who wants to smash the rackets and clean up the city. Unlike many similar stories, this movie’s villains treat Hall with respect, almost reverentially, an avenging angel against whom they have little recourse; thus, the rush to legalise their felonies. It made me think a version of the Sherlock Holmes stories, from the point of view of the Moriarty gang, with the omnipresent and frightening detective in the background, might prove entertaining.

Unfortunately, Force of Evil is neither as imaginative nor as gripping as it might have been. No one in it really deserves salvation, and the tragedies that befall the main characters seem, if more than they should have suffered, not out of keeping with their actions. Sometimes a classic film leaves me wondering what the fuss is about. I wonder that about Force of Evil.