Editing Force of Evil (section)

===Critical response===
When the film was released, the staff at ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' magazine gave the film a mixed review, praising its production values but panning its focus and "intrusively" flowery language:

{{Blockquote|''Force of Evil'' fails to develop the excitement hinted at in the title. Makers apparently couldn't decide on the best way to present an exposé of the numbers racket, winding up with neither fish nor fowl as far as hard-hitting racketeer [[Melodrama|meller]] is concerned. A poetic, almost allegorical, interpretation keeps intruding on the tougher elements of the plot. This factor adds no distinction and only makes the going tougher ... Garfield, as to be expected, comes through with a performance that gets everything out of the material furnished ... On the technical side, the production fares better than story-wise. The physical mounting is expertly valued; the New York locale shots give authenticity; and lensing by [[George Barnes (cinematographer)|George Barnes]], while a bit on the arty side, displays skilled craftsmanship.<ref>[https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117791015.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&p=0 ''Variety'']. Staff film review, December 25, 1948. Accessed: February 11, 2010."</ref>}}

[[Bosley Crowther]], the film critic for ''[[The New York Times]]'', liked the film, and wrote, "But for all its unpleasant nature, it must be said that this film is a dynamic crime-and-punishment drama, brilliantly and broadly realized. Out of material and ideas that have been worked over time after time, so that they've long since become stale and hackneyed, it gathers suspense and dread, a genuine feeling of the bleakness of crime and a terrible sense of doom. And it catches in eloquent tatters of on-the-wing dialogue moving intimations of the pathos of hopeful lives gone wrong."<ref>[https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E06E3DC103EE03BBC4F51DFB4678383659EDE Crowther, Bosley].  ''The New York Times,'' film review, December 27, 1948. Accessed: February 11, 2010.</ref>

Wrote film historian [[Andrew Sarris]] in 1968, "''Force of Evil'' stands up under repeated viewings as one of the great films of the modern American cinema and Garfield's taxicab scene with Beatrice Pearson takes away some of the luster [[Elia Kazan|Kazan]]'s [[Marlon Brando|Brando]]-[[Rod Steiger|Steiger]] ''tour de force'' in ''[[On the Waterfront]]''."<ref>[[Andrew Sarris|Sarris, Andrew]]. 1968. ''The American Cinema: Directors and Directions, 1929-1968''. E.P. Dutton & Co. New York. p. 220</ref>

In the decades since its release ''Force of Evil'' has been recognized by some as a high point of the film noir genre, powerful in its poetic images and language, by such film critics and historians such as William S. Pechter and Andrew Dickos.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}} Its influence has been acknowledged many times by [[Martin Scorsese]] in the making of his crime dramas.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}