Force of Evil

Force of Evil is a 1948 American film noir starring John Garfield and Beatrice Pearson and directed by Abraham Polonsky. It was adapted by Polonsky and Ira Wolfert from Wolfert's novel Tucker's People.<ref>Template:AFI film.</ref> Polonsky had been a screenwriter for the boxing film Body and Soul (1947), in which Garfield had also played the male lead.

In 1994, Force of Evil was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Plot

File:Force of Evil (promo photo - John Garfield and Beatrice Pearson).jpg

Garfield and Pearson in Force of Evil

Lawyer Joe Morse works for a powerful gangster, Tucker, who wishes to consolidate and control the numbers racket in New York City. This requires absorbing many smaller outfits, one of which is run by Morse's older brother, Leo. One relishes his life in the underworld, the other is disgusted by it and seeks to minimize its impact. Even when seeking to soften things for Leo, things go wrong for Joe, and tragedy befalls both.

Cast

• John Garfield as Joe Morse
• Beatrice Pearson as Doris Lowry
• Thomas Gomez as Leo Morse
• Marie Windsor as Edna Tucker
• Howland Chamberlain as Frederick "Freddie" Bauer
• Roy Roberts as Ben Tucker
• Paul Fix as Bill Ficco
• Stanley Prager as Wally
• Barry Kelley as Det. Egan

Reception

Critical response

When the film was released, the staff at Variety magazine gave the film a mixed review, praising its production values but panning its focus and "intrusively" flowery language:

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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>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 Kazan's Brando-Steiger tour de force in On the Waterfront."<ref>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.Template:Citation needed Its influence has been acknowledged many times by Martin Scorsese in the making of his crime dramas.Template:Citation needed

Box-office

According to MGM records the film earned $948,000 in the US and $217,000 overseas.<ref name="Mannix"/>

Accolades

American Film Institute Lists

• AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movies - Nominated<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• AFI's 10 Top 10 - Nominated Gangster Film<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) - Nominated<ref>AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) Nominees</ref>

Preservation

Force of Evil was preserved and restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Restoration provided by The Packard Humanities Institute. The restoration premiered at the UCLA Festival of Preservation in 2022.

See also

• List of cult films

External links

• Template:Internet Archive film
• Template:AFI film
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• Template:Rotten Tomatoes
• Template:TCMDb title
• Force of EvilTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore analysis of film by Sydney Pollack at Turner Classic Movies
• Force of Evil essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 Template:ISBN, pages 421-423 [1]