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Poster for Force of Evil (1950)

Force of Evil (1950)

1950 · Feature film · 79 min · dir. Abraham Polonsky

Sensational Story Of a Numbers King Whose Number Was Up!

  • Crime
  • Drama
Watch now On the Internet Archive

Synopsis

Lawyer Joe Morse wants to consolidate all the small-time numbers racket operators into one big powerful operation. But his elder brother Leo is one of these small-time operators who wants to stay that way, preferring not to deal with the gangsters who dominate the big-time.

Synopsis from TMDb

Details

Director
Abraham Polonsky
Writer
Abraham Polonsky
Cinematography
George Barnes
Studio
Roberts Pictures Inc., Enterprise Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Released
1950-08-24
Running time
79 minutes

Cast & crew

Reviews on the Internet Archive

★★★★★ · Force of Awesome · jmsdxtr · 2026-04-24

I love that this is available on the Internet archive for free. A true classic of the noir 40s. John Garfield was a real talent and a great loss to film when he died a few years later. Polonsky too was a genius bringing together all the elements of great noir. That he was able to come out of Broadway and hit Hollywood with blockbusters like Body and Soul and Force of Evil with no previous film experience shows his own special abilities. they too, like Garfield were cut short by the goons of the right and their HUAC hearing, witch hunts. Polonsky survived to make films later but was not as…

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