IMDb RATING
7.2/10
7.7K
YOUR RATING
An unethical lawyer who wants to help his older brother becomes a partner with a client in the numbers racket.An unethical lawyer who wants to help his older brother becomes a partner with a client in the numbers racket.An unethical lawyer who wants to help his older brother becomes a partner with a client in the numbers racket.
- Awards
- 1 win
Howland Chamberlain
- Freddie Bauer
- (as Howland Chamberlin)
Murray Alper
- Comptroller
- (uncredited)
Jessie Arnold
- Sorter
- (uncredited)
Georgia Backus
- Sylvia Morse
- (uncredited)
Margaret Bert
- Sorter
- (uncredited)
Larry J. Blake
- Detective
- (uncredited)
Mildred Boyd
- Mother
- (uncredited)
Ralph Brooks
- Attorney
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn order to show cinematographer George Barnes how he wanted the film to look, Abraham Polonsky gave him a book of Edward Hopper's Third Avenue paintings.
- GoofsDuring a climactic montage set at an East Coast racetrack on the Fourth of July, people in the stock footage crowd scenes are dressed in winter garments nobody would wear in the middle of summer.
- Alternate versionsAll existing copies of the film are of the version that was cut by 10 minutes in order to fit into a double bill.
- ConnectionsEdited into American Cinema: Film Noir (1995)
Featured review
Brilliant
A richly provocative movie that could serve as a bible of film making, "Force of Evil" succeeds on a number of planes , establishing itself not only as classic noir, but as a reflection of its period. Visually, the compositions are exciting, from the elegant decor gilding the halls of power to the closeup of horror that punctuates Bower's brutal murder, the rich complexity seldom falters. There are echoes here of Eisenstein, and one can't help noticing the presence of Robert Aldrich as Assistant Director, an apprenticeship that would payoff in the visually similar "Kiss Me Deadly", suggesting that Aldrich served for a time as trustee of the blacklisted Polonsky estate. The script occasionally rises to the level of poetic Blank Verse, and is expertly intoned by John Garfield, Beatrice Pearson, and Thomas Gomez in a sweatily memorable performance.
Thematically, Marxist Polonsky and co-scripter Ira Wolfert take a shot at the Darwinist world of capital, where big fish survive by eating smaller fish or by muscling in on the catch (Ficco's strategy), while working class minnows offer up dimes and quarters in hopes of instant metamorphosis. It's an ugly world where corruption and greed reach from top to bottom. Since the Production Code of the time couldn't leave matters in an unregenerate state, an upbeat ending is tacked on that defies the logic of what has gone before. Nevertheless, the sharply-etched images remain, vividly - memorably. And it's ironic that any intended remake will have to consider that the biggest fish of all has taken over the numbers racket and renamed it - the State Lottery. I wonder if Polonsky was amused.
Thematically, Marxist Polonsky and co-scripter Ira Wolfert take a shot at the Darwinist world of capital, where big fish survive by eating smaller fish or by muscling in on the catch (Ficco's strategy), while working class minnows offer up dimes and quarters in hopes of instant metamorphosis. It's an ugly world where corruption and greed reach from top to bottom. Since the Production Code of the time couldn't leave matters in an unregenerate state, an upbeat ending is tacked on that defies the logic of what has gone before. Nevertheless, the sharply-etched images remain, vividly - memorably. And it's ironic that any intended remake will have to consider that the biggest fish of all has taken over the numbers racket and renamed it - the State Lottery. I wonder if Polonsky was amused.
helpful•82
- dougdoepke
- Sep 17, 2015
- How long is Force of Evil?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- The Numbers Racket
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $948,000
- Gross worldwide
- $1,165,000
- Runtime1 hour 19 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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