Finally after lots of hard work, Assistant D.A. Martin Ferguson has a good case against Murder Inc big wig, Albert Mendoza. But while Mendoza is in jail, the man lined up to testify against him loses his nerve and falls to his death, thus leaving Ferguson little to no time to rebuild a case against the crime lord.
The Enforcer is based upon the whistle blowing of one Abe Reles. Who opened eyes up to an organised crime mob called Murder Inc. Fusing that period of history with the subsequent Kefauver Committee investigations that followed Reles' reveals, The Enforcer is a tough and gritty picture that many view as the key switch from Noir into the grizzled crime obsessed 1950s. At the time of writing this I have yet to have it confirmed, but it's thought that this Bretaigne Windust directed picture is the first mainstream picture to deal with the complexities of organised crime? Certainly the dialogue is now common speak (courtesy of Martin Rackin (Riffraff 1947), but back in 1951 it surely would have raised eyebrows and intrigued the watching public.
Excellently photographed in stark black and white by Robert Burks, who of course is well known to Hitchcock devotees, the picture positively seeps with an underworld vibe, perhaps even coming into the realms of being documentary in structure. Starring Humphrey Bogart (Ferguson), Everett Sloane (Mendoza) and the excellent, and wonderfully named, Zero Mostel (Big Babe Lazich), it's also thought that Raoul Walsh had quite a hand in the final product. This to my knowledge, is still unconfirmed, but when viewing the picture as a whole, it certainly boasts the feel of Walsh's better known pictures. Highly engrossing and a template movie of sorts, The Enforcer is definitely one to catch if at all possible. 7.5/10
The Enforcer is based upon the whistle blowing of one Abe Reles. Who opened eyes up to an organised crime mob called Murder Inc. Fusing that period of history with the subsequent Kefauver Committee investigations that followed Reles' reveals, The Enforcer is a tough and gritty picture that many view as the key switch from Noir into the grizzled crime obsessed 1950s. At the time of writing this I have yet to have it confirmed, but it's thought that this Bretaigne Windust directed picture is the first mainstream picture to deal with the complexities of organised crime? Certainly the dialogue is now common speak (courtesy of Martin Rackin (Riffraff 1947), but back in 1951 it surely would have raised eyebrows and intrigued the watching public.
Excellently photographed in stark black and white by Robert Burks, who of course is well known to Hitchcock devotees, the picture positively seeps with an underworld vibe, perhaps even coming into the realms of being documentary in structure. Starring Humphrey Bogart (Ferguson), Everett Sloane (Mendoza) and the excellent, and wonderfully named, Zero Mostel (Big Babe Lazich), it's also thought that Raoul Walsh had quite a hand in the final product. This to my knowledge, is still unconfirmed, but when viewing the picture as a whole, it certainly boasts the feel of Walsh's better known pictures. Highly engrossing and a template movie of sorts, The Enforcer is definitely one to catch if at all possible. 7.5/10