Force of Evil (1948)

 

An unethical lawyer, with an older brother he wants to help, becomes a partner with a client in the numbers racket.

Tough and downbeat Noir crime drama astonishes with its stark anti-capitalist stance and some quite memorable scenes.

Halliwell**: "Bleak and powerful melodrama, an attack on capitalism that is here personified by racketeers."

Maltin***: "Rock-solid film noir...Beautifully photographed (by George Barnes) and lit; this has become something of a cult item." 

John Garfield

 

Bio:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Garfield

They Made Me a Criminal (1939)

A boxer flees believing he has comitted a murder while he was drunk.

Effective and quite unsentimental crime drama (and romance); an example for those kind of movies "they don't make anymore".

Halliwell*: "Competent remake of  The Life of Jimmy Dolan, a tribute to the American way."

Maltin**1/2: "Enjoyable, with Rains miscast as a Dick Tracy type."

The Breaking Point (1950)

An otherwise moral captain of a charter boat becomes financially strapped and is drawn into illegal activities in order to keep up payments on his boat.

A more adequate and more serious adaptation of Hemingway's To Have and Have Not than John Huston's attempt, but less entertaining; excellent cast and good details.

Halliwell*: "Adequate if slightly humdrum attempt by Warner to atone for what they had done to a Hemingway novel, the infidelity of To Have and Have Not and the unauthorized variation of Key Largo."

Maltin***1/2: "High-voltage refilming of Hemingway's TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT...Garfield and Juano Hernandez give superb interpretations."

Gentleman's Agreement (1947)

A reporter pretends to be Jewish in order to cover a story on antisemitism, and personally discovers the true depths of bigotry and hatred.