Writer-director Polonsky hascommented that there were artists working in Hollywood in the 1940s with "ageneralized political awareness°who were trying to make films that reflected thisawareness in one way or another when they had an opportunity to do so°.My firstfilm as director, Force of Evil°was an expression of the fear of this movement°.Iassume the film reflects it very deeply, perhaps more than most films of thattime." In this beautiful, poetic film, Joe Morse (John Garfield), aracketeer's lawyer intent on making his first million, declares himself "notstrong enough to resist corruption, but strong enough to want a piece ofit." Such moral ambivalence is at the center of this potent critique ofracketeering as just another form of capitalism. Tersely written in what Varietydubbed "blank verse," Force of Evil brilliantly lays out theimplications of ethics greyed by personal rationalizations.