User reviews

There's a new business and it's opened up new doors, but there's no entrance, exit, this firm has no floors, though it has a telephone, it's got men who can dethrone, means you're alibi is solid, without flaws. Albert Mendoza is the head of all affairs, behind bars, but he don't really seem to care, as Martin Ferguson pursues, those who were in on the whole ruse, to get the evidence, to send Albert, to the chair. Told in flashback it's engaging and intense, your investment will return good recompense, great performances all round, with a colourful confound, plus a little bit of tension and suspense.

... in a very suspenseful but oddly constructed noir. The first part is centered on prosecutor Martin Ferguson's (Bogart's) attempt to keep star witness Rico alive until the murder trial of Albert Mendoza the next day. Rico arrives in an armored truck with cops armed with rifles surrounding him. The fact that Ferguson spends the rest of the film in flashback, wondering if he possible missed a potential witness who could replace Rico on the stand, will tell you he failed. How he failed I'll let you see for yourself. The flashback is Ferguson thinking back to the beginning of what became the Mendoza case and how everything unfolded, starting with a guy wandering into a police station saying he just killed his girlfriend, and that he was made to do it, yet he cannot lead the police to a body or produce a motive as to why anybody would want this girl dead, if she ever existed in the first place. One investigating cop thinks he is crazy, the other does not. They take this case to Ferguson, and thus the investigation begins.

One interesting thing that is done is that Mendoza is not shown until the very end. He is discussed at length, so you build up an image of this guy in your head. And then they deliver somebody as Mendoza that does not look like what you are probably expecting and who comes up with a horrific idea for a new criminal enterprise with the dispassionate logic of an accountant. This film is relatively unknown among Bogart's filmography, and that is probably because he doesn't get to display any trademark Bogart traits in his performance such as paranoia, cynicism, or bravery. Instead he is a bit of a cog in a police procedural wheel, but he still delivers.

Bretagne Windust was supposed to direct this film, and he did start out doing so but then illness caused Raoul Walsh to direct about 90% of it although he did not take credit.

This is a perfect example of the typical post-1950 noir which tended to be told from the point of view of the police rather than the criminal so they are less existential than the classic pre-1950 noir. Blame it on the blacklist. Anyway, it retains the noir virtues of a simple story economically told and expressively photographed. Only the garishness of containing a super star and being directed, uncredited, by Raoul Walsh , lifts this film to 'A' status but in fact this is a 'B' picture all the way.

There are plot holes aplenty, cars which are fifteen years out of date, an unusually high body count and police procedures which would give the ACLU, if not the Supreme Court, apoplexy. That said The Enforcer is a lot of fun and a satisfying little picture. Connoisseurs of character actors will have a field day as the picture contains a who's who of heavies and henchmen.

THE ENFORCER is one of the few noirs with the hyper classic devise of a flashback inside of a flashback. In fact there are three of them. The body of the film is D.A. Humphrey Bogart and cop Roy Roberts reviewing their notes for a case against a murder for hire racket. During the review they recall the arrest Zero Mostel who tells a story about joining the gang of killers. Then they listen to a dying man who tells a story of a failed hit. In another flashback a man who we already know to be dead tells a story of the organizations first hit. There have been more convoluted flashback structures (there are some with flashbacks inside of flashbacks inside of flashbacks) but at least add THE ENFORCER to the list of noirs with flashbacks within flashbacks.

P.S. Ted de Corsia should either try to stay away from high places or else get a good pair of sneakers- c.f. THE NAKED CITY.

Although the star of the film in terms of first billed in The Enforcer is Humphrey Bogart, the film's main character is Ted DeCorsia in what is probably his best screen performance.

Taking a lot of inspiration from Citizen Kane, District Attorney Humphrey Bogart and his two police investigators, Roy Roberts and King Donovan try and piece back together a case against Everette Sloane who has started a new racket, murder for profit. The chief witness is Ted DeCorsia who after an attempt on his life, falls to his death while trying to escape from a window.

After DeCorsia's demise the night before the trial was to commence, Bogart and Sloane start listening to hours of tape from several witnesses to see if they can salvage the case. Like Charles Foster Kane's life, the story of the racket is told in flashback through the tapes.

DeCorsia is the main character because all roads lead to him as the number two guy, but only he can finger Sloane. DeCorsia is seen as the frightened witness and also as the tough racketeer. It's almost two characters in the same film, but DeCorsia delivers on both.

Everette Sloane is one chillingly evil villain. He's decided to sell the services of killers to those who need them. To other racketeers and to outsiders as well. No motive, the police can't track down the ] perpetrators. The words of this racket, like 'contract' and 'hit' are all familiar terms now, but then it was something fairly new.

Bogart's function is like the reporter{s} who pieced together the life of Charles Foster Kane. It's essentially passive, he's one of the few people whoever played a District Attorney in films who never got a courtroom scene. But in the end, frantically trying to find and protect a crucial witness, he becomes quite proactive to say the least.

Of course this is all borrowed from the stories about Murder, Inc. and it was familiar to the movie going public. But The Enforcer is a really taut crime drama that never lets your interest flag.

It's so good that I can almost forgive a major plot flaw. Through some gross stupidity on Bogart's part, Sloane realizes there's a witness out there who can nail him and he takes appropriate steps. I can't see in real life how that could have happened.

Still The Enforcer is a personal favorite of mine for Humphrey Bogart films and I think you'll like it too although when you see it you will see what Bogey did that almost blew the whole case.

B Windust and Raoul Walsh's direction is first class, B&W cinematography scintillating, good screenplay, Adelaide Klein's elegance and beauty is timeless, and Bogart in good form, ably supported by Mostel, di Corsia, and the rest of a robust cast.

Very neat ending, too.

After years of chase , Assistant D.A. Martin Ferguson (Humphrey Bogart) has an important case against Murder, Inc. whose boss results to be a gangster named Albert Mendoza (Everett Sloane) . As the assistant district attorney goes after an organized band of murderers and to condemn Mendoza as well as put his gang behind bars . Meanwhile , Mendoza is in prison and his lieutenant Joseph Rico (Ted De Corsia) is going to testify . But Rico falls from a building to his death and Ferguson along with Capt. Frank Nelson (Roy Roberts) must work through the night going over everything to study the issue anew .

Exciting and thrilling picture with a complex intrigue , nice character studio , suspense , a lot of killings and full of flashbacks . One of the most grueling of even Bogart's mobster movies all done in gripping realism and shot in semi-documentary style . Interesting and moving screenplay by Martin Rackin . The picture has a Noir treatment of the real-life ¨Murder Inc¨ case , being narrated by means of flashbacks . There are murders galore ; as grisly killings by : hanging , razor , knife , falling heights , point blank shot and by pick axe filmed in hypnotic realism . Faint-heart people of the 50s were impressed for killing galore , horrific scenes and strong images by that time . According to the New York Times' Feb. 16, 2014 article on films influenced by the Kefauver hearings, Sen. Estes Kefauver appeared in a prologue for this film . It's splendidly played by Humphrey Bogart ; he was in his best period of the early 50s when he starred classic movies such as ¨The Caine Mutiny¨, ¨Sabrina¨, ¨Beat the devil¨, ¨The African Queen¨, ¨Sirocco¨, ¨In a lonely place¨, ¨Chain lightning¨, ¨Knock on any door¨ and this ¨The enforcer¨. The main star is backed by a host of fine support cast such as Zero Mostel , Ted de Corsia , Everett Sloane , Roy Roberts , Michael Tolan , King Donovan and the cowboy Bob Steele . Evocative and adequate cinematography by Robert Burks , Hitchcock's usual . Appropriate as well as atmospheric musical score by David Buttolph adds impact to the action .

The motion picture produced and distributed by Warner Bros. was compellingly directed by Bretaigne Windust . After several days of filming, director Bretaigne Windust fell seriously ill and was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Humphrey Bogart asked his old friend, director Raoul Walsh, to come in and shoot the picture until Windust recovered. Unfortunately, Windust was more seriously ill than most realized, and his recovery took several months, during which Walsh finished the film. However, Walsh refused to take screen credit for it, saying that the picture was Windust's big break and he wasn't going to take it away from him . Rating : Better than average . Worthwhile watching . The film will appeal to Humphrey Bogart fans .

This obviously is not one of Bogart's most famous films, it should be cause it is an entertaining film noir that holds your interest from start to finish. They don't make 'em like this anymore. The plot involves Bogart as a D.A., whose star witness in bringing the head of a murder racket to justice dies before the trial.

In a lengthy flashback, Bogart retraces the case from the beginning, looking for some bit of testimony that might help him nail the killer before he gets set free.

Bogart is good as his usual tough-guy self, and is trying to prosecute the boss man of a Murder Incorporated type of crime organization but keeps running into road blocks with people getting killed. Bogie plays it well although Bogie could play Mary Poppins and make it look good.

At the end Bogie does what Bogie does well. This is a great movie. If you are a Bogart fan, this is a must have.

Bogart made a lot of films; some of them mediocre, and some of them classics. This one is a classic, and it's not even because of Bogart. What makes this film a classic is its unique content (for the time), and it device of using flashback sequences the way flashback should be done (like Lawrence of Arabia and other great flashback films). The production values are excellent, and there are several chilling scenes, which I will not spoil for you. It is absolutely not your run of the mill crime drama. The character developments of a few of the heavies in the piece is rarely found in most crime films. Most of the time we get nothing but the life of the hero and how he overcomes adversity. This film does not fall into that hackneyed trap. We do learn that motive is the most important element of crime, however. Not to be missed.

The Enforcer, whose French title is La femme à abattre, plays often to packed houses in Paris. More than one French critic has called the film a gem (un joyau) among film noir classics. Indeed, its popularity in France says lots about pure plot lines and straightforward characterizations which make the film accessible to non-English-speaking audiences. As many readers know, the French are crazy about American film noir, and it's common to see parents bring their children to see movies like The Enforcer. I recently sat next to such a family when the film played in March 2003 at the Grand Action cinéma in Paris. It was almost moving to hear the father explain to his son that they would be seeing a film which, in his words, is a classic with great insights in the American psyche. Hearing them speak made me wonder how many American families use films of decades past to teach their children about the world in which we live.

By the way, the three cinémas in the Action chain in Paris regularly play American films noirs and other classic American movies, many of them in newly restored versions.

Don Ediger

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

This starts off powerfully, with a very interesting scene and some excellent film- noir photography, but after the witness dies, so does the movie in many respects.

From that point on, it's just a bunch of flashbacks. When the "live" scenes reappear, they are not always easy to discern what's going on. The film also becomes too talky too often.

However, the characters are tough and generally interesting, with some good acting. Film-noir-wise, despite the presence of superstar Humphrey Bogart along with guys like Zero Mostel, Everett Sloane and Ted de Corsia, it's average fare for the day. it could - and should - have been better.

District Attourney Ferguson loses his only witness in the trial of Albert Mendoza - the head of Murder Incorporated, an organisation of killers. With hours to go to the case is dismissed, Ferguson decides to go back over the evidence from the start to try to find something else that could be used to try him.

This film is not very famous and is never listed when people talk of Bogart. This is mainly because it's not part of his film noir, hard boiled batch and it doesn't have a strong romantic subplot. However it's still got much to cheer about. The story feels very basic by today's standards - however this was one of the first films to bring in the language of hitmen, even though now everyone knows what a "hit" and a "contract" means. The story unfolds in flashbacks, and involves flashbacks within flashbacks - so it's not as simple as you think. At it's time it was very different to other films.

The performances are all good, the group of hitmen in particular stand out in their portrayal of tough guys who turn to fear and mistrust when the law closes in. Bogart is good in a straight role but despite his billing he is not the best role. De Corsia, Sloane, Mostel et al are the real stars and are very good in their hitmen guises.

The film was based on the discovery and cases of the real "murder inc" in the 40's and is told in the crime story style that would become more used in the 1950's. Due to our familarity of the hitman scene in movies nowadays, it won't set the screen on fire but it's still very enjoyable to watch.

Dist. Atty. Martin Ferguson (Humphrey Bogart) has the chance for sending the criminal Albert Mendoza (Everett Sloane) to the electric chair. He depends on the testimony of Mendoza's right arm Joseph Rico (Ted De Corsia), who is so scared that commits a mistake and dies. Ferguson reads all the case again and again trying to find a new evidence or witness and through flashbacks, the viewer sees what has happened until the death of Rico. Will Ferguson find a missing point?

"The Enforcer" is one of those unforgettable films that you can see many times since there are many details. It is a masterpiece with a tight story, top-notch screenplay and excellent performances, with another great direction of Raoul Walsh. The plot is constructed like a puzzle through flashbacks; the black & white cinematography is fantastic, with the use of shadows specially in the exterior scenes; the conclusion is tense. Fans of film noir and police story will certainly enjoy this unknown jewel. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): 'Um Preço Para Cada Crime' ('A Price For Each Crime')

Note: On 09 October 2016, I saw this film again.

The Enforcer (1951)

Humphrey Bogart makes this film, and if you like him, you'll love this. If you don't know or care about Bogart, you'll see what he's all about here. The rest of the film is good, very good, but it's standard fare. And it has a few moments of just incredulous stuff, like toward the beginning when they are protecting a key witness and they ignore the obvious problem of having the witness sit in front of a window across from a hotel. Naturally, a sniper takes a shot at him. I won't say whether he succeeds, but it sets you up to be suspicious of the director and writer from there on.

But there's Bogie, the relentless investigator. He needs to put a terrible crime boss in the chair, and sets off to find proof against him, running up against mobsters who seem to be one step ahead, covering up or wiping out (with bullets) anything or anyone who might know something. It's good stuff, but not great stuff. Director Bretaigne Windust had done some Broadway and a couple of films, but he doesn't pull this together. I'm surprised a Bogart film at the top of his career was handled by Windust, but at this time Bogart had been battling the Hollywood Communist lists and blacklists, and he got his independent Santana production company going, and I'm guessing that he was working against a lot of the Hollywood mainstream at this point (as was John Huston, who used Bogart in "African Queen" the next year).

But this is Bogart at his best, really, just after "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" and "In a Lonely Place." The photography is first rate (Robert Burks was by this point doing a whole bunch of Hitchcock films, too). In all, a decent, well made if unexceptional film.

In 1960 there was a movie called Murder Inc., telling the story of that infamous organization. The book by that name actually came out in 1951 and also inspired this movie. Humphrey Bogart plays the Burton Turkus character, who was so successful in putting away many of the members of Murder Inc. and sending to the electric chair the only major mob boss ever to be executed, Louis (Lepke) Buchalter. Turkus was an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn who became known to the mob as Mr. Arsenic because of his incorruptibility and ability to convict organized crime figures. He was also referred to in the press as the only honest man in New York City, an exaggeration, but perhaps only a slight one. Even Turkus' old boss, William O'Dwyer, who rode Turkus' good work into election as the city's mayor, was later forced to resign among charges of massive corruption and mob connections. Everett Sloane is excellently cast as the brilliant, brutal Lepke like character, a small, slight, but terrifying man, who one policeman described as having the eyes of a doe.

The movie is wonderful in revealing to audiences of the day the machinations of the mob. We see that these are not men of honor, but in reality a society of hoodlums whose every move is motivated by a desire to enrich and empower themselves, and where the rule for bosses on the run is kill everyone, friend and foe alike, who could conceivably incriminate them. We also see how the mob, now concerned about electronic surveillance has come up with code words like contract and hit to confuse law enforcement.

Bogart's device of confronting the incarcerated Sloane with reminders of his victims almost backfires, but instead sets up the film's climax as it demonstrates the long reach possessed by crime chieftains even behind bars. And though seemingly all of his witnesses have been murdered or otherwise neutralized, we see a way for Bogart to eventually prosecute his protagonist.

One moment in the film that is simultaneously comic and chilling comes when Rico is on the way back from a murder. Riding in the back of a truck with the victim in a laundry cart that is nearby, Rico, who is the chief, looks at one of his subordinates, Vince, who is acting very nervously. Concerned about a possible weak link, he turns to Vince and says, "You know, I think there's room for you in the basket too." With that he casually kills the man, as the group of thugs just calmly continue on.

In real life Lepke does get executed along with two of his chief henchmen, Mendy Weiss and Louis Capone (no relation to Al). Loyal to the end both men chose the same final meal as the boss, a chicken dinner.

For some reason, I thought this film was a lot earlier than 1951. The reason is that it looks for all the world like a B movie and sounds like one. It's possible Bogart owed Warners a film, though what his excuse was for making "The Two Mrs. Carrolls" I've never figured out. He must have owed them a lot of films. Apparently the director became quite ill and Bogart asked Raoul Walsh, who refused to take any credit, to take over. This helps the film to come off well, but to me it still seems like a B movie with an A list star and director.

"The Enforcer" is a crime noir, with Bogart as Martin Ferguson, a frustrated District Attorney who loses yet another witness against a crime boss, Albert Mendoza (Everett Sloane). Ferguson's witness (Ted de Corsia) is due to go into court the next day, but he panics and tries to leave via a window too many flights up.

Ferguson stays up the night before the trial with Captain Nelson (Roy Roberts) going over the case incident by incident, trying to figure out if there is anybody else who can help him put this killer in prison.

There are flashbacks within flashbacks here as different people tell a story about the organization.

I liked the denouement of this movie. I found it effective and also suspenseful. However, I've seen too many crime films. At one point the witness stood right in front of a window, and another time stuck his head out a window to get some air. And everyone is terrified this guy is going to be killed.

Bogart, as usual, is great, as the no-nonsense DA, and he has good support from Zero Mostel, Sloane, King Donovan, and Michael Tolan, among others.

Good crime drama.

This little movie may not be any Maltese Falcon, but it's a more than decent post-Casablanca Bogie flick. Quite well done and worth your time. Supposedly Raoul Walsh directed much of it, uncredited. While I don't know if this is true, it would certainly explain why the film is so entertaining.

at least for the Fifties. Tense story, lots of killings, terrified witnesses, ruthless thugs. Ted de Corsia impresses as the second-in-command gangster who mutates from a steel-nerved tough into a panicking coward when things go wrong. Bogart plays what by now has become a familiar character of his, the crusading lawyer, this time as a DA trying to break a murder-for-hire ring.

It does have its flaws, however. Is it really possible that in 1951 the police didn't know what a "contract" or a "hit" was? And most of the secondary characters are basically cardboard cutouts. The climax comes too late, literally ten seconds before the ending. But the black-and-white cinematography, the shadows and the mist, the wanton spilling of blood just out of camera range, make this an effective movie nonetheless, at least visually. Worth a look.

Dire! This hard-boiled crime melodrama is about contract killing and it traces, rather naively I thought, the genesis of the whole enterprise and is said to be based on fact. It's distinguished slightly by the use of flashbacks within flashbacks and by some fine, moody cinematography by Robert Burks but, with the exception of Bogart, (and even he is playing well below par), it is appallingly acted. Still, sometimes a bad performance can be even more memorable than a good one and in this respect Ted De Corsia's 'Squealer' ends up stealing the film. On the other hand, both Zero Mostel and Everett Sloane probably reach a career nadir here. As for the direction of Bretaigne Windust, it's perfunctory at best. Inhabiting a vacuum somewhere between "The House on 42nd Street" and "The Phenix City Story", the film is neither fish nor fowl, (it's mostly foul). Missed opportunities all round.