Steineded How sad is this?

Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?

Organnall Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

JohnHowardReid Copyright 1960 by Burt Balaban Productions, Inc. Worldwide release through 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Victoria: 28 June 1960. U.S. release: June 1960. U.K. release: 5 February 1961. Australian release: 20 October 1960. 9,178 feet. 103 minutes. Australian release title: SHADOW OF FEAR.NOTES: A remake of "The Enforcer" (1951) with Humphrey Bogart in the Morgan role and Everett Sloane as Lepke. Remade in 1975 with Tony Curtis as Lepke.VIEWER'S GUIDE: Although based on historical fact, this movie is most unsuitable for children.SYNOPSIS: In the 1930s, New York's underworld is ruled by the infamous Louis (Lepke) Bucholter, the murderous kingpin of organized crime. Under his reign of terror legitimate businesses are forced to pay "protection" money or face professional killers such as Abe Reles. Caught up in the violence is one Joey Collins, who, because of a debt to Reles, is being forced to assist the gang in carrying out their "contracts."COMMENT: So far as I'm aware, this is the second of the only two films made by radio-TV comedian, Henry Morgan. His debut was in "So This Is New York". Needless to say, many computers and reference books simply add these two movies to the credits of Henry "Harry" Morgan. It was certainly an off-beat piece of casting, and it is reasonably effective, though the movie's dominant performance is provided by Peter Falk. Hero Whitman is merely adequate, whilst May Britt is wasted in a nothing role. (Both she and Whitman are fictitious characters too, whereas most of the other players can get their teeth into real people). To sum up, this is not a pleasant movie, although it is somewhat softened by a number of extraneous scenes, including a nightclub visit with "singer" Sarah Vaughan.

ma-cortes 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 .

secondtake 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.

seymourblack-1 "The Enforcer" is a gripping tale about an investigation into the activities of a crime syndicate boss and the efforts of an Assistant D.A. to bring him to justice. The criminal in question was the head of a group of contract killers who carried out murders to order and avoided detection because their operatives never had any connection with their victims and so there were never any known motives or obvious leads for the authorities to follow up in their investigations. This concept, although very familiar to audiences today, was something very topical at the time of the film's release and also a matter of great public interest.In the period immediately before the release of "The Enforcer", Senate Committee hearings on organised crime were chaired by Senator Estes Kefauver. These hearings were given national television coverage during a period when the medium was very new to most viewers and the revelations about the pervasive nature of organised crime and the existence of the outfit known as "Murder Incorporated" attracted extremely large audiences. It was during these broadcasts that the general public first became aware of some of the jargon used by hired killers and "The Enforcer" is credited as being the first movie to feature the words "contract", "hit" and "fingerman" in this context.After a four year investigation into the activities of crime boss Albert Mendoza (Everett Sloane), Assistant D.A. Martin Ferguson (Humphrey Bogart) has a witness who has agreed to testify that he saw Mendoza kill a man. When the witness, Joe Rico (Ted de Corsia), dies suddenly as the result of an accident, Ferguson and Police Captain Frank Nelson (Roy Roberts) undertake a meticulous review of their investigation to date to try to find another piece of information which could lead to them being able to get Mendoza convicted.The case files confirm that the investigation started when a frantic young man called "Duke" Malloy (Lawrence Tolan) visited a police station and reported that he's been forced to kill his girlfriend. It transpired that he was a hired killer who'd fallen in love with his intended victim and when he'd initially refused to go through with the job, he'd been pressured by other gang members into completing the contract. The overwrought Malloy hanged himself in a police cell and the investigation that followed involved police officers in gathering information from a variety of people including Malloy's fellow gang members.Ferguson and Nelson's review eventually brings to light the name of another person who would be a perfect witness but unfortunately Mendoza becomes aware of this person's identity at the same and this leads to a desperate race against time for the police to find the potential witness before Mendoza's men do.The movie's structure is interesting as an account of the police investigation is given in flashback with the stories of each of the interviewees often constituting a flashback within a flashback. The action is delivered with a good deal of pace and tension and despite the story's closeness to real events, the movie's style is always entertaining and not overly solemn in the way that some docu-noirs can be.The colourful collection of characters featured in "The Enforcer" are brought to life vividly by the excellent cast and Humphrey Bogart is especially good as a man who is extremely determined and powerfully focused on his task but is nevertheless also very controlled and methodical when necessary.