S1 Ep. 7: Force of Evil (Abraham Polonsky, 1948)

Join hosts Jason Christian, Anthony Ballas, and Tim Jones as they discuss Abraham Polonsky’s debut film Force of Evil, a 1948 crime picture starring John Garfield, Beatrice Pearson, and Thomas Gomez. Force of Evil is one of thirteen movies the critic and filmmaker Thom Andersen identifies as film gris, or socially conscious crime cinema made from 1947 to 1951, during the height of the notorious House Un-American Activities hearings. In 1951, Polonsky refused to testify before his own HUAC hearing, and was subsequently blacklisted. He only directed two other films, Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969) and Romance of a Horsethief (1971), and remained a committed marxist all his life. We hope you enjoy this episode!