Abraham Polonsky directs John Garfield, Beatrice Pearson and Marie Windsor in this film noir where a corrupt lawyer loses what little is left of his soul when he encourages his gangster client to consolidate the numbers racket.

One of my favourite film noirs. The tropes are slightly moved back to the middle ground and the little people caught in organised crime’s merciless grind are focussed on more prominently. The violence is shocking, the pessimism unrelenting. Beatrice Pearson, the good girl trying to escape the bad situation, gives a glorious performance. Shame she only made two movies. What happened there? The on-location New York shoot adds a little incongruous day light to the normally midnight set genre… the city looks fantastic, towering over the players like they are rats trapped in a maze with no escape.

9

Perfect Double Bill: The Grifters (1990)

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