VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

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.

tieman64 "Murder, Inc" finds Humphrey Bogart playing a District Attorney who works closely with police detectives in the hopes of solving a series of violent murders. As the film progresses we learn that the murders were committed by a ring of assassins under the command of a devilish gang leader called Mendoza.Directed by Bretaigne Windust, the film is told largely through flashbacks. Unfortunately Windust's direction is flat and his script uninspired, the film only coming alive during 3 action sequences, two of which were ghost directed by Raoul Walsh.7/10 – Decades of television cop shows and police procedurals have diluted any impact "The Enforcer" might have once had. The always watchable Bogart turns in a solid performance, but the rest of the film is simply lacklustre. The film's finale is handled well, though, and a basement gangland meeting is suitably ominous.Note: The film is often classed as a "film noir". It is not.

MartinHafer In 1949, Humphrey Bogart starred as a prosecutor in KNOCK ON ANY DOOR. The movie, in my opinion, was pretty lousy, as Bogart was amazingly "touchy-feely" and the film complained about how society is to blame for young hoodlums. However, with THE ENFORCER, once again Bogey was a prosecutor but with a much harder and clearly Film Noir edge. Instead of crusading to understand why young punks kill, this prosecutor was concerned with unraveling an organized crime racket whose income came through contract killings--talk about a change! The film begins with the only witness against the head of this organized crime ring practically crawling out of his skin because he's so worried about being killed before he can testify in court. Through an accident, he does die and the case against "Mr. Big" seems dead. So, Bogey and his assistant review the case from the beginning and then all the things leading up to the current prosecution are shown step-by-step. It's a nice way to see how the process works and it manages to be tense and entertaining throughout. Because of the great camera work, snappy dialog and gritty no-holds-barred approach, this is clearly a Noir film.The only negative about the film, and it's a tiny one, is that while Bogart's character is the prosecutor, he sure acts like a police detective! No sane prosecutor is going to take such risks and go on cases to investigate, as that clearly was the job of the cops. Still, if you ignore this small detail, it makes for a very dandy and satisfying film. Oddly, while an excellent movie, it is probably among the actors least famous and recognized films.Finally, get a load of Everett Sloane in the film. This unassuming character actor sure plays against type in this movie--and it was surprising to see him in the role of Mr. Mendoza.

ccthemovieman-1 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.