The Enforcer (1951 film)
| The Enforcer | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Bretaigne Windust |
| Produced by | Milton Sperling |
| Screenplay by | Martin Rackin |
| Starring |
Humphrey Bogart Zero Mostel Ted de Corsia Everett Sloane |
| Music by | David Buttolph |
| Cinematography | Robert Burks |
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Production
company |
United States Pictures
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
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Release date
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Running time
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87 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2 million (US rentals) |
The Enforcer (aka Murder, Inc.) is an American 1951 black-and-white film noir co-directed by Bretaigne Windust and an uncredited Raoul Walsh, who shot most of the film's suspenseful moments, including the ending. The production, largely a police procedural, features Humphrey Bogart and is based on the Murder, Inc. trials.
The action is set in an unnamed American city and is told mainly in flashback, and flashbacks within flashbacks.
Under heavy police protection, gangster Joe Rico (Ted de Corsia) arrives late at night at the courthouse to testify against crime lord Albert Mendoza (Everett Sloane). There have been several attempts on Rico's life and he is a bag of nerves, but lead prosecutor ADA Martin Ferguson (Humphrey Bogart) reminds him that he himself faces plenty of charges that could "burn you a dozen times". Ferguson is bound and determined to get Mendoza "in the electric chair" and stresses to Rico that Mendoza will "die, he's got to die, and you're going to kill him."
After yet another attempt on his life, Rico gives his bodyguards the slip and tries to escape by reaching the fire escape on the eighth floor of the building, but he falls off the ledge and is killed on impact when he hits the courtyard.
Rico was the only evidence Ferguson had against Mendoza, who will walk away in the morning as a free man. However, he believes that something else came up in the course of the investigation that might make the case—if only he could remember it. He and police Capt. Nelson (Roy Roberts) decide to go through the evidence hoping that something will come up.
The case began when a distraught man named James "Duke" Malloy (Michael Tolan), a small-time gangster and strongarm-man, burst into a police station and claimed to have killed his girlfriend, under pressure from others. At the crime scene, which is out in the countryside, the police find an empty grave. Malloy, overcome with grief, bitterly explains that his girlfriend was a "contract" and a "hit", terms which mean nothing to the officers. He later commits suicide in his cell.
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Wikipedia