The Enforcer
Short description
Assistant District Attorney Martin Ferguson has spent years building a case against Albert Mendoza, a gangster who has turned murder into a business, supplying killers for hire while staying out of reach. A key witness is set to testify against Mendoza's organization, including its top lieutenant, but events on the night before the trial leave Ferguson without the testimony he needs. Working through the evidence with investigators overnight, he searches for another witness who can still bring Mendoza to court.
Humphrey Bogart leads the film as Ferguson, heading a credited cast of twenty-two that includes Zero Mostel, Ted de Corsia, Everett Sloane, Roy Roberts and Michael Tolan. Bretaigne Windust directed, and Raoul Walsh, who takes the director's credit on many prints, made the film as the eighteenth of the twenty-three features he directed, between Distant Drums and Gun Fury. Martin Rackin wrote the screenplay, and Milton Sperling produced for United States Pictures.
Released in February 1951 and running eighty-seven minutes, the drama-thriller was made for about one million dollars and returned roughly three million worldwide. On IMDb it holds a 7.2 rating from around six thousand one hundred votes, while the much smaller TMDB sample of one hundred seventeen voters gives it 7.1. A critics' rating of 6.3 from nine reviews places it below the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- This film was the only noir in Windust's career. During filming, he became seriously ill, and Walsh finished the film in his place. However, Walsh refused to include his name in the credits, calling the film Windust's work.
- Although the events depicted in the film are largely fictional, the film as a whole is based on the actual investigation of a group of hitmen dubbed the 'Murder, Inc.' by the press. It was during this investigation in 1940 and subsequent hearings before a special US Senate committee in 1950 that terms like 'contract' (a murder order) and 'hit' (the act of murder itself) first became known to the public. Gangsters used these code words to prevent police from discovering their plans in case of wiretapping.
- The prototype for Martin Ferguson was Burton Turkus, an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn who prosecuted several members of Murder, Inc. His book on the subject was released concurrently with the film.
- The character of Joe Rico was likely inspired by the real-life gangster Abe Reles. Like Rico, Reles was an influential figure in Murder, Inc. and was scheduled to testify in court against his criminal boss, but was found dead after falling from a hotel window on November 12, 1941. It was never conclusively determined whether his death was a murder or a suicide.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
