The Enforcer

An Assistant District Attorney (Humphrey Bogart) reviews his case against an organized crime leader.

The Enforcer runs a short 87 minutes, but feels almost double that. An assistant D.A. and a police Captain take a third of the movie to discover what the words “contract” and “hit” could have to do with murder, they believe at face-value people who are clearly lying, and they repeatedly put a key witness in an organized crime trial in front of an open window.

In short, the characters are painfully unbelievable; and since we’re talking about Humphrey Bogart, who is clearly capable of playing a D.A., the blame has to fall squarely on the script.

And speaking of Bogart, this really isn’t his film per-se. While he does have the most screen time, the story is told in flashbacks so he’s only on-screen about half the time.

That’s not to say The Enforcer is all bad: Ted de Corsia turns in what is essentially a double role and is as good as the script allows. But that’s about it.