Saw The Enforcer (thanks, Paul!) It was a 1950s crime film where Bogart as to protect the star witness on the night before the big case that will put away the crime kingpin forever. While he's doing this he also relives the entire case up until that point. It's mostly a crime procedural rendered a bit murkier than usual due to flashbacks within flashbacks as Bogart remembers suspects remembering their crimes. We only ever get three layers deep thankfully, but it's sometimes unclear where we are in the story.
The story itself is fun, standard crime drama. There's not many dames, but a lot of toughs and heavies and one guy wearing a zoot-suit! We also get to hear Bogart act hilariously confused at the phrases "a hit" and "a contract" and other oh-so-impenetrable gangster slang. It's a silly moment in an otherwise grim film.
The story has surprisingly few twists and turns. I suppose the non-linearity of the story was supposed to be twisty and turny enough but once the plot is actually revealed, it's very straightforward. Then again, gangster pictures are not mysteries. The fun isn't in solving a puzzle but in catching the bad guy. The protagonists even spend a few minutes openly wishing they could just run in guns blazing and dispense some vigilante justice. This is kind of surprising for a film from the 50s. Vigilante justice is only needed if the law is corrupt or broken in some way. Doesn't sound like something a cop would long for.
Anyway, a good little noir.
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