The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

Beautiful, moving film.

As Good As It Gets

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Sorry, but this is as good as noir gets. Gritty, beautifully shot on location. Crisp and dead level-written dialogue. Not a dead spot in the fast moving story. And Huston's direction underlines this classic.

Lately, I've been watching so many mediocre and, yes, really bad films that I needed to sit down and write out a short list of the essential elements in the making of a good movie. Even after many viewings, this movie actually improves with each look. No, they don't make them like this anymore. Here is the brief list that I composed:1. Good writing: In this case, the screenplay by Ben Maddow and John Huston, the director, provides outstanding dialogue that is both lean and powerful. Almost every word has a purpose, revealing important information about each character or explaining the background as well as the action that is to follow.2. Careful casting and a successful delivery by very talented cast: Without exception, every member of this cast has an important contribution to the overall success of the product. As a viewer, I sense that they are energized by each other as a team, in addition to their positive interaction with excellent writing and direction.3. Direction: Having written the script so flawlessly with Maddow, John Huston gets his second gold star here as director. He was responsible for bringing together the various components, including all of the different people mentioned in the credits, in order to create one seamless product. The technical skills behind the effective use of the camera and the lighting should never be taken for granted.This is by no means the jungle of Tarzan and Jane. This is a jungle exclusively inhabited by flawed human beings who are doomed to self-destruction from the very start. Although the extremely bleak opening scenes are of the City of Cincinnati, I did not hear the name of this city mentioned even once during the film. Perhaps the director believed that it was unfair to single out one particular American city because the locale could have been any number of cities in the US at the time. I never once considered the many unsavory characters and shabby neighborhoods depicted here to be a reflection of any one city, but it's nevertheless an interesting bit of movie trivia to me. The fact that Doc asks the taxi driver to drive him to Cleveland is another hint at the film's locale. The fuzzy locale in this instance reminded me that Kazan never revealed that "On the Waterfront" was shot in Hudson County, NJ rather than in New York City, as many still believe. You can't see Manhattan across the Hudson from Manhattan, you know, but that is the subject for another (glowing) review.As to the superb acting in this film, who stands above the rest? My vote goes to Louis Calhern as Emmerich, the sleazy lawyer who is bankrupt not only financially but morally and spiritually as well. As disagreeable as this character is, Calhern's performance allows the viewer to experience up close the humiliation of a man who was once regarded as "respectable" by his community. His own adoring, bed-ridden wife, well played by Dorothy Tree, seems to be in total denial of the true extent of his corruption. To me, Calhern conveys so well a sense of ruin within a man once highly esteemed but suddenly reduced to the lowest depth of utter disgrace.The acting accolades could go on and on, including James Whitmore as the disabled getaway man who is simmering internally with violent rage, Jean Hagen as Doll, the devoted but very lonely girlfriend of Dix (Sterling Hayden), and Mark Lawrence as Cobby, the small-time criminal weasel who finds himself way over his head, possibly for the first time in his slimy life. No review should omit the work of Sterling Hayden, the "hick hooligan" with the exploding inner rage of a man who despises his fate, having been thrust into a hostile, urban world that he never wanted but in which he nevertheless must struggle to survive by means of criminal activity, the only way that he knows. Then there is Sam Jaffe as Doc, the sophisticated, highly educated mastermind of the caper who is very smart but not smart enough to have waited to execute his plan at a time when he is no longer a recently released, high profile prisoner. "Oh, the girls in Mexico!" he exclaims to his new partners in crime. Only because of the overall sense of doom and gloom do we sense early that he will never make it to Mexico and must instead settle for the fleeting, seductive 1950 jitterbug dance of a small town Ohio teenager in front of a roadside jukebox. "Oh, the girls of Westerville!" would be more like it for Doc. More sadness and failure follows for yet another doomed, pathetic inhabitant of the human jungle. And what about Marilyn Monroe, who literally lights up the screen, albeit briefly, in an otherwise dark, drab, and depressing world? Don't think for a moment that she doesn't provide the soothing relief that Huston deliberately sought for his audience, regardless of their gender. God bless Marilyn and watch over her forever.Other reviewers have mentioned the absence of music, especially during the caper itself. How else would we hear the early sounds of the police sirens in the distance that so ominously announce the approaching outcome that would impact so many lives, both the guilty and the innocent? The most important music of the film surges at the end when Dix, the urban misfit, finally comes home to Kentucky, surrounded by the beautiful horses of his dreams, in a serene, pastoral scene that deliberately contrasts the ugliness and alienation of the asphalt jungle that he so despised.

Fresh out of prison a professional burglar by the name of "Erwin Riedenschneider" (Sam Jaffe) goes to see a local gambler named "Cobby" (Marc Lawrence) about setting up a heist worth over $500,000 in gold and gems from a local jewelry store. Cobby immediately sets up a meeting with a rich lawyer named "Alonzo Emmerich" (Louis Calhern) to arrange financing. What neither Dr. Riedenschneider nor Cobby realize is that Mr. Emmerich is broke and not only cannot afford to hire anybody but also cannot buy the merchandise once they bring it to him as planned. As a result Cobby hires the men necessary for the job under the assumption that Mr. Emmerich will reimburse him later and that he will also have the cash necessary to complete the transaction. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was a very good jewel caper which has a sterling cast and a fine plot as well. Not only that, but having an actress like Marilyn Monroe (as "Angela Phinlay") certainly didn't hurt the scenery in any way either. In any case, I rate this movie as above average and recommend it to those who enjoy a good crime movie from days gone by.

Sam Jaffe gets out of stir after having served his time and promptly has plans for another heist. But he needs the usual men of experience: the safe-cracker, the driver, etc. Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, James Whitmore, Jean Hagen, and Marilyn Monroe costar in this film noir, that has been hailed as one of the best of its kind. I saw it almost 20 years ago and for some reason I remember not liking it much. Normally any story of criminals on the run come to no good (end) and there's nothing to like about them and nothing (thank goodness) to relate to. Maybe that's why I didn't like it, and I was young… But seeing it today, I recognize all the elements that come together in this story of people gone bad. After all, it's the story of people that make any movie interesting and worth watching. Instead of just taking them at face value and shooting at each other, we are allowed into their private worlds. One man speaks of his wife and little girl. One man longs for his youth and his horse, wanting to go home again. Jean Hagen is a standout as she takes in Sterling Hayden and falls in love with him. She was Oscar-nominated for "Singin' in the Rain" but I think she's just as good if not better here. Marilyn Monroe is memorable in three short scenes and holds her own against real pros. And, Sam Jaffe and Sterling Hayden are good too, but perhaps the biggest impression on the viewers is Louis Calhern, who embodies and conveys his character's eccentricities so well. He's so subdued yet so intense and desperate. He always seems to be picture perfect – well dressed, in control, calm, when really it's bottled up. The whole production has the John Huston touch and it really packs a wallop. All the key parts are here to make this a must-see film noir. But in fact it's the story of people and choices and wrong turns that makes this transcend all other heist movies.