Night and the City (1950)

Best movie of this year hands down!

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

NIGHT AND THE CITY is a little strange and morbid film about the life of the small but ambitious impostors who are in all ways trying to get rich. The picturesque film that at times turns into a sort of grotesque situation. Characterization is probably bad for a reason. Identification with the characters is almost impossible.Through the story can feel a certain pathos. The dark and gloomy atmosphere is constant. All the characters seem so unsatisfied and unhappy. Failed ambition of the main character leads to death, the collapse of the plan and ultimately bloodshed. Richard Widmark as Harry Fabian is pretty good. Character contorted face and body irregularities is full of obsessions. I do not think that Harry was evil figure. He simply dissatisfied and unhappy. In the end we are left without any explanation. He was just nasty creature that killed his own ambitions. Francis L. Sullivan as Phil Nosseross is extremely smart and capable nightclub owner who carries something sinister. Yes, there is one weakness.Other characters, except the great champion in wrestling, I was not impressed. Gene Tierney as Mary Bristol offered an absolute void. Sketchy and uninteresting. She is really beautiful, but it is not enough. Even the lost and certain sweetness in her image. I was always happy to think of Laura. In this case it is too late.Each effect of the film is dark and malevolent to grotesque proportions. Extremely brave attempt that ends with dark and somewhat eccentric end.

In NIGHT AND THE CITY, Richard Widmark plays a petty, sulking, sneering, scheming grifter named Harry Fabian who, as Hugh Marlowe points out in the movie, is "an artist without an art." As the very dangerous criminal kingpin Kristo (Herbert Lom) warns: "Born a hustler, you'll DIE a hustler." Fabian proceeds to weasel his way into promoting professional wrestling; not exactly standard fare for your upper-class films noir, but so beautifully directed by Jules Dassin that it doesn't really matter WHAT the storyline's about. Mike Mazurki as "Strangler" comes dangerously close to stealing the show (NIGHT AND THE CITY is nothing if not a showcase for this VERY underrated performer), especially since Widmark often comes across as little more than a petulant child, but, by the end, Widmark's hitting on all four cylinders and the end is absolutely fantastic. (Gene Tierney is also outstanding as Widmark's long-suffering enabler.) One of the Great Ones.

It might be considered as masterpiece by others but i watch movies for entertainment which it failed to deliver.cinematography was excellent. Acting performance by all the actors was good. wrestling match was boring and unwatchableWorst thing in this movie was script it goes like-wait i have no money i can't love anyone -wait i have no money for my dream,i am a looser -wait i have got enemies -wait i will do this and then that and then that PROBLEM WILL BE SOLVEDALL OF THIS HAPPENING IN A JIFFY!!Completely boring and tedious to sit through.

Jules Dassin (Never on Sunday) does an excellent job of directing Richard Widmark and Gene Tierney in an outstanding example of the noir genre.Harry Fabian (Widmark) is a loser who comes up with a great idea after seeing Gregoriuos (Stanislaus Zbyszko), a famous wrestler. Harry is full of ideas, seldom coming up with anything that works. Unfortunately, most know his track record, and he runs from one to another trying to get the money to make his idea a reality. He gets help from the most unlikely source.Widmark was excellent in this role, showing a wide range of emotions.Francis L. Sullivan is equally excellent as Harry's silent partner, and the husband of an ungrateful wife (Googie Withers).Gene Tierney's role as Harry's girlfriend was small, but significant.Dassin really ratchets up the action and suspense at the end when everything turns sour. Widmark also ratchets up his performance to give us what is probably the best he has done.Great film.