Thursday, December 25, 2008

The Asphalt Jungle

Sterling Hayden, Sam Jaffe   d/John Huston

Noir, maybe the ultimate noir, from 1950. Dark, filmed mostly at night in seedy locations around what looks like Baltimore, this story involves a jewel heist orchestrated and carried out by local low lifes. Betrayal, cowardice, double-cross all show up here. Filmed under the asinine restrictions of the Hayes code which required that all the criminals had to pay...some with their lives.

Solid film all around. Great cast, script, look, direction. Ended with Hayden's character dying in a sunlit field in Kentucky, highlighting the idea of the day's rebirth and cleansing of the night's nasty doings.

This is considered a classic...deservedly so.

6

No comments:

Post a Comment