The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

Directed by John Huston, this noir heist film is strong and well-balanced. The main characters in the caper are well-developed - the brain, an older German-American guy who has just gotten out of prison (Sam Jaffe), the safecracker with a wife and little baby (Anthony Caruso), the driver, a hunchbacked diner owner (James Whitmore), and the southern-fried muscleman (Sterling Hayden). They are brought together by a bookie (Marc Lawrence), and plan to fence the jewels they steal to a rich lawyer (Louis Calhern).To describe what happens would be to spoil the film, but suffice to say that even the best laid plans are fraught with peril, and unexpected events. I appreciated how Huston spent the time developing the characters and kept the story tight, without resorting to excess violence or plot twists. You still get the usual sorts of things - snappy dialogue, tense standoffs, double-crosses, etc - but it all feels intelligent. There are extended periods in the film without any background music, which I found refreshing. Each scene contributes to the story, and there is a spare feeling to the visuals, both of which make it feel authentic.There is also a human element in the relationship Caruso has with his wife (Teresa Celli), and in Whitmore standing up to comments about his deformity. It's a small moment in the movie, but it's quietly powerful when he says with dignity, "What I carry on my back, I was born with it. I didn't grow it myself." Also humanizing are the separate dreams Jaffe and Hayden have of running away from it all afterwards (Jaffe to Mexico to be in the warm weather and 'young girls', ok, ugh; Hayden to re-purchase his family farm in Kentucky). Everyone has a weakness, a flaw, but at the same time, a positive attribute. Jaffe is smart and a gentleman criminal, but he's also a pervert. Hayden is tough and the opposite of greedy, but he's also a compulsive gambler (and loser) at the horse races.Huston also shows us bad police behavior - pushing a witness to make a false ID, accepting a payoff from the bookie, and using their muscle when under pressure to make arrests. I loved how this was balanced by a little segment with the police radio from the commissioner (John McIntire), who flicks the calls of distress on one by one, and then points out: "People are being cheated, robbed, murdered, raped. And that goes on 24 hours a day, every day in the year. And that's not exceptional, that's usual. It's the same in every city of the modern world. But suppose we had no police force, good or bad. Suppose we had...just silence. Nobody to listen. Nobody to answer. The battle's finished. The jungle wins. The predatory beasts take over. Think about it."As a side bonus to all of this, you get Marilyn Monroe in a small role as Calhern's mistress. She was just 24, and this film, along with "All About Eve" from the same year, were the ones that started generating serious attention for her. Her performance is uneven at best, but when she turns on the charm with Calhern, or asks one of the cops "Do I have to talk to him? Couldn't I just talk to you?", her face so naturally assuming the look of a little girl, she's electric.There's also a wonderful dance sequence from a young girl (Helene Stanley) in a diner, who cuts loose in a very charming way after given a bunch of change for the jukebox. What a fun moment that is, maybe my favorite in the entire film, and how it fit into the plot and Jaffe's proclivities is very clever. My only small criticism is with Sterling Hayden, who got top billing, but just didn't resonate with me. I think it was something about the way he spoke, which seemed too 'heavy', if that makes any sense. Jean Hagen as his girlfriend was just average too. Calhern is brilliant as the shady lawyer, and the rest of the cast turn in solid performances. I considered a slightly higher rating, since you can so clearly see the effect this film had on others which would follow (Rififi from 1955 comes immediately to mind). Solid film.

This is a caper film and one of the best examples of film noir. The black and white photography is stylish and atmospheric, the music is dramatic and sensitive to the visuals, the acting is terrific.Of course it helps to have a cast that includes Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore, Sam Jaffe and Marilyn Monroe. Their characters populate the city's "jungle"--the dark underside where each denizen has his vice. The film suggests that its inhabitants are infected with an urban disease, being too far from the land. This is the antithesis of "Spencer's Mountain", for example, where goodness wins out, because their lives are grounded in the soil."The Asphalt Jungle" is one of the best examples of film noir and has significantly influenced many films that followed. Like "The Maltese Falcon", it explores the dreams of those who are always looking for the big score. The final scene is nearly perfect in its symbolism and execution. This is a film that can be watched many times and enjoyed for its literate writing.

A major heist goes off as planned, until bad luck and double crosses cause everything to unravel.This is everything you want in a film noir. Crooks, cops, a bit of police procedural, the heist... and from John Huston, who has to be one of the best directors of his era.What is particularly interesting about this film is that although it is among the greatest noir films ever made (possibly the best ever), it has no real stars to speak of. Marilyn Monroe has a smaller part, but no big stars like Robert Mitchum or Rita Hayworth carrying the picture.If you have not seen this, see it. I am amazed I made it this long without having it on my list.

Marilyn Monroe lights up the screen in The Asphalt Jungle. Unfortunately she's only on the screen for around five minutes. And the rest of the film disappoints. It's a simple heist film. We see the plotting of the caper, we see the caper take place, we see the aftermath. None of this is particularly interesting. The caper is meticulously planned. All that planning doesn't make for much entertainment, you really wish the film would hurry itself along to some action. Then the action comes and just as quickly goes. The execution of the caper has its moments, there is some tension and drama. But afterwards the drama drains away as we just wait for each conspirator to meet his fate. The caper was not executed perfectly, there were some problems. And even more problems await our burglars. Their little caper seems to have fallen apart. And the movie falls apart too.For a heist film there is very little excitement to be had here. The whole thing is very dry. Sterling Hayden plays Dix, the member of the gang the film ends up focusing on most of all. And Hayden is dry as dry can be, there is no personality or life in the role. In playing Doc, who masterminds the heist, Sam Jaffe is a little more interesting. But he, like everyone else in the film, is encumbered with some rather lousy dialogue. Everything is clipped and clunky and highly unnatural. The third key player is Louis Calhern, playing a lawyer who agrees to finance the caper even though he is actually completely broke. This of course ends up causing all kinds of complications. At least this character brings Monroe into the picture, playing his young mistress. Monroe adds a little spark into the proceedings but it's not nearly enough to salvage the film. The whole last half of the film plods along with a sense of inevitability to it. It turns into a 1950s morality play, look at what happens to dastardly criminals. The one detective we meet in the film is totally corrupt. But that doesn't stop the police commissioner from late on in the film launching into a ridiculously preachy speech about how wonderful the police are. By this point in the film you might be stifling yawns. The film really drags as it heads for the finish. The Asphalt Jungle is a highly regarded film but honestly it is hard to see why. There is very little entertainment on offer in this incredibly overrated film.