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| Sam Jaffe and Sterling Hayden |
THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (1950). Director: John Huston.
"
Crime is only a left-handed form of human endeavor."
Fresh out of jail, Doc Reidenschneider (Sam Jaffe) immediately tries to get a team together for a big-time jewelry heist. Cobby, the bookie (Marc Lawrence), suggests that the wealthy lawyer Emmerich (Louis Calhern) can put up the front money so the operation can be carried out. He also enlists the aid of Dix (Sterling Hayden), a gunsel who only wants to go home to the country, safe cracker Louis (Anthony Caruso of
Where Love Has Gone), and bartender Gus (James Whitmore). What none of the men know is that Emmerich is flat broke and planning on running off with the loot -- all of it.
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| The Adorable One with Louis Calhern |
The Asphalt Jungle is a justifiably famous caper movie, although it isn't quite as good as
The Killing, which also starred Sterling Hayden and came out five years later. Huston isn't a Hitchcock, and he doesn't play for maximum suspense, but the film is nevertheless absorbing and unpredictable. The robbery itself is, perhaps, less important than the aftermath. Sam Jaffe and Louis Calhern pretty much divide the movie up between them, as both of them are simply superb. But Caruso, Whitmore, and especially Marc Lawrence are also notable, as are Jean Hagen [
Singin' in the Rain] as a woman who loves Dix, and the adorable one, Marilyn Monroe, as Calhern's sexy mistress, Angela, who is particularly good in her scenes with the police. John McIntire is also fine as Police Commissioner Hardy. Hayden, who was importuned by Huston to appear in the film, is not on the level of the others, and some times just seems to be merely reciting lines. He has given better performances elsewhere.
The film has a good look to it thanks to the cinematography of Harold Rosson, and although Miklos Rozsa's music is used sparingly, it is always effective.
Verdict: Another sharp, well-paced caper movie with a very interesting cast and characters, and brilliant work by Jaffe and Calhern.***.
Hi Bill - loving your assortment of movies lately!
ReplyDeleteI like this one a lot, too, it is a noir classic by the master himself, John Huston! Great cast. I am not a big fan of Sterling Hayden either, but bolstered by all the other great actors, he turns in a pretty good performance, in my opinion. Also like him opposite Bette Davis in The Star (1952).
-Chris
Thanks for your kind words, Chris, as always. "The Star" took more than one viewing to grow on me but it's a flick that I like very much. Hayden, like most movie stars, needed the right part and a good director to get a good performance out of him. He's not bad in this.
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