The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
This is my nom; it became an instant favorite the first time I saw this, making this around the fifth or so time I watched it. And let me tell ya, it gets -- wait, hold on, FECKEN better each and every time.
I genuinely love the pulp-style cinematography! It's dead-on for the great angles and compositions that bring this professionally done jewelry heist going south fast. First, by bad luck and then by a double-cross. Both end in gunplay and somebody slumping over. From there on, it's a mad dash to escape the Police hot on their @sses.
My favorite of the thieves was Sam Jaffe's Doc Erwin Riedenschneider, the Fresh Out of Jail, Mastermind ready to commit a heist he had staged before his time in jail. The pairing of him and Hayden's Dix had a great counter-balance and a solid, cohesive team. I've seen Jaffe previously, and this is an exceptional performance of the calm strategist with nostalgia for life.
"One way or another, we all work for our vices.".
The hunchbacked, cat-loving Driver, Gus (James Whitmore), is close on his heels of favorite characters. They're all great, all the way through. Even the cops were great. Barry Kelly's dirty cop with smarts, Lt. Ditrich, had the same authentic looks that Hayden brought to Dix. Some great scenes with him and the weasel-esque Booky Cobby (Marc Lawrence). Their inside/deeper meaning conversation of "looks" was fecken brilliant.
I also love the "grays" of everyone. No one is entirely one thing, but a mix of strengths and weaknesses. Even the Lawyer, Alonzo D. Emmerich, played by Louis Calhern, that was supposed to finance everything only to try to rob them once the job is done, isn't a complete slimeball. Just very broke and in need of a substantial amount of cash right now.
And I mustn't forget
les Femmes. Stepping away from the usual Femme Fatales, they are, instead, pretty decent ladies. From the bed-ridden May Emmerich (Dorothy Tree) to the Young Bit O' Candy, Angela Phinlay. Played by the upcoming Bombshell, the iconic Marilyn Monroe. Showing serious potential as an actress.
Ending the list with a scared but devoted Doll (Jean Hagen), I love the dynamics between Jean Hagen's Doll and Dix. There's a lot of layers going on, as well as a lot of low self-esteem on both sides. Even Dix thinks he's unworthy/too dangerous for someone to care about him. Add on his past loss of home puts a massive wall up to everyone else. I'm guessing Doll had known him for a bit and knew that, while a violent man by trade, it might not necessarily be what kind of man he may be. And she probably gets that some of that sh#tty treatment comes out of inner pain. A wounded dog that bites the hand trying to help, sort of thing. And not because he's just an insensitive A-hole. And she is in desperate times, reaching out for any bit of kindness as sh#t continues to happen in her own life. We meet her being booted out of her apartment, in dire need of indoor shelter. It says a lot that she chooses Dix's place as a feasible haven in the storm. They're two people with challenging/hard-luck times and far too familiar with such times to trust or take a chance with someone else, but not jaded enough to be unnecessarily callous and/or cruel.
While I'm not caught up in their star-crossed romance, it is a great addition to an already excellent noir in my eyes and heart.
This brings me to a primary key to all of these "interactions," dynamics, and overall presentation of this exceptional Heist Noir: the director, John Huston. He f@ckin nails it on every level and every nuance. But, then, it's John Huston, for feck's sake. Nuff said.