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May 14, 2018budjp rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Asphalt Jungle –– US John Huston 1950   1hr 52 min May 16, 2018 In 1948, John Huston made The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, a harrowing tale about three men digging for gold in the mountains of Mexico. It was a smash hit. Asphalt Jungle, followed and was also a smash hit. Like its predecessor, it involved a small group of men trying to strike it rich, but this time through a meticulously planned jewel heist that became a model for such robberies in the many noir films that followed. Unlike the sun blasted world of its predecessor, Asphalt Jungle is the epitome of noir, its principal action taking place at night in a dark world splintered by shards of dramatic light. The cast of this thriller is superb: Dix Handley (Sterling Hayden), a tough, small time thief addicted to the horses is at the center; Doll Conovan (Jean Hagen), who works in a “dime a dance” hall is crazy about Dix; and Gus (James Whitmore), who runs a diner and is Dix’s buddy. Heading up the small group is Doc Riedenschneider (Sam Jaffe), just leased from prison, is the mastermind behind the meticulous heist but has to get money to back it from Alonzo Emmerich (Louis Calhern), a rich man’s lawyer who is a crook at heart. His naïve “niece” is played by Marilyn Monroe in her first notable role. All goes well in this intricate plan until bad luck strikes its ace safe-cracker (Anthony Caruso) and a double-cross sends the scheme almost completely off the rails. Black and white was the perfect way to tell this tale, but something else in Huston’s background was just as important. During World War II, as part of the Signal Corps, he made films for the U.S. Army. The most groundbreaking of the three, Let There Be Light, dealt with post-traumatic stress disease, and consisted primarily of emotionally intense interviews with disturbed soldiers that were shot in extreme close-up. Some feel, this intense experience influenced his subsequent films, where interpersonal conflicts play a key role, and are often shot shown in extreme close-ups. Such close-ups play a significant and unique role in Asphalt, the character closest to the camera sometimes playing what seems to be no part in the action, but through his or her presence giving a quiet but important meaning to the action in the background. Or a character will suddenly move into an extreme close-up to emphasize an important emotional or narrative moment. Huston’s approach helps make this noir thriller a classic, right from the opening scene–– Dix walking through a desolate urban landscape and dodging a police patrol car on the lookout for him. The police chief (John McIntire) gives what seems to be a completely out of place speech on law and order near the film's end, until you realize that this is the early 1950s, the witchhunting heyday of Joe McCarthy.