A major heist is planned by a professional criminal, called Doc, and he wants to recruit a Safe-cracker, a driver and a hooligan to pull of the heist. He requests an initial $ 50k from a high-profile lawyer, Emmerich, for the recruitment after agreeing to Emmerich that he would give the loot from the heist to the lawyer. The plan was to get the money from the lawyer for the loot and have the lawyer dispose the loot. But things don’t go as planned.
Language:
English
Running Time:
112 mins
Rating:
PASSED
Release date:
23 May 1950
Directed by:
John Huston
Produced by:
Arthur Hornblow Jr.
Written by:
Ben Maddow
John Huston
Starring:
Sterling Hayden
Louis Calhern
Jean Hagen
James Whitmore
Sam Jaffe
Marilyn Monroe
Music by:
Miklós Rózsa
Shot by:
Harold Rosson
Editing by:
George Boemler
Distributed by:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

What’s Hot

  • Even though the film starts from the view-point of Sterling Hayden who plays Dix, the limelight is stolen by Sam Jaffe who plays the Doc and Louis Calhern, who plays the lawyer Emmerich. Hayden exhibits the demeanor required for playing the tough hooligan but is in fact a decent man with aspirations to return back to his farm once he makes enough money.
  • The Doc is brilliant as the master planner who orchestrates the whole heist and skillfully coordinates his recruits. However he inherently has a weakness for the feminine gender which he displays through some cleverly positioned dialogues and terrific eyes.
  • Emmerich as the high-profile lawyer, who finances the heist, comes up with a great performance. The difference he brings out in his body-language when talking to his bed-ridden wife and his beautiful mistress is one to treasure.
  • Kudos to James Whitmore and Marc Lawrence for their great supporting role performances. The women in the film Hagen, Celli & Monroe do their bits nicely. Marilyn Monroe especially looks gorgeous in her miniscule role as the mistress.
  • The music and the cinematography remind us of the classics in the noir genre such as Double Indemnity and The Maltese Falcon. The use of shadow/night, eye-catching frames and many astounding visual touches enhance the claim of this film as one of the fore-runners among noir films.
  • Huston’s direction and script are top-notch, giving every scene a consistent sense of urgency. The understated robbery sequence is one of the best-staged heists in the noir genre with the absence of music raising the tension to a boiling point. An important point to note in the plot is that it’s not the botched robbery but actually the weakness in character that primarily leads to each one’s downfall.

What’s Not

Badges

Verdict

Verdict Stamp

A heist film that subtly puts across the point, that even criminals are characters with reasons behind their wrongdoings, without being preachy at the same time.