THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (1950)
Directed by John Huston
Loew’s, 112 minutes, not-rated
★★★★
You can count on the fact that any film in the Criterion Collection or directed by John Huston will be worthwhile. That’s certainly the case of Asphalt Jungle, which ticks both boxes.
It’s a classic crime drama from the tail end of an era in which crime wasn’t allowed to pay. At its heart is Dix Handley (Sterling Hayden), a guy with more brawn than brain. He’s a down-on-his-heels tough guy trying to get his life in order, but his major virtue is his girlfriend “Doll” Conovan (Jean Hagen). Her biggest problem is that she puts up with Dix’s antics, his silent treatment, and his explosive temper. Yeah, that’s another trope, though one (sadly) borrowed from real life: the gal who thinks she can save her bad-boy man.
Another trope is the criminal mastermind who takes the harebrained scheme of local thugs and makes them “foolproof.” In this case, that role falls upon “Doc” Riedenschneider (Sam Jaffe), who assembles a team to tunnel under and into a building, blow a safe, and pull off a jewel heist. Dix needs money, as he dreams of getting out of Chicago and buying back the Kentucky horse farm that once belonged to his family. He’s the muscle, with Louie Ciavelli (Anthony Caruso) the safecracker, Gus Minissi (James Whitmore) the getaway driver, bookmaker Cobby (Marc Lawrence) the guy who cooked up the scheme, and sleazy lawyer Alonzo Emmerich (Louis Calhern) getting a cut for serving as legal backup if any suspicion should befall the den of thieves. Still another trope: In movies such as this it’s rare for anyone to wonder why a “mastermind” like Doc has just gotten out of jail!
You can bet that not everything will go as planned, or otherwise you’ve got a mighty short movie. Plans are laid, rehearsed, and there’s an alternative workaround for every contingency that comes to mind. Of course, it’s the ones that don’t come to mind that’s the problem. The Asphalt Jungle is filled with double crosses, corruption on both sides of the law, broken hearts, and broken people. It literally stumbles to a tragic ending.
As I intimated, this is not a film in which the bad guys are allowed to prosper. The open questions are who the good guys are and whether one or more of the bad guys can be redeemed. It’s gritty, if predictable, but is carried by superb performances. Hayden excels as a big, dumb lug who suspects he’s out of his depth but can’t think of any other way to get back to Kentucky. Whitmore has a lesser role, but you get to see him play a hunchback, and Jaffe puts on a very convincing German accent as Doc Riedenschneider. Why is he German? The film was made just five years after the end of World War II. Although he’s not depicted as an ex-Nazi, there remained a whiff of anti-German sentiment in 1950, which made him a perfect villain, albeit a mild-mannered one.
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| NOT a Marilyn Monroe Movie |
Don’t be fooled by posters that prominently plaster Marilyn Monroe’s body across a color backdrop. First of all, The Asphalt Jungle is in black and white. Secondly, she has only a bit role and is not central to the plot. She got some notice for this film–she plays Emmerich’s mistress–and was on the cusp of stardom, but hadn’t yet arrived. Several films from the late 1940s through 1953 were given a second life by studios implying Monroe had a bigger role than she did. Huston initially wanted to dump Monroe, as he wasn’t impressed. She only got the part because his first choice was unavailable.
The Asphalt Jungle is considered a mature film noir picture. It is also tagged as a neorealist film, which in this case meant that Huston, an art fan, preferred stillness to non-stop motion and turmoil. Huston gave cinematographer Harold Rosson the greenlight to linger in places where other directors would edit for quick cross cuts to maximize lurid action. A lot happens in the film, but Huston Asphalt Jungle to play out in a more naturalistic fashion. It’s dated, but it works.
Rob Weir
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