| The Asphalt Jungle | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | John Huston |
| Produced by | Arthur Hornblow Jr. |
| Screenplay by | Ben Maddow John Huston |
| Story by | W. R. Burnett |
| Starring | Sterling Hayden Louis Calhern Jean Hagen James Whitmore Sam Jaffe Marilyn Monroe |
| Music by | Miklós Rózsa |
| Cinematography | Harold Rosson |
| Editing by | George Boemler |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | May 23, 1950 |
| Running time | 112 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Asphalt Jungle is a 1950 film noir directed by John Huston. The caper film is based on the novel of the same name by W. R. Burnett and stars an ensemble cast including Sterling Hayden, Jean Hagen, Sam Jaffe, Louis Calhern, James Whitmore, and, in a minor but key role, Marilyn Monroe, an unknown at the time who was pictured but not mentioned on the posters.
The film tells the story of a group of men planning and executing a jewel robbery. It was nominated for four Academy Awards.
In 2008, The Asphalt Jungle was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Contents |
The criminal mastermind Erwin "Doc" Riedenschneider is out of prison. Doc has a keen eye for detail, not to mention an eye for a pretty girl. He has been planning a “caper” – a jewel heist, outlined by a fellow inmate when they were “behind the walls” for the previous seven years. In an unnamed Midwest city, Doc goes to the betting parlor of a mid-level bookie called "Cobby." He requests to be put in touch with Alonzo Emmerich, a crooked lawyer. It is his understanding that Emmerich is the kind of man who can be approached with such operations and has the money to finance them. Emmerich attentively listens. Doc says he will need $50,000 to hire a team of men to carry out the burglary. Emmerich agrees on the condition that he (not one or more “fences”) should receive the jewels directly, pay off Doc, then be responsible for the disposal of the gems. Emmerich would therefore need to come up with an immediate $500,000 in cash to pay off Doc. Doc's hand-picked gang consists of Dix Handley, a hooligan from Kentucky who will provide the necessary muscle; Gus Minissi, a hunchbacked diner owner who is hired as the getaway driver, and Louie Ciavelli, a professional safecracker. Cobby will act as the go-between. Dix explains his ultimate goal to Doll Conovan, who is clearly in love with him. He sees the heist as a means to finance his dream of buying back the horse farm that his family lost during the Great Depression.
During the meticulously planned crime (an 11-minute sequence in the film), the criminals confidently carry out their work in a calm manner. Ciavelli pounds through a brick wall, breaks into the jewelry store, deactivates the door's alarm and lets in the other thieves, then heads to the main safe. With care, he slides flat on his back under the electric-eye system, picks the gate's lock, drills holes into the safe's door, gingerly opens a corked bottle of nitroglycerin (called "the soup" by the characters) and sets off a charge on the safe. Unfortunately for the crooks, the explosion sets off the alarms of several nearby businesses and brings the police to the scene more quickly than expected. A second unexpected mishap occurs when a security guard drops his gun after being struck by Dix, causing the gun to discharge and wound Ciavelli. The men get away and a police manhunt begins. Under increasing pressure from his commanding officer, a corrupt cop named Ditrich beats Cobby into confessing and fingering the other crooks involved.
Emmerich, meanwhile, double-crosses Doc and the thieves. He is broke and needs the money, not only for himself but to satisfy the expensive tastes of his young, gorgeous mistress, Angela Phinlay, who calls him "Uncle Lon." A tough private detective named Bob Brannom is willing to back Emmerich's betrayal for a 50-50 split. Doc had heard Emmerich was having financial difficulties and foresaw this possibility, which is why he brought Dix to the payoff. Dix is able to kill Brannom, but not without being seriously wounded himself. The cops put the squeeze on the gang. Cobby is jailed and so is Gus, who can't wait to get his hands on the snitch. Ciavelli dies at home from his gunshot wound. Doc and Dix are on the run. Emmerich is in his hideaway with his mistress, who is making big plans. The police arrive and force Angela, his alibi, to recant her previous story and tell the truth. Emmerich is caught red-handed. He asks for a moment to make a phone call, pulls a gun from his desk and shoots himself.
That leaves only Doc and Dix, who go their separate ways. Doc asks a taxi driver to drive him out of the city. Dix, in desperate need of medical attention, takes off in his own car with Doll going along. At a roadhouse having a bite to eat, Doc gives jukebox money to a pretty girl and lingers to watch her dance. The delay costs him dearly when two police officers recognize Doc as they peer into the diner and take him into custody as he departs. Dix's car makes it all the way to the gates of his beloved Kentucky horse farm. But he stumbles into the pasture, collapses and dies on the grassy plains of his home, surrounded by horses.
The film was an adaptation by director John Huston and screenwriter Ben Maddow of the 1949 novel by W. R. Burnett. It was backed by the major film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which allowed the production a relatively free hand. The PCA's main concerns with the script were the detailed depiction of the heist and the fact that the character of the fence Emmerich seemed to cheat justice by killing himself.[1] Neither the studio nor the censors interfered significantly with the script, however, and both the heist and the suicide featured in the final cut.[1]
Both Huston and war hero star Sterling Hayden were members of the Committee for the First Amendment, which opposed the blacklisting of alleged communists active in the film industry during the Red Scare.[1]
When the film first opened, the staff at Variety liked the film, and wrote, "The Asphalt Jungle is a study in crime, hard-hitting in its expose of the underworld. Ironic realism is striven for and achieved in the writing, production and direction. An audience will quite easily pull for the crooks in their execution of the million-dollar jewelry theft around which the plot is built."[2]
Bosley Crowther, the film critic for The New York Times, also liked the film, yet with a few caveats, writing, "This film, derived by Ben Maddow and John Huston from Mr. Burnett's book and directed by Mr. Huston in brilliantly naturalistic style, gives such an electrifying picture of the whole vicious circle of a crime...that one finds it hard to tag the item of repulsive exhibition in itself. Yet that is our inevitable judgment of this film, now on the Capitol's screen...But, in that meager interest, we've got to hand it to the boys, particularly to Mr. Huston: they've done a terrific job! From the very first shot, in which the camera picks up a prowling thug, sliding along between buildings to avoid a police car in the gray and liquid dawn, there is ruthless authority in this picture, the hardness and clarity of steel, and remarkably subtle suggestion that conveys a whole involvement of distorted personality and inveterate crime."[3]
Film writer David M. Meyer noted, "The robbery is among the best-staged heists in noir. The simple visual treatment, the precise movements of the actors, and the absence of music on the sound track raise the tension to a boiling point."[4]
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 96% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on twenty-five reviews.[5]
The Asphalt Jungle was one of the most influential crime films of the 1950s.[6]
The film spawned a television series The Asphalt Jungle starring Jack Warden, Arch Johnson and William Smith (billed as "Bill Smith"), which ran for 13 episodes in the summer of 1961 on ABC. The series, however, resembled the film in name only. None of the characters in the film appeared in the television scripts, and the plots were devoted to the exploits of the major case squad of the LAPD. One of the most notable features of the series was the theme song written by Duke Ellington.[7]
Burnett's novel The Asphalt Jungle was also the basis of the western film The Badlanders (1958) directed by Delmer Daves, as well as the blaxploitation film Cool Breeze (1972), directed by Barry Pollack.
The Asphalt Jungle instigated the crime thriller subgenre of caper films.[1] The 1955 French film Rififi, which critics such as Leonard Maltin have labeled as the best heist film ever, drew much inspiration from The Asphalt Jungle.[6]
In 2008, The Asphalt Jungle was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".