| They Live by Night | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Nicholas Ray |
| Produced by | John Houseman |
| Written by | Edward Anderson (novel Thieves Like Us} Nicholas Ray (adaptation) Charles Schnee |
| Starring | Cathy O'Donnell Farley Granger Howard Da Silva |
| Music by | Leigh Harline |
| Cinematography | George E. Diskant |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
| Release date(s) | November 1949 (U.S. release) |
| Running time | 95 min. |
| Language | English |
They Live by Night (1949) is a film noir, based on Edward Anderson's Depression era novel Thieves Like Us. The film was directed by Nicholas Ray (his first feature film) and starred Farley Granger as "Bowie" Bowers and Cathy O'Donnell as "Keechie" Mobley. The movie is the prototype for the "couple on the run" genre, and is generally seen as the forerunner to the movie Bonnie and Clyde. Robert Altman directed a version of the novel titled Thieves Like Us in 1974.
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Bowie (Granger) escapes from prison with bank robbers Chicamaw (DaSilva) and T-Dub (Flippen). Bowie was unfairly convicted of murder. The three plan to rob a bank. Bowie needs the money to hire a lawyer to prove he's innocent.
Bowie, injured in an auto accident, finds refuge with the daughter of the owner of a gas station, Keechie (O'Donnell). They marry and plan to live an honest life. But then Chicamaw and T-Dub return and demand that Bowie come with them for one more job.
Bowie refuses but finds that he is unable to escape from being hunted by the law. He meets a tragic end after he is betrayed. Keechie carries on and is pregnant with their child.
The novel Thieves Like Us by Edward Anderson had been bought by RKO in 1941 for $10,000. After numerous writers tried to make a screenplay out of it, nothing became of it. According to producer John Houseman, "I found the book and gave it to Nick to read, and he fell madly in love with it--as indeed I did, but Nick particularly was very familiar with that territory. He'd been there when he worked with the Lomaxes, he'd been there when he worked for the Department of Agriculture, and so on. And that whole Depression stuff was terribly his stuff. So he sat down and wrote the treatment. I'd come home at night and we'd go over it; I'd edit it a little, that's all, and it was very, very good."[1]. Houseman would repeatedly send in treatments, fronting for the novice Ray. Houseman, who had considerable authority as a producer, was aware of Ray's passion for the project, and there was never any doubt that Ray would direct the film.
Much to the dismay of Ray and Houseman, however, RKO didn't see any commercial value in the story, especially because Ray had had no previous film directing experience. In early 1947, producer Dore Schary became the production head of RKO with hopes of turning it into the most adventurous studio. Schary became known for his liberal values and for giving novice directors the chance to make their debuts. Schary read Ray's treatment and on February 10, Ray signed a contract to RKO with a note by Schary specifying that "It is the intention to have him direct his first project Thieves Like Us."
Houseman hired Charles Schnee to write the screenplay, but he was concerned that he wouldn't alter Ray's treatment. Ray and Schnee worked together to make the treatment into a true script without any problems, and a completed script was submitted to RKO in May 1947.
On June 23, 1947, Ray began shooting his first film. The first scene shot was the opening scene of the film: a tracking shot of Bowie, T-Dub, and Chickamaw escaping from prison in a stolen car. Ray decided to use a helicopter, which had previously been used for establishing shots of landscapes, but never before had it been used to shoot action. This film is sometimes considered the first to use a helicopter for this purpose and predates James Wong Howe's celebrated final shot for Picnic by eight years. Four takes were required, with the second one being in the final cut.
For the rest of the day Ray used the helicopter for other scenes of the movie. Making They Live by Night under Houseman and Schary's guidance remained probably the only time in Ray's career when he had complete creative control, and not unlike Orson Welles's debut Citizen Kane (1941), also made at RKO for Houseman, Ray experimented with sound and cinematography. Ray's biographer notes that "Only Welles similarly tried to define acoustic and even verbal textures as much as the visual."[2] Renowned editor Sherman Todd also urged Ray to experiment and break the rules.
Filming completed in October 1947. Despite an excellent preview, the studio didn't know how to market the film, and Howard Hughes's takeover of RKO exacerbated the situation. Hughes shelved the film for two years before releasing it to a single theater in the UK to enthusiastic reviews (one such rave review came from Gavin Lambert, who eventually became a screenwriter for Ray), and it was finally released in the US in November 1949 under the title They Live by Night, after being changed from Thieves Like Us (the source novel's name), The Twisted Road, I'm a Stranger Here Myself, and Your Red Wagon. The title, chosen from an audience poll, was favored by Hughes.
During those two years, however, many of the rich living in Hollywood had their own personal screening rooms and many saw the film, which lead to further employment of its cast and crew--Alfred Hitchcock cast Farley Granger in Rope (1948) upon seeing this film, and Humphrey Bogart, greatly impressed by Ray's direction, hired him to direct his own independent production Knock on Any Door (1949) at Columbia Pictures.
Farley Granger recounts that he was at Gene Kelly's house for a party. Ray had also been invited and just sat and stared at Granger. Granger asked guest Ethel Merman about Ray's behavior, who replied that Ray was in the middle of casting his first movie and had taken a professional interest in Granger. Houseman arranged to have Granger test for RKO, which went very well; Ray was determined that he had found his Bowie and then asked Granger if there was an actress whom he felt comfortable with. Granger replied with Cathy O'Donnell, who was also brought in to make a test.
Both Granger and O'Donnell were under contract to Samuel Goldwyn and had limited acting experience behind them—Granger had been in two films before being drafted for World War II while O'Donnell had just made the classic The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) but Ray was fiercely loyal and fought for both of them. Granger later said that "[Ray] and John Houseman were among the few people who fought for me in my career. They said no, we will not make the film without him. When Nick believed in you, he was very loyal."[3] In his autobiography, Granger lists They Live by Night as one of his two or three favorite films.[4]
Many of the supporting cast and minor characters were played by personal friends of Houseman and Ray, although RKO contract player Robert Mitchum expressed interest in playing Chicamaw, saying that like Ray he knew all about the Depression-era South and had once been in a chain gang. Mitchum went so far as to shave his head and dye it black for the role (in the original novel Chicamaw is an Indian), but because Mitchum was a rising star and had recently received an Oscar nomination, the role of a bank robber was deemed unfit for him. He and Ray did end up working together on projects, including The Lusty Men. The role of Chicamaw went to Howard Da Silva, who had made an impression in Marc Blitzstein's musical The Cradle Will Rock (1937), produced by Houseman.
Many minor roles were played by actors and friends of Ray's from his time in the New York theater, including Marie Bryant from Beggar's Holiday (the nightclub singer), Curt Conway (the man in the tuxedo at the night club), and Will Lee (the jeweler).
Actor Byron Foulger appears uncredited as the owner of the cabin where the couple try to hide out.
Another movie based on the same book was released in 1974: Robert Altman's Thieves Like Us.
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