The Asphalt Jungle

The Asphalt Jungle
File:The Asphalt Jungle poster.jpg
Directed by	John Huston
Written by	W.R. Burnett, Ben Maddow, John Huston
Produced by	Arthur Hornblow Jr.
Starring	Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore, Sam Jaffe, Marilyn Monroe
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release dates	May 23, 1950
Running time	112 min
Language	English

The Asphalt Jungle is a 1950 film noir directed by John Huston. Considered one of the classics of film noir and one of the first of the caper films, the 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 and Marilyn Monroe. It tells the story of a group of men planning and executing a jewel robbery.

Plot

File:Asphalt Jungle Noir.jpg

Classic film noir lighting in The Asphalt Jungle

Recently paroled from prison, legendary burglar "Doc" Riedenschneider (Sam Jaffe), with funding from Emmerich (Louis Calhern) a crooked lawyer, gathers a small group of veteran criminals together for a big heist. The film was shot in Los Angeles and Cincinnati[1], but the name of the city is never mentioned, giving the impression of an "urban jungle", rather than of real location. However, the fact that Kentucky is a few hours away by car confirms that the city is Cincinnati. Doc's gang consists of: Dix (Sterling Hayden), a hood who sees the upcoming jewel heist as a means to finance his dream of owning a horse farm; a hunchbacked diner owner named Gus Minissi (James Whitmore), who is hired on to be the driver for the heist; Louis Ciavelli (Anthony Caruso), a professional safecracker, and a bookie (Marc Lawrence) acting as the go-between.

In a tense scene during the well-planned crime (an eleven minute sequence in the film), the criminals confidently carry out the jewel heist in a patient and calm manner. Ciavelli climbs down into a manhole, walks along a tunnel, pounds his way through a brick wall, climbs the basement stairs to the jewelry store, deactivates the door's alarm and lets the other thieves in, and 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, and sets off a charge on the jewelry store safe. The only mishap occurs at the end of the caper when a security guard drops his gun as he's being slugged, and the gun fires and wounds Ciavelli.

After finding out about the crime, a corrupt cop (Barry Kelley), angry that his "patsy" (Lawrence) didn't let him in on the caper, beats the bookie into confessing and fingering the other criminals involved. From this point on, the meticulously planned crime falls apart as the cops begin closing in on the gang one by one.

Reaction

Film reviews today, as when the film was released , are almost universally positive. Glenn Erickson wrote, following the 2004 DVD release, "The cinematography is expressive and Miklós Rózsa's nervous score - great noir music - rises to an almost cosmic emotional pitch." [2]

Film writer David M. Meyer notes "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" ^[3]

Award nominations

The Asphalt Jungle was nominated for four Academy Awards; two for Huston (nominated as director and as co-writer), one nomination for its cinematography (for Harold Rosson), and a best actor in a supporting role nomination for Sam Jaffe.

It was nominated for three Golden Globes; Best Cinematography (Rosson), Best Director (Huston), and Best Screenplay (Huston and Ben Maddow).

It was also nominated for the BAFTA Film Award (Best Film).

Trivia

• This highly regarded film noir was one of the first thrillers to show a crime and the consequences from the point-of-view of the burglars and their accomplices. According to film critic Tim Dirks, "[This was] something usually considered morally improper under the Production Code.
• When The Asphalt Jungle was made, Marilyn Monroe was a little known actress and given a small part. Whenever the film is reissued, Monroe usually figures prominently in the print ads or cover art.
• The Asphalt Jungle was based on the novel of the same name by the prolific W.R. Burnett, who earlier wrote the novel that became the well-known 1931 film Little Caesar.
• This film was considered groundbreaking, and inspired future classic caper films such as: The Killing (1956), The Ladykillers (1955), Rififi (1954), Ocean's Eleven (1960), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), and The Usual Suspects (1995).
• Regarding the overall theme of this film noir, film critic Lawrence Russell writes, "The approach is out of the tradition of American naturalism as seen in the novels of Norris, Dreiser, Lewis, and others, where character is determined by environment, the architect of fate. The characterizations are driven by the human need for freedom rather than the psychopathic need to kill."
• W.R. Burnett's novel The Asphalt Jungle was also the basis of the western film The Badlanders (1958) directed by Delmer Daves.
• According to film scholar Carlos Clarens in Crime Movies: An Illustrated History, "[The film] was criticized for its liberal attitude toward the underworld . . . in Huston's words: 'My defense...was that unless we understand the criminal...there's no way of coping with him.'"

External links

• Review and detailed plot summary
• The Asphalt Jungle at IMDb

References

1. DVD Savant's review
2. ^ David M. Meyer (1998). A Girl and a Gun: The Complete Guide to Film Noir on Video. Avon Books. ISBN 038079067.