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Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Not part of a collection.
The City Under the City
Recently paroled from prison, legendary burglar "Doc" Riedenschneider, with funding from Alonzo Emmerich, a crooked lawyer, gathers a small group of veteran criminals together in the Midwest for a big jewel heist.
John Chard
Jun 25, 2019 · via TMDB
Experience has taught me never to trust a policeman. Just when you think one's all right, he turns legit. Out of MGM, The Asphalt Jungle is directed by John Huston and based on the novel of the same name by W.R. Burnett. It stars Sterling Hayden, Jean Hagen, Sam Jaffe, Louis Calhern, James Whitmore, Teresa Celli, and in a minor but important role, Marilyn Monroe. Miklós Rózsa scores the music and Harold Rosson photographs it in black & white. Plot sees Erwin "Doc" Riedenschneider (Jaffe) leave prison and quickly assemble a gang to execute a long in gestation jewellery heist. However, with suspicion rife and fate waiting to take a hand, the carefully constructed caper starts to come apart at the seams. John Huston liked a tough movie, having given film noir in America a jump start with The Maltese Falcon in 1941, he also that same year adapted W.R. Burnett's novel High Sierra. Burnett also had on his CV crime classic stories Little Caesar & Scarface, so it's no surprise that Huston was drawn to The Asphalt Jungle. As it turned out, it was a match made in gritty urban heaven. The Asphalt Jungle was one of the first crime films to break with convention and tell the story from the actual side of the criminals. Where once it was the pursuing law officers or private detectives that were the heavy part of the plotting, now under Huston's crafty guidance we have a study in crime and a daring for us to empathise with a bunch of criminals, villains and anti-heroes. As a group the gang consists of very differing characters, and yet they have a common bond, for they each strive for a better life. Be it Hayden's luggish Dix, who dreams of buying back his father's horse ranch back in Kentucky, or Jaffe's Doc, who wants to retire to Mexico and surround himself with girls - it's greed and yearning that binds them all together - With alienation and bleakness, in true film noir traditions, featuring heavily as the plot (and gang) unravels. With gritty dialogue and atmospherically oozing a naturalistic feel, it's also no surprise to note that Huston's movie would go on to influence a ream of similar type films. Some good, some bad, but very few of them have been able to capture the suspense that is wrung out for the actual heist sequence in this. Fabulous in its authenticity, and with that out of the way, it then sets the decaying tone for the rest of the piece. Interesting to note that although we are now firmly in the lives of the "gang", including their respective women (Hagen, Monroe & Celli all shining in what is a very macho movie), we still know that the society outside of their circle is hardly nice either! This is stripped down brutalistic film noir. Merciless to its characters and thriving on ill fate, and closing with a finale that is as perfect as it gets, this is a top line entry in what is the most wonderful of film making styles. 9.5/10
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Sterling Hayden
Dix Handley
Louis Calhern
Alonzo D. Emmerich
Jean Hagen
Doll Conovan
James Whitmore
Gus Minissi
Sam Jaffe
Doc Erwin Riedenschneider
John McIntire
Police Commissioner Hardy
Marc Lawrence
Cobby
Barry Kelley
Lieutenant Ditrich
Anthony Caruso
Louis Ciavelli
Teresa Celli
Maria Ciavelli
Marilyn Monroe
Angela Phinlay
William 'Wee Willie' Davis
Timmons
Dorothy Tree
May Emmerich
Brad Dexter
Bob Brannom
John Maxwell
Dr. Swanson
Mary Anderson
Police Broadcaster (voice) (uncredited)
Ray Bennett
Detective in Hardy's Office (uncredited)
David Bond
Father Sortine (uncredited)
Chet Brandenburg
Man at Line-Up (uncredited)
Frank Cady
Night Clerk (uncredited)
David Clarke
Mr. Atkinson (uncredited)
John Cliff
Policeman (uncredited)
Gene Coogan
Reporter (uncredited)
Henry Corden
Karl Anton Smith (uncredited)
Chuck Courtney
Red - Boy in Diner (uncredited)
John Crawford
Reporter (uncredited)
Ralph Dunn
Policeman (uncredited)
Gene Evans
Policeman at Ciavelli's Apartment (uncredited)
Pat Flaherty
Policeman (uncredited)
Alex Gerry
Maxwell (uncredited)
Sol Gorss
Policeman (uncredited)
Fred Graham
Truck Driver (uncredited)
Don Haggerty
Detective Andrews (uncredited)
Eloise Hardt
Vivian (uncredited)
Thomas Browne Henry
James X. Connery (uncredited)
George Lynn
Detective at Ciavelli's Apartment (uncredited)
Strother Martin
William Doldy (uncredited)
Howard M. Mitchell
Secretary (uncredited)
Alberto Morin
Eddie Donato (uncredited)
Raymond Roe
Tallboy (uncredited)
Henry Rowland
Frank Schurz - Doc's Taxi Driver (uncredited)
Tim Ryan
Jack - Police Clerk (uncredited)
James Seay
Officer Janocek (uncredited)
Charles Sherlock
Gambler (uncredited)
Helene Stanley
Jeannie - Girl in Diner (uncredited)
Ray Teal
Cop in Car Barn Slugged by Dix (uncredited)
Jack Warden
Man (uncredited)
Judith Wood
Woman (uncredited)
Jeff York
Policeman (uncredited)
William Haade
Bill - Cop Outside Diner (uncredited)
Cedric Gibbons
Art Direction
Randall Duell
Art Direction
Edwin B. Willis
Set Decoration
Harold Rosson
Director of Photography
Sydney Guilaroff
Hair Designer
Albert Band
Assistant Director
John Huston
Director
Leslie H. Martinson
Script Supervisor
Arthur Hornblow Jr.
Producer
John Huston
Producer
Miklós Rózsa
Conductor
Miklós Rózsa
Original Music Composer
Douglas Shearer
Recording Supervision
W.R. Burnett
Novel
Ben Maddow
Screenplay
John Huston
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Bicara Cinta
2020
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1965
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Evil Dead II
1987 · 14 wins
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1978 · 13 wins
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2000 · 12 wins
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1981 · 11 wins
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