Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Thieves' Highway (1949) - Directed by Jules Dassin




A few times a year I feel like I watch a film in which I have no idea where it’s going. Perhaps it’s the brilliant script, or maybe it’s the actors present in this film, but there is something very fresh and vital about this work. Thieves’ Highway comes in between Dassin’s other brilliant film noir works, Brute Force (1947) and Night and the City (1950). Like the others, it has an incredibly visceral quality. Dassin’s best work always seems to exert a sense of high stakes for those involved. There is also a deep fatalism and an emphasis on grittiness, sweaty palms, and heart pounding set pieces, rather than the brooding chiaroscuro and stylization of other noir directors like Tourneur, or Welles. Over the last couple years I’ve seen several Dassin films for the first time. I am more impressed with each film I view.


Part of the joy for me of watching this film was not quite knowing what was going to happen next. I really don’t want to get into too many details of the plot because in case you haven't seen it I don't want to spoil it. A short synopsis is that Nick Garcos (Richard Conte) is a war veteran who has come home from some world travels of his to see his girlfriend and family. He finds out his father (a truck driver) has been crippled and robbed of cash owed to him by a fruit vendor in San Francisco named Mike Figlia (Lee J. Cobb). Nick postpones his engagement with his sweetheart to avenge his father’s injuries and determines to get even with Figlia. Throughout the film, there are twists and turns that border on the melodramatic, but there is always a streak of violence or sensuality around the corner that keeps the film grounded.



One of the central components in the film is the relationship that Nick starts up with a prostitute named Rica (Valentina Cortese). Her attitude is completely in contrast to the stuffy, proper appearance and attitude of Nick’s sweetheart Polly. When Rica asks Nick up to her room, we understand that she has ulterior motives. What is so striking and shocking is how suddenly their sexual chemistry kicks into gear and we sense that she is more interested in Nick than just for the money. It’s palpable onscreen and comes to full bloom during a moment after Nick takes off his shirt. She and he play a teasing game of tic-tac-toe with their fingers on his chest, she using her finger nails to scratch him and wipe the game away when she loses, only to kiss him passionately in the moments that follow. It's a perfectly acted scene. Another key relationship in the film is between Nick and the manipulative fruit vendor played by Lee J. Cobb. Cobb as Figlia, using his typical bravado and vocal projection, exerts an intimidation that Richard Conte is willing to stand up to, brushing off Figlia’s wheelings and dealings with equal panache.



With a script from A. I. Bezzerides, from his novel 'Thieves’ Market", the film crackles and pops with great dialogue and one-liners and has a sense of epic importance. Even though the problems of fruit vendors seems small on paper, the film has a way of making the stakes seem incredibly high. Dassin chose to shoot many sections of the film on-site in the markets of San Francisco, giving the film a pulsing authenticity. There is a buzz to those scenes in the markets that just cannot be duplicated on a set. Although I’m sure many would not consider this film to be in the same league as Night and the City, nor Rififi (1955), I am of the inclination to believe that this film deserves recognition as one of Dassin's best and also one of the great film noirs of its era. Although it may not completely conjure film noir in all its aspects, there’s enough dark pessimism here to qualify on that basis alone. This is a tough film that doesn’t shy away from violence or sex and remains a thorough, fun surprise throughout its magnificent running time. 

6 comments:

Sam Juliano said...

"Dassin’s best work always seems to exert a sense of high stakes for those involved. There is also a deep fatalism and an emphasis on grittiness, sweaty palms, and heart pounding set pieces, rather than the brooding chiaroscuro and stylization of other noir directors like Tourneur, or Welles."

Oh how true Jon, you've nailed it as far as I'm concerned. Some minority opinions have derided the film for the tacked on happy ending, but there's too much that works here (your use of the word 'visceral' is quite accurate, methinks) for one to seriously quibble. As you note the dialogue and one-liners are trenchant, and the atmospheric cinematography by Norbert Brodine is often arresting. Alfred Newman wrote the memorable score. In any case, the Criterion DVD running commentary by famed noir scholar Alain Silver (Encyclopedia of Film Noir) is a terrific extra for those investigation the film.

Terrific work here Jon! The streak continues.

Jon said...

Thanks Sam! Yes the ending is a bit cheesy, but it's hardly more than a slight distraction. I loved everything else about it and wouldn't let that ending sour my mood. There is a terrific score and you're right the cinematography is terrific as well. Now I'm wishing I would have listened to the commentary track!

blahblahblah Toby said...

This is one of those films I've been meaning to get, not least because of that Alain Silver commentary on the Criterion that Sam mentioned.

A.I. Bezzerides is responsible for making Kiss Me Deadly a much better movie than Mickey Spillane's novel deserved and as such makes this movie worth watching on his own. Throwing in Dassin as director and it becomes essential. Of course your review just peer pressurd me in to finding it more quickly.

Jon said...

Hey Toby,

Yes you should definitely check it out I'm sure you will like it. You and I have shared the same taste on several occasions. Hope you enjoy!

Reel Popcorn Junkie said...

The plight of the workingman doesn't look so great in Thieves' Highway. Working conditions are dangerous. Business owners are known even by police to be crooked. Here, even the truck drivers fleece the farmers. It's a dark world.

Reel Popcorn Junkie said...

The plight of the workingman doesn't look so great in Thieves' Highway. Working conditions are dangerous. Business owners are known even by police to be crooked. Here, even the truck drivers fleece the farmers. It's a dark world.