Review of The Asphalt Jungle (1950) by Jason L — 19 Jul 2013

This is a fantastic film noir full of shady characters, corrupt cops, and lawyers. Sam Jaffe plays Doc Reidenscheider, a smallish but shrewd looking crook just released after spending 7 years in prison.

He meets with a bookie who arranges a meeting with a corrupt lawyer played by Louis Calhern to see if he will fence this well-planned score. Doc has a plan for a jewlery heist that involves a driver, a safecracker and a hooligan.

After reaching an agrement with the lawyer, Emmerich, Doc uses his bookie to find the men for the job. Sterling Hayden plays Dix Handley who is hemorrhaging money from betting on horses that he gets from robbing banks.

He has plans to return to Kentucky with his girl to rescue a horse farm that his father lost during the Depression. After all the members are recruited for the job, they are ready to go. The heist goes down and there is a great, seven minute part of the job in complete silence.

Unfortunately, the safecracker's explosives on the safe sets off other alarms in banks in the area. This alerts the police, and when Dix punches a security cop, he drops the gun and shoots the safecracker in the gut as they are leaving.

Now they police are after them, but things are still going okay. Emmerich the attorney has hired an private detective to collect on his debts because he too, like Dix, is flat broke. He has no way to fence the deal he promised to fence.

Instead of fessing up, he plans a double cross with his private detective. The gang overpower the dick and he's killed in a short fight. At this point everyone has to split up. Doc starts to head north to Cleveland, the safecracker is dying from his wound and Dix is leaving for Kentucky with his girl, having been wounded by a gunshot wound.

Doc takes a cab to get out of town, but on the way they stop at a restaurant. There he gets entranced by a young girl dancing to the jukebox. As he leers on, he continues to feed her money for the jukebox to keep dancing.

During this time the police find him and arrest him outside. Dix and his girl make it to Kentucky. Dix stumbles out of his car into a horse pasture, only to collapse and die from his wounds.