Review of The Asphalt Jungle (1950) by Anton B — 21 Aug 2008

Unlike some film noirs that are all too fascinated with the underbelly of society they expose, "The Asphalt Jungle" never glamorizes the dirty lives it depicts. However, director John Huston is not overly hard on many of the criminals he portrays.

Instead, he often seeks to explain the socioeconomic conditions that have driven his characters to a life of crime, so that, while we are never led to condone crime, we are meant to sympathize with some of the characters, particularly Sterling Hayden's Dix Handley.

Huston's urban jungle is a world of grey. On another note, watch for a young and smoking hot Marilyn Monroe!