Asphalt Jungle (film)

• Release Date: 1950
• Director(s): John Huston
• Writer(s): John Huston ; Ben Maddow
• Principal Actors and Roles: Louis Calhern (Alonzo D. Emmerich); Jean Hagen (Doll Conovan); Sterling Hayden (Dix Handley); James Whitmore (Gus Minissi); Anthony Caruso (Louis Ciavelli); Sam Jaffe (Doc Erwin Riedenschneider); Marc Lawrence (Cobby); Marilyn Monroe (Angela Phinlay)
• Book / Story Film Based On: The Asphalt Jungle by W. R. Burnett

While often remembered as one of Marilyn Monroe’s first films, The Asphalt Jungle is considered a prototype of the heist or caper film. It is also notable for blending two genres, film noir and neorealism. It resembles other Hollywood films from the 1950s—often referred to as B-films because they were made without stars and on relatively low budgets—including two other films centered around a heist, Jules Dassin’s Rififi (1955) and Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing (1956).

Plot

Dix Handley is a small-time thief with an addiction to gambling on horses that remind him of the Kentucky farm where he was raised. The film opens with Dix evading the police after committing a robbery. His friend Gus, who owns a seedy café, tries to help him by hiding his gun, but the police soon apprehend him for the crime anyway. A witness, frightened by Dix’s threatening demeanor, refuses to identify him and Dix is released.

Coincidentally, a master thief named Doc Riedenschneider is released from prison at about the same time also. Doc is already planning his next robbery but is in need of financing. Through a bookmaker he contacts Alonzo Emmerich, a successful but perfidious defense attorney. Emmerich agrees to not only finance the robbery but to dispose of the stolen merchandise. He conceals from Doc the fact that he is actually in desperate financial straits and is planning to double-cross him.

Doc assembles his team for the robbery: Dix, who provides the muscle for the operation; Gus, the driver; and Louis Ciavelli, who excels at picking locks and opening safes. In spite of Doc’s meticulous planning the heist is disrupted by two unforeseeable events. When Louis detonates the safe it triggers a series of alarms in neighboring buildings, alerting the police, and when a watchman stumbles upon Dix and the others his gun accidentally fires, fatally wounding Louis.

From there Doc’s plan quickly deteriorates. Bob Brannom, a private detective who collects debts for Emmerich, tries to steal the jewels Doc stole during the robbery. Dix kills him but Brannom wounds Dix. Doc attempts to flee the city but is apprehended as part of a police dragnet when he lingers over a young woman that he meets in a diner. Dix and his ex-girlfriend Doll, who is still in love with him and whose devotion he belatedly acknowledges, drive to his family’s farm which was lost long ago due to financial difficulties. There, Dix dies in a pasture surrounded by horses while Doll goes searching for help.

Significance

As an example of the heist or caper film The Asphalt Jungle had a wide influence not only on such films as Rififi and The Killing but also Ocean’s Eleven (1960; remade in 2001) and The Italian Job (1969; remade in 2003). The Asphalt Jungle has also been remade three times, as The Badlanders (1958), Cairo (1963), and Cool Breeze (1972).

Prior to directing The Asphalt Jungle, John Huston had directed two film noir masterpieces, The Maltese Falcon (1941) and Key Largo (1948). French critics coined the term film noir was coined to describe the dark, crime-oriented Hollywood films of the 1940s and 50s. A haunting and disturbing atmosphere characterizes the films of the genre. In The Asphalt Jungle, Huston uses bleak imagery to evoke the loneliness and sense of foreboding that pervades the unnamed Midwestern city where the majority of the action unfolds. The shadows that figure so prominently in Harold Rosson’s cinematography suggest the characters’ inability to see beyond the confines of their knowledge or control their own fates. The exteriors feature tall, imposing structures such as factories or office buildings, deserted or rain-washed city streets, and an isolated railway station. Huston’s interior scenes are often characterized by cramped spaces and the physical proximity of his characters is ironic given the emotional distances that usually separate them. Huston also contrasts the harshness of his urban landscape with the pastoral beauty that makes a fleeting appearance at the film’s end.

As critics have noted, unlike many examples of film noir, Huston’s film does not feature a femme fatale, a "dangerous woman." Doll and May, who is married to Emmerich, are depicted as devoted and suffering on behalf of the men that they love. According to a biography of Huston, he originally considered Lola Albright for the small but pivotal role of Angela, Emmerich’s mistress, but when Albright was unavailable he cast Marilyn Monroe instead. Monroe makes a memorable appearance in the film, capturing her character’s innocence along with her willingness to be exploited for the sake of her own material gain.

In addition to film noir, Huston’s film incorporates aspects of neorealism, a movement that began in Italy with films such as Vittorio De Sica’sThe Bicycle Thief (1948). Neorealist films were usually filmed on location and featured lower-class or marginalized characters, as Huston’s film does.

In addition to its significance as film noir, Huston’s film has also been admired for its thematic complexity. Doc uses the phrase "blind accident" in trying to make sense of how his perfect robbery scheme went awry and Huston explores the fickle role that chance plays in determining his characters’ fates.

Houston’s use of black-and-white is central to the film and when Turner Entertainment and a French broadcasting network sought to colorize it, Huston’s heirs objected, bringing a lawsuit that was ultimately decided in their favor. The ruling was considered a landmark in that the court upheld the principle that colorizing Huston’s work amounted to a violation of his "moral rights" or artistic vision.

Awards and nominations

Nominated

• Academy Award (1950) Best Director: John Huston
• Academy Award (1950) Best Supporting Actor: Sam Jaffe
• Academy Award (1950) Best Screenplay (Adapted): John Huston, Ben Maddow
• Academy Award (1950) Best Cinematography (Black-and-White): Harold Rosson
• Golden Globe (1950) Best Director: John Huston
• Golden Globe (1950) Best Screenplay (Adapted): John Huston, Ben Maddow

Bibliography

"The Asphalt Jungle." AFI Catalogue of Feature Films. American Film Institute, 2015. Web. 05 June 2015. <http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=26211>.

Burnett, W.R. The Asphalt Jungle. New York: Knopf, 1949. Print.

Dirks, Tim. "The Asphalt Jungle (1950)." AMC Filmsite. American Movie Classics, 2015. Web. 05 June 2015. <http://www.filmsite.org/asph.html>.

Hammen, Scott. John Huston. Boston: Twayne, 1985. Print.

Huston, John. An Open Book. Boston: Da Capo, 1998. Print.

Huston, John and Ben Maddow. The Asphalt Jungle (1950): Shooting Script. Web. 05 June 2015. <http://www.lib.miamioh.edu/multifacet/record/mu3ugb4177748>.

Meyer, David N. A Girl and a Gun: The Complete Guide to Film Noir on Video. New York: Avon, 1994. Print.

Naremore, James. More Than Night: Film Noir in Its Contexts. Berkeley: U of California P, 2008. Print.

Pratley, Gerald. The Cinema of John Huston. New York: A.S. Barnes, 1976. Print.

Telotte, J.P. "Fatal Capers: Strategy and Enigma in Film Noir." Journal of Popular Film and Television, 23.4 (Winter 1996): 163-–170.