The Asphalt Jungle

Right from its famous long-continuity opening shot, John Huston’s 1950 (some say 1949) suspense masterpiece The Asphalt Jungle seethes with the urban grit, snappy dialogue, and moody lighting that make it one of the all-time best films noir.

And since the caper planning scene from this glorious flick is starkly depicted on the header of our new Noir Movies blog, I thought an Asphalt Jungle post would make a great first article.

Can you guess what movie will be featured next? (Hint: The dangerous blonde femme fatale over on the right of our blog header, played by Lana Turner, is from that movie, another of my noir favorites. OK, it's pretty obvious to noir fans... The Postman Always Rings Twice. Stay tuned for that article...coming soon!)

Besides being one of the all-time best caper films, often imitated but seldom pulled off with such panache, Asphalt Jungle gives us a chance to hear Sterling Hayden say, “Don’t bone me!” at least once. For some reason that line always amuses me.

Another great line from Asphalt Jungle happens when, after Hayden's character Dix Handley is shot and loses a lot of blood, the doctor mutters the immortal line, “Why, he hasn’t got enough blood left in him to keep a chicken alive.” That happens when Dix and Doll (played by Jean Hagen) are trying to make it to Kentucky, where Dix is determined to see the family horse farm one last time and take a bath in the creek – to “get the city dirt offa me” - before he goes down for the count. This photo shows Dix and Doll determinedly driving there, with Dix mortally wounded and hallucinating.

Asphalt Jungle also offers Marilyn Monroe, in her very first movie, saying to an inquisitive copper, “Haven’t you bothered me enough, you big banana head?”

Hayden plays Dix, the hooligan. In the terminology of the movie, the hooligan is a tough guy packing heat who’s there at the heist to protect the guys cracking the safe (using the carefully carried “soup,” or nitroglycerin).

James Whitmore, who, as far as I know, is the only Asphalt Jungle cast member still alive as of this writing in December 2008, is charming in one of his first movie roles as Gus, the hunchbacked diner proprietor who is kind to cats (always a winning trait, in my book). His role in the jewel heist is driving the getaway car. (Update, February 2009: Sad to say, James Whitmore died on Feb. 6, 2009, at the age of 87. R.I.P.)

Forty-some years later Whitmore played Brooks, the charming old man in The Shawshank Redemption who feeds maggots to his pet bird, which he keeps in his pocket.

Asphalt Jungle’s Marc Lawrence, who played Cobby, the bookie who arranges to have the jewels fenced with double-crossing lawyer Alonzo Emmerich (Louis Calhern), was another long-lived Jungle cast member – he died in 2005 at the age of 95.

Anyway, I know I haven’t really said too much about Asphalt Jungle itself, in terms of plot, camera angles, etc., and I haven’t said anything about John Huston's flawless directing, Sam Jaffe’s brilliant Oscar-nominated performance as the heist mastermind, or Louis Calhern’s sadly moving portrayal of Emmerich. I’ll leave that for another post – or for you to offer your two cents on. I assume you probably wouldn’t be here if you weren’t already a noir fan, and if you are a noir fan then you’ve probably already seen Asphalt Jungle, so I’d love to hear your comments.

If you haven’t seen it, well, I’d say add it to the top of your Netflix queue or go rent it already!

For more info on Asphalt Jungle, or comments about it from other noir fans, check out this great posting on Steve-O's excellent Noir of the Week blog.