By Raymond Zwart
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
‘The City Under the City’
Directed by:
John Huston
Written by:
W.R. Burnett (novel)
Ben Maddow (screenplay)
Cast:
Sterling Hayden ...Dix Handley
Sam Jaffe ...Doc Riedenschneider
Louis Calhern ...Alonzo ‚Lon’ Emmerich
Jean Hagen ...Doll Conovan
Marc Lawrence ...Cobby
James Whitmore ...Gus Minissi
John McIntire …Police Commisioner Hardy
Barry Kelley …Lt. Ditrich
Anthony Caruso …Louis Ciavelli
Marilyn Monroe …Angela Phinlay
Huston opens the film with images of a dark, grey city. We see a deserted street on which a police car is searching for a hold-up man. It’s a grim scenery. An deteriorating asphalt jungle filled with hooligans, crooked cops, racketeers and low-level hustlers. A place now long gone.
Master criminal Doc Riedenschneider, barely out of jail wants to organise a major caper. He approaches a financer, dirty lawyer Emmerich. Together they select a crew. As a strong-arm Dix Handley (Hayden) is hired, a farmer turned criminal with a brain and a strong sense of honour.
Huston shows the greed of men going for the big score. They all have dreams of what to do after the heist. This is a theme Huston explored earlier with THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE. Being a Film Noir things start to go tragically wrong after Emmerich decides to cheat on his accomplices, and run off with the loot after the job is pulled. The cops want to make big scores as well. This is illustrated in the beginning when they bust up one gambling house, knowing that can never stop the whole problem. After the heist their big score is the entire gang of robbers and organisers.
Strong crime film from Huston. There are fine performances, especially from Hayden who is intimidating during his criminal undertakings, but has a soft side as well when he’s with his girlfriend Doll. The heist itself is a tense scene and the ending for the criminals is tragic but not overly moralistic. An extra treat is the bit part from a young Marilyn Monroe who looks as good as ever.
Rating: 
Quote:
EMMERICH: After all, crime is only a left-handed form of human endeavour.
Trivia:
The third Film Noir effort from director Huston after THE MALTESE FALCON (1941) and KEY LARGO (1948). This is the first one without Humphrey Bogart.
