Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Sterling Hayden stars as the not-too-bright but stand-up guy hoodlum Dix Handley, a gambling junkie who makes his living providing muscle for various crimes. Dix longs for the days when he was a kid and all he had to do was ride his horse back on his father’s farm in Kentucky. Doc Riedenschneider (Sam Jaffe) is a middle-aged criminal mastermind who has a weakness for frisky young girls. High-powered lawyer Alonzo Emmerich (Louis Calhern) has the need to be well thought of by society and a high-maintenance mistress (Marilyn Monroe) to keep. Cobby (Marc Lawrence) is a bookie who wants to appear to be a big shot. Lieutenant Ditrich (Barry Kelly) is a cop on the take. All these characters and more populate The Asphalt Jungle, Director John Huston’s story of the seamy underbelly of a Midwestern city.

Recently released from prison, Doc has the blueprint for a sure-fire score – robbery of a jewelry store safe with a cool million in gems. He was going to do the job three years back but was picked up and put on ice in the state pen for unrelated crimes. Now that he’s back, he needs to put together a team to take the score. For financial backing he approaches Emmerich with an introduction from Cobby. Emmerich agrees to front the good doctor $50,000 so he can hire a box man for $25,000, a getaway driver for $15,000, and a hooligan (muscle) for $10,000. He finds his team in the underworld with the help of Cobby, who, unbeknownst to the doctor has provided the $50,000 cash himself – you see, the lawyer, despite appearances, is broke.

The score is one of the gems of the cinematic art, with everything going according to plan until the shock from the soup (nitroglycerin) sets off every burglar alarm in the downtown area. As they are leaving, a night watchman surprises them. Dix knocks his pistol from his hand and slugs him, but as luck would have it, the gun goes off when it hits the floor and shoots the box man through the belly. A good Catholic, the safecracker wants to go home to die with his family so they take him.

Doc and Dix take the loot to the lawyer’s who is going to fence the gems. But the broke lawyer has hired his own muscle and tries to rip them off with the result that the hired killer is killed and Dix has a bullet in the side. The two go into hiding at a friendly place but the police dragnet is coming uncomfortably close – Doc’s picture is front-page news. They move to another hideout but are confronted on the way by a policeman who Dix slugs. In the meantime, the getaway driver (James Whitmore) has been arrested. They decide to split up, Doc taking a taxi to Cleveland and Dix hiding out at his moll’s place. The police come for the lawyer and find him with his mistress. The jig is up and they know he is involved. Like the coward he is, the lawyer takes the easy way out. Just as you think nothing else could possibly go wrong, Doc, safely on the way to Cleveland, decides to watch a young nymphet dancing to a juke box tune for five minutes. A pair of passing police officers recognize him and arrest him. Dix, the last of the gang, buys a car and heads for Kentucky with Doll (Jean Hagen). As he drives he becomes delirious and raves about his childhood. They arrive at the old horse farm and Dix collapses just inside the gate, buying the farm on the bluegrass of Kentucky.

The direction, by John Huston, is superb. Huston tells the tale with great brevity but great strength also. The characters are fully developed and the viewer identifies with them, despite their flaws. Acting is overall superb, with Sam Jaffe, Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, James Whitmore, Marc Lawrence, and Jean Hagen as standouts. The five minutes or so that Marilyn Monroe is on screen are also riveting. The photography, by Harold Rosson, is moody and dark, it always seems to be night in this unnamed city. The score by Miklos Rosza adds to the gloomy effect.

The Asphalt Jungle is a superior crime film and should be a part of every videophile’s collection. Other film noir masterpieces also recommended are

LA Confidential

The Maltese Falcon

Double Indemnity

The Third Man

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening