The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

Calificación de los usuarios:

7.9/10   

Director:

John Huston

Escritores:

Ben Maddow (screenplay) and
John Huston (screenplay) ...

Fecha de Lanzamiento:

23 mayo 1950 (USA)

Género:

Crimen | Cine Negro | Drama

Frase comercial:

The City Under the City

Plot:

A major heist goes off as planned, until bad luck and double crosses cause everything to unravel.

Plot Keywords:

Planning | Heist | Double Cross | Safecracker | Release From Prison

Premios:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 8 nominations

Comentarios de los usuarios:

No stars and perfect casting make this a masterpiece

US TV Schedule:

Sun. July 5

12:00 PM

TCM

Reparto

Sterling Hayden	...	Dix Handley
Louis Calhern	...	Alonzo D. Emmerich
Jean Hagen	...	Doll Conovan
James Whitmore	...	Gus Minissi
Sam Jaffe	...	Doc Erwin Riedenschneider
John McIntire	...	Police Commissioner Hardy
Marc Lawrence	...	Cobby
Barry Kelley	...	Lt. Ditrich
Anthony Caruso	...	Louis Ciavelli
Teresa Celli	...	Maria Ciavelli
Marilyn Monroe	...	Angela Phinlay
William 'Wee Willie' Davis	...	Timmons (as William Davis)
Dorothy Tree	...	May Emmerich
Brad Dexter	...	Bob Brannom
John Maxwell	...	Dr. Swanson

También conocida como:

La jungla de asfalto (Spain) [es]
Mientras la ciudad duerme (Chile) [es]

Duración:

112 min

País:

USA

Idioma:

Inglés | Alemán

Color:

Negro y Blanco

Relación de Aspecto:

1.37 : 1

Sonido:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Clasificación:

Hungary:14 | Canada:PG (video rating) | Sweden:15 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 (1950) | USA:Approved (PCA #14357) | West Germany:16 | UK:PG (re-rating) (1992) | UK:A (original rating) | Canada:PG (Ontario)

Locaciones de Filmación:

Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Compañía:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivialidades:

Debut of Strother Martin.

Errores:

Continuidad: Louis Ciavelli walks along a long straight underground passageway and breaks through the wall on his right into an office. Once in the office, he opens a door in the same wall right beside the hole he's just made. So from inside the office, there's a door in the wall leading to some stairs. From the other side of the wall it's just a solid wall.

Citas:

Cobby: Here's to the drink habit. It's the only one I got that don't get me into trouble.

Conexiones de Película:

Apareció en The Best of Film Noir (1999) (V)

No stars and perfect casting make this a masterpiece

I suppose the only reason why this movie can be purchased on video (not on DVD though, it seems) is the fact that Marilyn Monroe plays a part in it. If I am right, this shows how much the movie industry has to rely on big names. Sometimes this is a real shame. No movie proves this better than Asphalt Jungle.

This caper movie is one of my all time favorites and frankly the best of its genre. Its brilliance lies for me in the fact that no big name of the Hollywood acting community was involved – Monroe was small fries then. Instead John Huston worked with a cast of reliable, mostly very experienced character actors many people will know as "supports" from numerous other movies of the period. And many of those actors probably gave here the best performances of their lives. Everybody is cast dead right, this is what is so magnificent about Asphalt Jungle. The balance is perfect, the chemistry works all ways. Maybe just one miscast actor or actress would have spoiled the whole atmosphere. No one is overacting at any time, and there are many, many very moving moments as one can observe these characters struggling on the sidelines of urban society.

One is always tempted to name an actress or an actor whose performance one liked best in a movie. Here, I could not do it – I liked them all. Yet I want to mention one actor: Louis Calhern. Seldom has a sudden change of mood and countenance in a character had such an impact on me as a viewer.