John Huston’s ‘The Asphalt Jungle’ is a true piece of invaluable cinema heritage — cinephiliabeyond.org

As one of the first heist films that put the culprits in the center of the audience’s attention, John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle served as a source of creative inspiration for more filmmakers than we could possibly name. A whole series of brilliant crime thrillers, such as Jules Dassin’s Rififi, Alexander Mackendrick’s The Ladykillers, Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs and Bryan Singer’s The Usual Suspects, drew palpable inspiration from this haunting noir heist story. We’re talking about a picture so powerful it practically gave birth to a whole subgenre. Shady and realistic, The Asphalt Jungle is as thrilling as thrillers get, with great use of proven actors like Sterling Hayden, James Whitmore and Sam Jaffe, perfect theme music from Miklós Rozsa and lighting expertise of five-time Oscar nominee Harold Rosson. John Huston joined forces with Ben Maddow in adapting W. R. Burnett’s novel to the screen, and the writing is so good it feels perfectly natural to root for the gang of antiheroes on the wrong side of the law. The wonderfully staged heist is so exciting it gets difficult to breathe, and as a delightful cherry on top we have Marilyn Monroe’s brief but instrumental appearance. A true piece of invaluable cinema heritage, the film stands out as one of the most striking in Huston’s fruitful dossier.

Read More