01
The Killing
Why this pick
Its cool, precise account of a carefully planned score shares Huston’s fascination with criminal logistics, flawed alliances and the grim inevitability of plans coming apart.
A FILM WORTH A CLOSER LOOKTHE FEATURE PRESENTATION
MOVIE1950 1h 52m USA
IF THIS ONE STAYED WITH YOU
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The Asphalt Jungle
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CINEHUNCH / THE NEXT FRAME
Keep the feeling.
SIMILAR PICKS / A PERSONAL CONNECTION
If you loved The Asphalt Jungle, try these.
01
02
Odds Against Tomorrow
Why this pick
This taut noir follows an uneasy robbery partnership with the same hard-edged moral atmosphere, sharply drawn desperadoes and mounting sense that temperament can undo any scheme.
03
Bob le Flambeur
Why this pick
Melville gives the aging gambler and his underworld circle the dry, lived-in texture of Huston’s criminals, balancing a poised heist design with melancholy and fatalism.
04
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
Why this pick
For the same unsentimental attention to working criminals, compromised loyalties and procedural detail, this is a bruising, low-key crime film with no glamorous escape routes.
05
Le Cercle Rouge
Why this pick
Its restrained, nocturnal heist world extends the professional criminal code and doomed camaraderie that make The Asphalt Jungle feel less like a puzzle than a tragedy.
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01 / THE STORY
A little about the film.
When criminal mastermind Erwin "Doc" Riedenschneider (Sam Jaffe) is released from prison after seven years, he goes to see a bookie named Cobby (Marc Lawrence) in an unnamed Midwest river city (probably Cincinnati), who arranges a meeting with Alonzo Emmerich (Louis Calhern), a lawyer. Emmerich listens to Doc's plan to steal jewelry worth half a million dollars or more. Doc needs $50,000 to hire three men—a "box man" (safecracker), a driver, and a "hooligan"—to help him pull off the caper. Emmerich agrees to provide the money and assume the responsibility for disposing of the loot.
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02 / FACES IN THE FRAME
The people who bring it to life.
Sterling Hayden
Dix Handley
Marilyn Monroe
Angela Phinlay
Sam Jaffe
Doc Erwin Riedenschneider
Marc Lawrence
Cobby
Barry Kelley
Lt. Ditrich
Anthony Caruso
Louis Ciavelli
Brad Dexter
Bob Brannom
John Maxwell
Dr. Swanson