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Thieves' Highway (1949) [The Criterion Collection #273] [Re-UP]

Posted By: Someonelse
Thieves' Highway (1949) [The Criterion Collection #273] [Re-UP]

Thieves' Highway (1949)
DVD9 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC 4:3 | Cover+Booklet | 01:34:04 | 6,80 Gb
Audio: English AC3 1.0 @ 192 Kbps | Subtitles: English SDH
Genre: Drama, Film-Noir, Thriller | The Criterion Collection #273

Director: Jules Dassin
Stars: Richard Conte, Valentina Cortese, Lee J. Cobb

Thieves’ Highway vividly depicts the perilous world of “long-haul boys,” who drive by night to bring their goods to the markets of America’s cities. Richard Conte stars as ex-G.I. Nick Garcos, a tyro trucker bent on satisfaction from the man responsible for crippling his father—ruthless market operator Mike Figlia (Lee J. Cobb). But when Figlia gets wise to his plan, Nick finds himself in a web of treachery and heartbreak. The Criterion Collection is proud to present this searing melodrama from master Jules Dassin.


A superior thriller with powerhouse acting from underrated stars Richard Conte and Lee J. Cobb, Thieves' Highway places its story among the immigrant working class and specifically identifies its characters as partially assimilated Greeks, Italians and Poles. For them, learning the ropes of a new country is a series of hard knocks. Nico Garcos sees himself as a tough guy unlikely to fall for the same tricks as his gullible father who sits in a wheelchair with no legs, in denial of the fact that he's been robbed.

Thieves' Highway (1949) [The Criterion Collection #273] [Re-UP]

Bezzerides captures perfectly the dynamics that go into real business dealmaking. Nico threatens to repossess Ed's truck, and five minutes later becomes his partner. America is the land of opportunity but also a place of risk and betrayal. Ed has little choice but to slam the door on his previous partners Slob and Pete (Jack Oakie and Joseph Pevney). The judgmental Nico makes a note of Ed's disloyalty. Later, he forces him to deal straight with the Polish growers who fill their rickety truck with precious but perishable apples.

The high risk of the highway is yet another factor. Nico has a new Army surplus vehicle but Ed's truck is at least twenty years old, a death trap that barely stays in one piece. Nico is an experienced ship's engineer but makes an almost fatal mistake while changing a tire. Ed shows his true loyalty by rescuing Nico, placing their partnership above profit.

Thieves' Highway (1949) [The Criterion Collection #273] [Re-UP]

But Nico has to face Figlia alone, and his refusal to be intimidated by the big boss of the produce district doesn't help when Figlia has cronies to play dirty tricks like axing Nico's tires. Without Ed around to present a united front, Nico is sidetracked by Rica ("Come on up to my room …") while Figlia brazenly sells his apples right off the back of his truck. Rica switches loyalties to Nico's side while the film moves into its violent setpieces, action capped by the famous shot of hundreds of apples tumbling down a steep hill.

Thieves' Highway (1949) [The Criterion Collection #273] [Re-UP]

Although none of the HUAC witch hunters were trained to look for subversive content in movies, Thieves' Highway has two major threads that in retrospect could indeed be considered threatening to the cultural thought police. Nico fails only because he's one man against the rackets. Competing with one another, he, Ed and Ed's ex-partners Slob and Pete are easy prey for crooked traps - Figlia picks them off one by one. Thieves' Highway never mentions unions, but the look of Judas-like shame on Pete's face as Figlia patronizes him with a rotten handout job tells it all. I can see the Teamsters loving this picture even more than writer Bezzerides' older trucker-hero picture, They Drive By Night.

Thieves' Highway (1949) [The Criterion Collection #273] [Re-UP]

Thieves' Highway also strikes a blow for a sliding scale of heroism. Nico wants to make a buck, avenge his dad and marry his sweetheart, so he's an obvious indentification figure. Ed isn't as glamorous and we don't see his family. We're encouraged to judge him by his willingness to cheat the Polish apple growers. But Bezzerides and Dassin don't require that all good men act like saints all the time. Not only is Ed a stand-up guy when things get tough, but he has experience in dealing with crooked racketeers that Nico sorely lacks.

Thieves' Highway (1949) [The Criterion Collection #273] [Re-UP]

Finally, Thieves' Highway has the gall to knock an unassailable fixture of Hollywood dramas. Whitebread Polly (knockout blonde Barbara Lawrence, later of Kronos) is the standard MPAA reward for middle-class heroes. The dark, foreign, immigrant prostitute Rica is supposed to be reformed but die in some classy last minute sacrifice to save the hero, like Linda Darnell in My Darling Clementine. Bezzerides has Polly jump to conclusions and stomp out of her engagement immediately upon seeing Rica. When she finds out that Nico's bankroll has been stolen, it's the last straw. She doesn't want Nick, she wants the American bridal package deluxe. Sam Fuller must have loved that scene, and loved the Rica character, a woman with guts.

Thieves' Highway (1949) [The Criterion Collection #273] [Re-UP]

Savant wishes that Thieves' Highway were perfect, but it isn't. As Jules Dassin (now in his 90s) explains in his interview, after he left the picture Darryl F. Zanuck reshot the ending. It's one of the worst examples of movie-futzing on record.

Nico has lost his money, his apples, and his partner. One of his trucker-competitors balks, but the other caves in and works for Figlia for pennies, recovering what's recoverable of a lost load of produce. There's a terrific fight in a roadside café and all of a sudden the picture wraps up with a bunch of ridiculous non-sequitir events. The cops show up to arrest Figlia, as if the law has been preparing a case against him all this time. They deliver a stern authoritarian speech to Nico about not taking the law into his own hands. Two or three shots later, Nico and Rica are are happily married couple, her sins magically transformed into bliss by the love of a good man.

Thieves' Highway (1949) [The Criterion Collection #273] [Re-UP]

The awfulness of this cop-out makes one want to throw up. I talked to the outspoken A.I. Bezzerides on the phone in 1997 and when I brought up the subject I could tell he was still furious. Whatever differences between director Dassin and Darryl Zanuck about this incident were apparently resolved, because in the next couple of years Zanuck became a champion of blacklist-threatened writers and directors and the best friend Dassin ever had in Hollywood.

Thieves' Highway (1949) [The Criterion Collection #273] [Re-UP]

Richard Conte is excellent in his scenes with Lee J. Cobb, giving their "bluff & threaten" negotiations fine levels of complexity. Favorite Valentina Cortese is a good 'bad' girl, and Mitchell, Pevney and especially Jack Oakie sketch solid characters with limited screen time. The atmospheric locations add greatly to the story; just about the only dated aspect of the film is the truck crash scene, which nowadays would be the most realistic part of the movie.
Thieves' Highway (1949) [The Criterion Collection #273] [Re-UP]
Thieves' Highway (1949) [The Criterion Collection #273] [Re-UP]

Edition Details:
- Audio commentary by Alain Silver, editor of Film Noir Reader and author of Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles
- Video interview with Jules Dassin
- Trailer for The Long Haul of A.I. Bezzerides (2004), a new documentary on Bezzerides, author of the screenplay for Thieves’ Highway and the novel on which it was based
- Original theatrical trailer
- Liner notes essay by film critic Michael Sragow

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