Asphalt jungle
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Asphalt jungle |
| Original title | The Asphalt Jungle |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1950 |
| length | 112 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | John Huston |
| script |
Ben Maddow John Huston |
| production | Arthur Hornblow Jr. |
| music | Miklós Rózsa |
| camera | Harold Rosson |
| cut | George Boemler |
| occupation | |
| |
Asphalt Jungle is an American crime and film noir classic directed by John Huston . It is based on the novel The Asphalt Jungle by the author WR Burnett from 1950. The film belongs to the genre of heist movies .
action
Rough dodger Dix Handley is arrested in a dubious bar in Chicago on suspicion of armed robbery , but the police cannot prove the crime and have to release him. Handley comes from the south, but the country boy and horse lover was drawn to the disreputable city in the Midwest. He got on the wrong track after his father's farm was lost during the Great Depression . Doll Conovan, a friend who works in the nightlife and currently has no place to stay, he takes in his room. She falls in love with him and tries to dissuade Dix from pursuing a criminal career. But against the lure of the notorious old jewel thief "Doc" Riedenschneider (in German dubbing: "Doc Esterhazy"), just released from prison after seven years, she does not succeed. He hires Dix for his next big coup; the man from Kentucky promises to be able to buy back the home farm. In the background, the respected underworld lawyer Emmerich (in German dubbing: "Emery") finances the promising raid - despite his impressive facade, this grand seigneur and womanizer is broke. A nervous, drunk bookmaker named Cobby acts as the middleman. Other helpers, the hunchbacked pub owner Gus as a driver and the safe cracker Ciavelli, a family man with great financial worries, join them. The break-in of the safe at one of Chicago's largest jewelers was carried out with precision. However, the required detonation triggers alarm systems in the area. The three-man break-in crew is already in possession of the loot, but bumps into a security guard in the building. A shot goes off, Ciavelli is seriously injured.
When handing over the gems, Emmerich reveals to “Doc” and Handley that he cannot pay out their shares because it is not liquid at the moment. He plans to put the helpers on the cross, leave his ailing wife and disappear to Europe with the booty. Emmerich's debt collector Brannom is also present and suddenly has a pistol in his hand. Because he wants to do half and half with Emmerich and turn off the burglars. With the help of a trick, Dix is able to shoot Brannom, but is himself a gunshot wound from the dangerous enemy. Emmerich bursts into tears but has to be glad that Handley lets him live. He takes the body of his friend Brannom into the car and throws it into a river.
Brannom's body leads the police to Emmerich. After he advised the detectives on the phone to Angela, his lover and alleged niece, and asked them for an alibi, she managed to get him to know without any further details.
After “Doc” Riedenschneider, a large manhunt is initiated with the support of the press. Dix places the "Doc" with Doll Conovan on their escape, as his place of residence is no longer safe. Cobby is pressured by a corrupt police officer and talks. He and Gus end up in jail, the policeman is exposed. Ciavelli has since died with his family.
Angela confesses her false testimony during further investigations, whereupon Emmerich shoots himself.
"Doc" wants to take a taxi to Cleveland, but is arrested in a pub because of his weakness for women - a dancing young girl cast a spell over him. Badly wounded Dix wants to return to Kentucky because he has long since grown tired of the big city and is fed up with the life of criminals. Doll asks him to come along. Dix understands that he can no longer drive himself and agrees. On the way he lost consciousness due to blood loss. Already lying on a country doctor's treatment table, Handley wakes up again and notices that the man in the next room has called the police. He pulls himself up with the last of his strength and runs out of the house. After a dramatic drive, the two Handleys reach their longed-for home, where he collapses dead in the paddock.
background
- Huston admired WR Burnett so much that he turned to Burnett for advice and gave him the finished script to read. He was very impressed by it, also by the cast of the film. But he regretted that some of his interesting supporting characters and plots (the novel, from 1949, is a framework narrative) had been cut away.
- The famous break-in scene, in which the gangsters hardly speak a word, was the model for many films in the genre, especially the French classic Rififi (1955).
- Marilyn Monroe can be seen in one of her early roles, in which, as in many of her films, she plays a naive blonde .
German version
The German dubbing was created in 1950 in the MGM dubbing studio in Berlin . The year it was created, shortly after the war, was perhaps responsible for the fact that Erwin Riedenschneider, a German emigrant in the novel and film, became a certain Arpad Esterhazy, who, despite his typically Hungarian name, is supposedly Bulgarian and on his escape with the taxi driver Frank Schurz, unlike in the original film, does not speak German, but Bulgarian.
Reviews
“Technically first-class, psychologically differentiated crime film, which for the first time told the story from the perspective of the gangster. Sluggish in the exposure, but then with increasing tension. A variation on Huston's theme of the treasure hunt, in which the treasure - at least materially - turns out to be worthless as soon as you own it. "
"A work that set new standards for the genre - the story is told with psychological interest from the point of view of the criminal - and is now considered a classic."
“This brutally blunt story of crime and atonement in a Midwestern city is being directed by two-time Oscar winner John Huston, son of the late Walter Huston. John's films mostly have a dark background, but are always dramatic and gripping. This time he sheds light on what it looks like behind the scenes during a robbery on a jewelry store. [...] In this film there is only above-average performance. […] A pretty blonde named Marilyn Monroe also appears; she plays Calhern's friend and makes the best of each of her scenes. "
“The image compositions filmed with great depth of field and wide-angle lenses vividly suggest the limited possibilities of the individual to develop. In many close-ups, the camera takes the characters space to breathe, they seem marginalized, with no freedom of movement. "
Awards
For Asphalt Jungle , Huston received the National Board of Review Award for Best Director in 1950 . Asphalt Jungle was also nominated for best film at the BAFTA Film Awards, but the film won Everything About Eva . Huston was also nominated for an Oscar for best director in 1951 ; however, the trophy was won by Joseph L. Mankiewicz for Everything About Eve . Even Sam Jaffe was for Asphalt Jungle nominated for Best Supporting Actor, but lost to George Sanders in All About Eve . In 2008 the film was entered into the National Film Registry .
DVD release
- Asphalt jungle . Warner Home Video 2006
literature
- WR Burnett : Asphalt Jungle. (Original title: The Asphalt Jungle ). German by Walle Bengs. Diogenes, Zurich 1987, 319 pages, ISBN 3-257-21417-0 .
Web links
- Asphalt Jungle in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Asphalt jungle on Cinema.de (with film images)
- Asphalt Jungle atRotten Tomatoes(English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Thomas Bräutigam : Lexicon of film and television synchronization. More than 2000 films and series with their German voice actors etc .. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-289-X , pp. 56–57.
- ↑ Asphalt jungle. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Asphalt jungle . prisma.de. Retrieved June 17, 2011.
- ↑ Asphalt jungle . schnitt.de. Retrieved June 17, 2011.
- Armin Jaemmrich : Hard-boiled Stories and Films noirs - An analysis of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, Cornell Woolrich, WR Burnett and other authors as well as relevant films noirs. Frankfurt (Main) 2012, 306 pages, ISBN 978-3-00-039216-0 .