High Sierra (1941)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Raoul Walsh

Writers:

John Huston (screenplay) and
W.R. Burnett (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

25 January 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

The Blazing Mountain Manhunt for Killer 'Mad-Dog' Earle!

Plot:

Roy 'Mad Dog' Earle is broken out of prison by an old associate who wants him to help with an upcoming robbery...

Plot Keywords:

Robbery | Police | Dog | Prison | Murder

Cast

Ida Lupino	...	Marie
Humphrey Bogart	...	Roy Earle
Alan Curtis	...	'Babe'
Arthur Kennedy	...	'Red'
Joan Leslie	...	Velma
Henry Hull	...	'Doc' Banton
Henry Travers	...	Pa
Jerome Cowan	...	Healy
Minna Gombell	...	Mrs. Baughmam
Barton MacLane	...	Jake Kranmer
Elisabeth Risdon	...	Ma (as Elizabeth Risdon)
Cornel Wilde	...	Louis Mendoza
Donald MacBride	...	Big Mac
Paul Harvey	...	Mr. Baughmam
Isabel Jewell	...	Blonde

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G (TV rating) | Argentina:Atp | Finland:(Banned) (1942) | Finland:K-8 (1990) | USA:Approved (certificate #6563) | Australia:PG | Germany:12 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | Canada:PG

Filming Locations:

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Humphrey Bogart''s part in this movie was originally intended for Paul Muni. Muni did not like the first draft of the screenplay which was authored solely by John Huston and given to him by Hal B. Wallis, so Wallis got the book's author W.R. Burnett to assist John Huston in a second rewrite. This rewrite was presented to Paul Muni who still disliked it and turned the movie and the role down completely. In the meantime, On May 4th, 1940, Humphrey Bogart sent a telegram to Hal B. Wallis reiterating his continuing desire, which he had mentioned several months earlier, to play the part of Roy Earle. After Muni turned down the script the next person on the list for Warner Brothers was George Raft. Bogart, knowing that Raft was trying to change his image and move away from gangster roles, found out about this and mentioned to Raft when he saw him next that the studio was trying to get him do another gangster movie where the gangster gets shot at the end. Raft marched into Hal B. Wallis office and flatly refused to do the movie. Bogart finally ended up with the role he wanted all along by default.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: During the chase scene up the dirt mountain road, the Foley is the sound of screeching tires on asphalt or concrete.

Quotes:

'Doc' Banton: Roy, this is the land of milk and honey for the health racket. Every woman in California thinks she's either too fat or too thin or too something.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Body Fever (1969)

Soundtrack:

I Get a Kick out of You (1934)

Roy Earle, a man out of prison, and out of his time.

Roy Earle is released early from prison thanks to a rather shifty pardon. A job is there to be done, maybe Roy's last one before finally finding love and straightening out?, but Roy is finding out that this is a different world to the one he left behind, the one before he entered the Big House for his stretch. Crooks he's not familiar with and women turning his head, hell even a canine has him at odds with his machismo sensibility, but all of it will come crashing together amongst the magnificent High Sierra!.

It's a really funny thing now, you buy two DVDs and they both tell you that the respective film from 1941 is the breakout role for Humphrey Bogart. I am of course referring to both this fabulous film and the equally brilliant, Maltese Falcon, what a double that is eh!. Truth is, is that both films merely showcase what a talent the great man was, and crucially, that he could imbue his characters with terrific results. Here as Roy Earle i personally feel Bogey gives one of his best 40s performances, made to look far more aged than he was {well done Perc Westmore}, he manages to make Earle a tough and gritty man, yet at the same time he pulls the audience on side with a hardened professionalism that has us admiring the obvious qualities that reside within him.

Directed by the great Raoul Walsh, scripted by one John Huston, and starring Humphrey Bogart, it's obvious that this take on W.R. Burnett's novel is in safe hands, playing out as one of the gangster genre's last hurrahs, it's clear to me that some future great Western directors were clearly taking notes, for what drives High Sierra to being great is it's man out of his time pulse, sensitivity seams thru the picture without ever cloying the tension and feel of the picture, the best Adult Westerns would theme this arc with considerably great results. Backing Bogart up is the top billed Ida Lupinio {strong and perfect foil}, while the likes of Alan Curtis, Arthur Kennedy, Henry Hull, Cornel Wilde, Henry Travers and Joan Leslie {badly overacting without hurting the production} help up to put High Sierra firmly in the drawer that holds classic crime pictures from a golden age. Not just a close look at deep and elegiac characters, High Sierra does not lack in the action department either, in fact Walsh does an incredible job of knitting together heart and gusto with intelligent results. Come the finale at Mount Whitney {High Sierra a constant looming presence in the film}, the thrills have more than catered for the inclined seekers of that particular bent, but ultimately as the credits role, Walsh's camera leaves us in no doubt as to what has driven Roy, and High Sierra, to it's point of meaning, a special and great movie indeed, 9/10