Thieves' Highway (1949)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Jules Dassin

Writers:

A.I. Bezzerides (screenplay)
A.I. Bezzerides (novel)

Release Date:

10 October 1949 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Film-Noir | Thriller

Tagline:

Rackets Ride The Roads!

Plot:

A war-veteran-turned-truck driver attempts to avenge the crippling and robbing of his father at the hands of an amoral produce scofflaw. |

Plot Keywords:

Produce | Boarding House | Criminal Gang | Transport | Truck Driver

Cast

Richard Conte	...	Nick Garcos
Valentina Cortese	...	Rica (as Valentina Cortesa)
Lee J. Cobb	...	Mike Figlia
Barbara Lawrence	...	Polly Faber
Jack Oakie	...	Slob
Millard Mitchell	...	Ed Kinney
Joseph Pevney	...	Pete
Morris Carnovsky	...	Yanko Garcos
Tamara Shayne	...	Parthena Garcos
Kasia Orzazewski	...	Mrs. Polansky, the Apple Farmer's Wife
Norbert Schiller	...	Mr. Polansky, the Apple Farmer
Hope Emerson	...	Midge, a buyer

Also Known As:

Collision (USA) (working title)
Hard Bargain (USA) (working title)
The Thieves' Market (USA) (original script title)

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #13530) | West Germany:16 (nf) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Lee J. Cobb (Mike Figlia) and Morris Carnovsky (Yanko Garcos) were both members of the famous Group Theater (1931-1940) and appeared together in the original Broadway production of Odets' "Golden Boy," Carnovsky played the father of the boxer. When the play was filmed with William Holden in his debut role, Cobb played the father.

Quotes:

Charles, dock henchman: Is the vehicle parked in front of our joint?
Dave, dock henchman: Yeah.
Charles, dock henchman: Has it been parked there a long time?
Dave, dock henchman: Yeah.
Charles, dock henchman: Is it obstructing our place of business?
Dave, dock henchman: Yeah!
Charles, dock henchman: Well?
Dave, dock henchman: We unload!
Mike Figlia: Come on, we'll sell the stuff on consignment, I'll give the kid a fair shake. If that's against the law, I guess I'm a crook.
Charles, dock henchman: [simultaneously with Dave] Yeah!

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Long Haul of A.I. Bezzerides (2005)

Soundtrack:

The Pact

A huge David Lynch influence

This film was a huge influence on David Lynch when he was studying film at AFI and you'll find references to it in every film he's made since then -- The grinding gears in Eraserhead, the downtown soundscapes of that film, Dune & The Elephant Man, orchard visuals in The Straight Story, and most directly Isabella Rossellini reprising Valentina Cortese in Blue Velvet.

I'd go so far as to say Blue Velvet is a scene-for-scene crib of Thieves Highway in theme and all its major details, with Dennis Hopper as Lee J. Cobb. Conte's legless father is mirrored in Jeffrey's stroke-ridden father. Both come back from independent lives of young adulthood to help their struggling families in a stultifying world of greed. Both have the corn-fed woman they love and the Italian demoiselle they sleep with. Both find their lives endangered by a corrupt crime boss. There, is that ten lines?