Highly Overrated But Still Good

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Sorry, but this is as good as noir gets. Gritty, beautifully shot on location. Crisp and dead level-written dialogue. Not a dead spot in the fast moving story. And Huston's direction underlines this classic.

Almost any movie with Marilyn Monroe is a must-see movie and this legendary film noir directed by John Huston is no exception. True, a little bit of astute editing would help the pace no end. Some tedious reminiscences about his early life in Kentucky by not-so Sterling Hayden could go for a start, even though this is tied in with the way overlong, drawn-out concluding scenes. They need trimming too. Script and director also let us down earlier in the movie in an exactly similar fashion when they telegraph how Sam Jaffe will be captured and then proceed to show us what they've already told us. Credibility is also strained when McIntyre's police commissioner emerges as a comic figure. This was no doubt intentional, but it's a distraction nonetheless. Fortunately, Monroe's role though not over-large, is certainly memorable. Back in 1950, M-G-M didn't consider Marilyn important enough to even mention in the Press Book or on the poster art. When the film was re-issued in 1954, however, Marilyn was suddenly promoted to above-the-title billing. In fact, the film took twice as much money on re-issue than it did on original release.

This is one of my favorite film noir classic films. I have it racked in Top 100 and Top 25 Film Noir movies of all time. I am writing this review at this time because I recently watched it again (January 23rd). I was prompted to do this because the film was being previewed at 2017 Noir City film festival in San Francisco.I owe a copy of the film and have watched annually for the last five years. The story was adapted from a novel by W.R. Burnett. The screenplay credits go to John Huston and Ben Maddow. Huston also directed the film. The music was created by Miklos Rozsa while the director of photography was Harold Rosson.It has an outstanding cast including Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagan, James Whitmore, Barry Kelley and John McIntire.Supporting cast include: Sam Jaffe, Marc Lawrence, Brad Dexter, Anthony Caruso and Marilyn Monroe.Sam Jaffe is the brains behind the "heist" concept and sells the plan to Louis Calhern. Jaffe's character is smart, brilliant and controlled. His one flaw(not shared) gets him caught in the end.HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!

Many reviewers of Rififi said it followed The Asphalt Jungle. True, in several ways. Somehow, TAJ wasn't as good as Rififi. Copies can be inferior, but not in this case. TAJ doesn't fully deserve the wild praise it's been getting from many reviewers on this site.Why is this ? Hard to say. Perhaps it's because the characters in Rififi are more focused and better developed, therefore easier to empathize with. The only really enjoyable actor in TAJ is Louis Calhern. His performance is genuinely subtle. Sam Jaffe isn't bad, but he's slightly one-note. His fixation on pin-ups is simplistic and basically unconvincing. Jules Dassin, as César "le Milanais", was more plausible. Sterling Hayden doesn't act in any of his films. He just is, and he's always the same, although with undoubted presence. The girls were over-the-top. The slangy dialogue is over-wrought, and sounds badly dated.Still, it's worth a watch. I watched it maybe 6 or 7 years ago, and again tonight. All I remembered was Doc's girl obsession, and Dix's final meeting with the horses in the paddock at the end. I was surprised by how good Calhern was, second time around.