Dbl Feat: ASPHALT JUNGLE + SYMPHONY FOR A MASSACRE
Special Features: Intro by film historian Foster Hirsch on October 18
THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (1950)
This is the ultimate heist film and the template for all that came after — from the assembly of the team to the painstakingly chronicled break-in to the telltale slipup. John Huston's expertly orchestrated urban crime story is one of the rare noirs to attract Oscar® recognition, garnering four nominations. A crooked lawyer (Louis Calhern), desperate to keep his nubile mistress (Marilyn Monroe), employs a just-out-of-jail master thief (Sam Jaffe) and some small-timers (Sterling Hayden, Anthony Caruso and James Whitmore) for a big score. Everything is going right the night of the break-in — until everything starts to go wrong. DIR/SCR John Huston; SCR Ben Maddow, from the novel by W.R. Burnett; PROD Arthur Hornblow Jr. U.S., 1950, b&w, 112 min. NOT RATED
Followed by:
SYMPHONY FOR A MASSACRE aka THE CORRUPT [SYMPHONIE POUR UN MASSACRE]
This early crime-story masterpiece from French director Jacques Deray (BORSALINO, LA PISCINE), co-written by Deray, Claude Sautet (CLASSE TOUS RISQUES) and José Giovanni (LE TROU), recalls classic heist-gone-wrong films like RIFIFI, THE KILLING and THE ASPHALT JUNGLE. Five shady Parisian businessmen go in on a drug deal together, intending to launch a new criminal enterprise. But one of the gang is laying the complex groundwork to pull a double cross on his partners. The exquisite ensemble of veterans and genre greats includes Michel Auclair, Claude Dauphin, Jean Rochefort, Charles Vanel, Michèle Mercier and screenwriter Giovanni in his acting debut. The crisp cinematography is by Claude Renoir, with a moody score by cult composer Michel Magne. DIR/SCR Jacques Deray; SCR José Giovanni, Claude Sautet, from the novel "Les Mystifiés" by Alain Reynaud-Fourton; PROD Julien Derode. France/Italy, 1963, b&w, 110 min. In French with English subtitles. NOT RATED
THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (1950) also screens on Wed, Oct. 23. View details here.
Run Time: 237 Minutes
Opening Date: Friday, October 18, 2024
Genre: Film noir
