The Asphalt Jungle

A master criminal plans a big-time, elaborate jewel heist with a number of shady pals. However, the careful plan goes awry when the group’s safecracker crosses paths with a cop. Features Marilyn Monroe in an early performance., John Huston’s Oscar-winning seminal crime movie, with Sam Jaffe as the ageing criminal reuniting the gang for one last heist. Great performances all round, including Marilyn Monroe’s. The film’s gripping plot provided the basis for numerous remakes., A master criminal plans a big-time, elaborate jewel heist with a number of shady friends. However, the careful plan goes awry when the group’s safecracker crosses paths with a cop., ‘Doc’ Riedenschneider, a legendary criminal just out of prison has a brilliant plan for a million dollar robbery. To pull it off, he recruits a safecracker Louis, driver Gus, financial banker Emmerich and strong-arm man Dix Handley. But things don’t go quite according to plan when each partner proves to have his own own fatal weakness., The Asphalt Jungle is a brilliantly conceived and executed anatomy of a crime — or, as director John Huston and scripter Ben Maddow put it, “a left-handed form of human endeavor.” Recently paroled master criminal Erwin “Doc” Riedenschneider (Sam Jaffe), with funding from crooked attorney Emmerich (Louis Calhern), gathers several crooks together in Cincinnati for a Big Caper. Among those involved are Dix (Sterling Hayden), an impoverished hood who sees the upcoming jewel heist as a means to finance his dream of owning a horse farm. Hunch-backed cafe owner (James Whitmore) is hired on to be the driver for the heist; professional safecracker Louis Ciavelli (Anthony Caruso) assembles the tools of his trade; and a bookie (Marc Lawrence) acts as Emmerich’s go-between. The robbery is pulled off successfully, but an alert night watchman shoots Ciavelli. Corrupt cop (Barry Kelley), angry that his “patsy” (Lawrence) didn’t let him in on the caper, beats the bookie into confessing and fingering the other criminals involved. From this point on, the meticulously planned crime falls apart with the inevitability of a Greek tragedy. Way down on the cast list is Marilyn Monroe in her star-making bit as Emmerich’s sexy “niece”; whenever The Asphalt Jungle would be reissued, Monroe would figure prominently in the print ads as one of the stars. The Asphalt Jungle was based on a novel by the prolific W.R. Burnett, who also wrote Little Caesar and Saint Johnson (the fictionalized life story of Wyatt Earp)., A gang of small time crooks plots an elaborate jewel heist., Drama about an ex-con’s attempt to pull off one last heist, with the help of a crooked lawyer. But just when the painstaking planning appears to be paying off, the gang is dealt a shattering blow and their ambitious enterprise is reduced to a desperate bid to evade the police net tightening around them. Featuring an early appearance by Marilyn Monroe., Seminal crime movie, remade countless times, with Sam Jaffe as the ageing criminal reuniting the gang for one last heist., Seminal crime movie, remade countless times, with Sam Jaffe as the ageing criminal reuniting the gang for one last heist. Marilyn Monroe co-stars.