Thieves' Highway (The Criterion Collection)

I'm a big fan of both film noir and commentary tracks, and this disk has the best commentary of any film noir I've yet seen. It's done by Alain Silver, author of several books on noir, and coeditor of the "you gotta have it" reference book on noir: Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style I was particularly impressed with the professional production values of the commentary. Silver will mention a key piece of dialog, and precisely on cue he'll stop talking and the sound level of the dialog will come up so you can hear what he was talking about. Several times I found myself wondering how they timed things so neatly.

Silver does a great job of pointing out the thousand details that make the movie work as a movie, the turns of plot that are typical of film noir, the use of darkness and shadow, the framing of scenes and placement of the actors, etc., etc.

Other reviewers have put in their vote for the quality of Thieves' Highway as a compelling and well made movie. I'd like to add my plug for the commentary track. In addition to being darn good entertainment, this is a movie that rewards careful examination and thoughtful reflection. Silver's comments are terrific guide to that reward.

Vultures prey upon the dead, as they are a vital part of the ecosystem that helps with environmental sanitization. Humans, however, are a different story, as they prey upon the living, the dead, and sometimes kill to accomplish their desired result. The reasons to why a person would go to great lengths to achieve desired results varies from person to person, but it often has to do with money. Jules Dassin's story Theives' Highway is an illustration of humans and their greed, which appears to be the motivation factor to break the compassionate fabric of moral value, ethics, and kindness in the true spirit of film noir.

Unlike film noir Thieves' Highway opens with Nick Garcos' (Richard Conte) homecoming during a sunny afternoon accompanied by hearing his father singing in the kitchen. Nick has brought presents to all of his family members and a bundle of money, which he has earned in order to settle down. The money should help Nick get married to Polly (Barbara Lawrence) and go into business with her father. However, this joyous moment is suddenly halted, as Nick finds out that his father has lost his legs.

Nick's father informs him of how he lost his legs, as he had done business with a certain Mr. Figlia (Lee J. Cobb). The story that Nick hears makes him cringe in anger, as he understands that Mr. Figlia had set up his dad through a dubious plan. When Nick heard the whole story he decides to return to his father's truck, as the man, Ed Prentiss (Millard Mitchell), who bought it had not yet paid for the truck. However, Nick goes into business with Ed and together they pick up some Golden Delicious apples that he intends to take to Mr. Figlia.

The life of a trucker means long hours, deadly and financial dangers, and very little sleep, as life on the road cuts between the driver and their family while they try to find a way to make a buck for their near and dear. Nick decides that this is what he wants to do, as Ed and he pick up two trucks full of apples in Fresno. The apples are to be taken to the wholesale produce market in San Francisco, which is described as a 36-hour drive.

In San Francisco the audience gets to follow Nick on his quest to find Mr. Figlia, an idea that never seemed to be fully thought through. Eventually he finds him and discovers that he is the man that he suspected him to be, a ruthless businessman that shows no consideration for anyone. The only thing that he seems to care about is the money he makes, which he is not willing to part with.

They Drive by Night (1940) offers a similar cinematic experience as Dassin's film, as it also depicts the struggles of truck drivers. However, Raoul Walsh's story is more glamorous, as the tale slowly drifts away from the tough life of being a truck driver. Dassin's story focuses on the job and on the characters within the environment in which they exists. They cannot escape to a better place, as it is their destiny to be where they are while they have to make the most out of it

A valuable side note is that the year after Thieves' Highway was released Jules Dassin was identified as communist by Edward Dmytryk, which made him blacklisted. As a result Hollywood lost one of their most promising directors and Dassin decided moved to France where he continued to make films. He made great films such as Rififi (1955) and Never on Sunday (1960). In the awareness of Dassin being blacklisted the audience gets to experience the films he made prior being blacklisted, which have terrific cinematic value. Thieves' Highway is one of these films that he left for coming generations to enjoy and ponder.

Included on the special features for THIEVES' HIGHWAY is a short - 5 minutes or so - excerpt from a proposed documentary on writer A. I. Bezzerides, novelist and screenwriter. Bezzerides wrote the novel (Thieves' Market) and the script for this one, as well as the earlier novel Long Haul, which was filmed as the George Raft/Humphrey Bogart vehicle `They Drive by Night.' Both, I guess, can be called proletariat crime thrillers. THIEVES' HIGHWAY stars Richard Conte - the underrated Richard Conte - as Nick Garcos, a young man who returns home from the sea to discover that his father was crippled while hauling produce and selling it to the unscrupulous Mike Figlia (Lee J. Cobb.) Nick believes Figlia was directly responsible for his father's injuries, and so THIEVES' HIGHWAY is, to a great extent, an odyssey of revenge.

The documentary clip tells us Bezzerides worked as a trucker for a while, and I believe it. This one feels like it was written from the inside. Nick, along with veteran trucker Ed Prentiss (Millard Mitchell) buys a load, a first-of-the-season load, of golden delicious apples and points his truck towards San Francisco and an appointment with Figlia. Trailing them is a couple of mercenary truckers played by Jack Oakie and Joseph Pevney. In San Francisco Nick will meet the good bad-girl Rica (Valentina Cortesa,) who will play a pivotal role in the fight between Nick and Figlia.

This is Jules Dassin's last American film, and it's a beauty. There are some great shots - Rica being chased through a dark alley, a loaded truck rolling over and spilling its load over a wide-angle hillside - and more than a few outstanding performances. What sets this one apart, and above, most of its competitors is the realistic treatment it applies to the characters. Save for Figlia, who is pure evil, the people in this one grow and change and shift allegiances. Film historian Alain Silver provides a pertinent and informative commentary.