THE ASPHALT JUNGLE

Year: 1950
UK: BFI (UK Wide)
Cast: Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore, Sam Jaffe, John McIntire, Marc Lawrence, Barry Kelley, Anthony Caruso, Teresa Celli, Marilyn Monroe, William 'Wee Willie' Davis, Dorothy Tree, Brad Dexter, Maxwell
Director: John Huston
Country: USA
UK: 112 mins
UK Certificate: PG contains mild violence
UK Release Date: 3 November 2006
UK Distributor

Synopsis

Director John Huston, who made his directorial debut with THE MALTESE FALCON, was a storyteller best known for tough-minded tales of danger, adventure, courage, love and death. While at Warner Brothers he won two Oscars before going independent, and in the 1950s he made critically acclaimed hits including THE ASPHALT JUNGLE and THE AFRICAN QUEEN.

Filmed in black and white, THE ASPHALT JUNGLE stars Sam Jaffe as Doc Erwin Riedenschneider, who on his release from prison recruits a team of specialists for a heist he is organising backed by Louis Calhern (Alonzo D 'Lon' Emmerich). The team comprising muscle man Dix Handley (Sterling Hayden), Louis Ciavelli (Anthony Caruso) as the safecracker and getaway driver Gus Minissi (James Whitmore)

Everything goes according to plan with the heist but then their buyer Calhern attempts to double-cross the gang. Suddenly their well thought out plans begin to fall apart allowing bad luck to get a foothold and as the pressure mounts increasing events go increasingly awry.