Side Street

 Farley Granger and Kathy O’ Donnell, who clicked in the film noir classic, They Live by Night, again appear as two young lovers in this 1949 film directed by Anthony Mann. As usual, after one mistake their lives go from bad to worse. The film ends with one of the first car chases in film history. 83m. CC.

The film also features Jean Hagan as a down and out night club singer. Hagan was a fine actress best known for her role as Lina Lamont, the nasty silent screen star in Singing in the Rain. James Craig, usually an appealing leading man, plays a brutal killer. 

It can also be said that New York City plays a featured role. From the opening helicopter shot above the Empire State Building to the closing car chase shot in a deserted Wall Street on a Sunday morning, cinematographer Joseph Ruttenberg's camera gives us an extraordinary view of the City and its life at mid-century. ###

Cathy O'Donnell and Farley Granger

The Asphalt Jungle

The Asphalt Jungle. John Huston directed this 1950 classic heist drama that has often been copied but never equaled.  Huston humanized all the characters in this great cast. They are all flawed human beings who in one way or another elicit our sympathy. It is hard for an audience not to hope they will succeed in pulling off the heist.

 Sterling Hayden, Sam Jaffe, and Louis Calhern star as the principals in a plot to steal a fortune in jewels. The film also features Jean Hagan and Marilyn Monroe in the role that launched her into stardom. The musical score is by Miklos Rozsa. 112 minutes. CC.

 Sterling Hayden portrays one of the classic good bad guys in film history. He is a "hooligan", a menacing street tough barely eking out a living pulling off petty armed robberies, but he has a sense of honor. How can we not pull for him as mortally wounded he tries to make it back to the family horse farm?

 Sam Jaffe gives an Oscar nominated performance as a criminal mastermind with an obsession for pretty young women. Louis Calhern is somehow sympathetic playing a crooked attorney who two times his bed ridden wife for an incredibly sexy young woman played stunningly by Marilyn Monroe. 

Jean Hagan plays a down and out B-girl who remains faithful to her man right to the end. Two years later she would become immortal playing Lina Lamont, a blonde silent screen star in Singing in the Rain.

Here is a link to the movie trailer that highlights each of these characters. ###

Jean Hagan and Sterling Hayden