Thieves' Highway (1949) User Reviews

A movie like this keeps the doctor away

[imogensara_smith · 9/10 · 5 June 2006]

Thieves' Highway opens with a view of sunny Fresno, California, a hay cart passing in the foreground—not the setting you'd expect for a film noir. But as this movie shows, the business of transporting and selling fruit and vegetables is as cut-throat and corrosive as any criminal enterprise. Directed by the soon-to-be-blacklisted Jules Dassin and starring left-wing Group Theater veterans Lee J. Cobb and Richard Conte, Thieves' Highway is really an expose of the rotten heart of capitalism; everyone in the movie is obsessed with making a buck. The central symbol is apples: nourishing and wholesome, corrupted when they are equated with money. A Polish farmer, enraged at being paid less than he was promised for his apples, flings boxes of them off a truck, screaming, "Seventy-five cents! Seventy-five cents!" When the truck later runs off the road, careens down a hillside and explodes, there is a haunting, silent image of the scattered apples rolling down the slope. When the hero finds out that money-grubbers have gone out to collect the dead trucker's load and sell it, he begins kicking over crates of apples, fuming, "Four bits a box!"

The hero is Nick Garcos, a navy veteran who returns home to find that his Greek immigrant father has lost both legs in a trucking accident caused by a crooked produce dealer named Mike Figlia. Bent on revenge, Nick teams up with a trucker named Ed to haul the season's first Golden Delicious apples to San Francisco, where he'll be able to track down Figlia. There's an evocative montage sequence of the grueling overnight drive, at the end of which Nick arrives at the produce market, already bustling before daybreak. Figlia spots him and immediately plans to cheat him as he did his father. He hires a local prostitute, Rica, to distract Nick while he steals his load. Meanwhile Ed, having trouble with his truck, is still hours away. Figlia's plans go awry when Rica falls for Nick, and Nick turns out to be tougher and quicker on the uptake than his father. Prone to issuing threats such as, "Gyp me and I'll cut your heart out," he squeezes fair payment out of Figlia and excitedly calls his girl-next-door fiancée to meet him so they can get married, despite his obvious attraction to Rica. Nice girl Polly turns out to be even more interested in money than the prostitute. Figlia's methods turn increasingly violent, leading to a showdown with Nick in a roadhouse.

Most of Thieves' Highway was filmed on location in Frisco's produce market and nearby waterfront, gritty and vibrant settings bustling with trucks and pushcarts and shouting men, dripping produce, ashcan fires, crowded diners and seedy bars. The film's acting has the same visceral naturalism, from Lee J. Cobb's crass, blustery, hypocritical thug to Millard Mitchell's tough-as-nails trucker. Richard Conte brings a stunning physicality to his role as a hot-headed yet intelligent man who is easily the world's most elegant truck driver. He uses his intense gaze and graceful movements to charismatic effect and reacts to his surroundings with vivid sensuality. The high point and heart of the movie are the sexy scenes between Nick and Rica. Often confined in her small bedroom, they circle each other warily, alternating between barbed hostility and explosive passion. During their first kiss, they look a few seconds away from getting into serious trouble with the Hays Office. When Nick initially resists her advances, Rica taunts him, "What's the matter, don't you like girls?" "Sure I like girls," he replies, "I always wished I had a kid sister, wearing pigtails down to here…You were somebody's kid sister once." Escaping from the cliché of the whore with a heart of gold, Valentina Cortese is a mercurial blend of playfulness, hurt and defiance. She displays open lust for Conte—digging her nails into his bare chest, rubbing her dark curls in his face—that is rare for the forties. Contrary to the pattern in many noirs, in Thieves' Highway lust does not corrupt, as greed does. It belongs with the life-affirming, humane side of the movie: with Nick's warm and loving immigrant parents, with Ed's unexpected decency when he saves Nick's life after a roadside accident, with the beautiful vision of the Polish farmer's orchard and its bounty of fresh golden apples.

Dassin on a roll!

[jpseacadets · 8/10 · 28 January 2005]

Beginning with his compelling "Brute Force" ('47)followed by the richly atmospheric "Naked City" ('48), Jules Dassin became the hottest dealer in Hollywood of the Film-Noir genre. "Thieves Highway" adds ethnic tensions to the Dassin stew of lost souls always living at the edge of danger. Richard Conte was at his peak here as the tough trucker, quick to throw a punch when he's threatened and equally capable of rolling with them if necessary. In Robert Siodmak's "Cry of the City," he's held in a headlock by a butch Hope Emerson; in this one, a jack gives way and a truck fender lands on his neck....ouch!

Conte, like Burt Lancaster, came from a streetwise background that, second only to a boxing ring, fitted him neatly as a glove when it came to movies like "Thieves Highway." Conte was so good in this, he was selected to repeat the role on TV six years later under the title "Overnight Haul" on the old 20th Century-Fox Hour.

As for Dassin, he had yet a fourth fling at the genre the following year with the claustrophobic thriller, "Night and the City." A film worth commenting on later. As for "Thieves Highway," having seen it, you may want to follow it up with Clouzot"s "Wages of Fear," made three years later and the ultimate truckers' movie. As a boy I was privileged to have seen all four Dassin movies during their original releases. How thrilling to see "Thieves Highway" and "Night and the City" now out on DVD!

Why isn't this film more famous?!

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 30 May 2010]

I came awfully close to giving this film a 10 but I only reserve this for a very select number of films--and, at least in my semi-humble opinion, too many 10s are given out. A 10 implies a truly great film--the best among the very best. While "Thieve's Highway" is a great film, it didn't quite make it to this level...but it came darn close! Why, then, isn't it better known? It is terrific. Perhaps some of this might be that there are an awful lot of dumb people who just won't watch older black & white films. And, perhaps some of this is because the director, Jules Dassin, was blacklisted in the 1950s and lost favor among American audiences (though his reputation soared once he went o Europe to make films). Whatever the reasons, this film should be seen by more people--particularly young film makers, as they can learn a lot about how to make an exceptional and realistic film with a relatively low budget.

"Thieve's Highway" is, in many ways, like a Film Noir movie without cops or detectives. It's also a lot like the later film "The Wages of Fear"--another exceptional film. The camera angles and style are pure noir and the presence of an evil gangster-like "businessman" (Lee J. Cobb) really reminded me of this films style. I have always liked Cobb in films and he made a great heavy. Here, he is totally despicable as a produce wholesaler who isn't above stealing, beating up truckers or other underhanded behaviors to make a buck. His counterpart is Richard Conte--a highly underrated actor who had a knack for playing John Garfield-like guys--but with a touch more realism. To make things better, there are some wonderful supporting actors who make the film--such as Jack Oakie, Millard Mitchell (another underrated actor whose face you probably will recognize) and Valentina Cortese (rather unknown but very effective here). Also buried within the cast is Joseph Pevney--a guy whose real success came in directing such notable TV shows as "Star Trek" (such as "The Trouble With Tribbles") and a zillion other shows.

The film begins with Nick (Conte) returning home to visit him immigrant parents. However, he's shocked to find that his father has lost his legs--and it's due to the scum-bag Mike Figlia (Cobb) whose thugs caused an accident that crippled him. To boot, Figlia then refused to pay him for the shipment--claiming he'd already paid him. Because of this, Nick is determined both to keep the family's trucking business going AND give Figlia his comeuppance. There is much, much more to the story than this, but I'll leave the rest of it for you to see for yourself.

Suffice to say, the writing, acting and direction were first-rate and it's among the best of the late 1940s--and a definite must-see. Exciting, realistic and intelligently made from start to finish. See this movie!!

Beautiful, Haunting, Heartfelt Noir

[secragt · 10/10 · 15 April 2003]

I've seen hundreds of noirs and this small character study is one of the very best. If Dassin's simple but heartfelt story of betrayal and redemption doesn't tug at you hard, you must be made of stone. The acting triumvirate of Conte, Cortez and Cobb has never been better. I get angry just thinking about Cobb's brilliantly callous performance as the deceptive chiseler who destroys lives to make an extra buck. Cortez is subtle sexuality incarnate but she displays real range and sensitivity as the one who first destroys Conte's life then ultimately redeems it. The always reliable Conte is absolutely at his best as the desperately driven truck driver who sets out to right a terrible wrong but soon learns that you can't beat the system. The last shot of the fruit rolling down the hill has to be one of the most evocative and heartbreaking in all of noir.

Tiny budgeted movies sometimes suffer in translating reality, but much of HIGHWAY appears to have been shot on location, particularly in the produce warehouses, shoddy back alleys and winding country roads, which adds a ton of authenticity. The story takes about 15 minutes to get going, but from there it delivers amazing power and emotion. For decades it was one of those buried low budget classics almost impossible to find, but thankfully a couple years ago it finally got the DVD release it deserved. Trust me on this one, noir fans... Thieves' Highway is a haunting trip down a rocky road you want to take.

So Much for the American Dream

[evanston_dad · 8/10 · 28 December 2006]

Richard Conte plays a hot head recently returned from the Navy, who jumps in on a business deal out of personal vengeance when he finds out that a crooked produce dealer (played in a characteristically tiresome performance by Lee J. Cobb) not only cheated his father, but also caused him to lose use of his legs in an auto accident. He teams up with Millard Mitchell (giving a wonderfully gruff performance) to deliver a load of apples to Cobb in San Francisco. But Conte finds out that the dirty dealings surrounding the produce market in the big city are plentiful, and he and Cobb begin a cat and mouse game to see who can swindle who. And just to complicate matters, an enigmatic gamine (played by Valentina Cortese) shows up and takes a hankering to Conte. Is she playing him straight, or is she part of the whole corrupt mess?

Director Jules Dassin uses the rather mundane premise -- delivering a load of apples to a fruit market -- to frame a haunting and striking chronicle of one man's nightmare journey from the cosy confines of small-town America to the jangling, sinister and shadowy worlds of its urban jungles. **POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD** Though Dassin gives us a happy ending, it's a qualified one. After all, Conte turns his back on his devoted girl and his family to join the denizens of the city, and chooses the allure of the "worldy" vamp over that of the pristine virgin. In an America shaken up by WWII and desperately wanting to believe in the white picket American dream, this bitter pill of a film suggests that that dream isn't for everyone.

With Jack Oakie and Joseph Pevney as a pair of rival apple sellers, who bring some nice shading to their supporting plot line.

Grade: A

Keep On Truckin'

[ccthemovieman-1 · 7/10 · 26 August 2006]

This was a pretty good film noir - nothing spectacular - involving a crooked trucking boss, "Mike Figlia" effectively played by Lee J. Cobb who was good at playing nasty villains. In this story, a young trucker, "Nick Garcos" (Richard Conte) whose father was ruined by Cobb, goes after him to settle the score. Nick drives up north to San Francisco to seek him out but has some rough going himself, until the end.

This had interesting characters and a different type of female lead in European actress Valentina Cortese, who was good film noir material.

The story moves pretty fast with few, if any, lulls, yet seems longer than it's 93 minutes. I found this was one of those films I liked a lot better the first time than the second, lowering my rating. It's definitely still a film to check out if you're a film noir fan.

Another Great Film-Noir by Jules Dassin

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 24 May 2013]

The soldier Nick Garcos (Richard Conte) returns back home from the war very happy with gifts for his parents Yanko (Morris Carnovsky) and Parthena Garcos (Tamara Shayne) and money in his pocket to open a business and get married with his girlfriend Polly Faber (Barbara Lawrence). Out of blue, Nick realizes that his father lost both legs and Yanko, who was a truck driver, tells that he was cheated by the dealer Mike Figlia (Lee J. Cobb) in the San Francisco's market when he delivered a truckload of tomatoes and was not paid. He believes that his accident was provoked by Figlia's gangsters. He also tells that he sold the truck to a driver named Ed Kinney (Millard Mitchell) that has not paid him.

Nick meets Ed and tells that he will bring the truck back, but Ed proposes a deal with apples, where they may earn a great amount. Nick invests his savings in another truck and buys apples from a Polish farmer. They need to drive directly to the market in San Francisco without sleeping to keep the fruits fresh, but Ed's truck has problem on its axle and Nick arrives first. Mike Figlia hires the Italian whore Rica (Valentina Cortesa) to distract Nick but she falls for him and tells that Mike is robbing his cargo. Mike is forced to share his selling with Nick and her earns a large amount. Then he calls Polly and asks her to meet him to get married, and Rica tells to Nick that Polly is only interested in his money. When Nick is robbed by Mike's gangsters, he learns who really loves him. But Nick still has to settle the score with Mike.

"Thieves' Highway" is another great film-noir by Jules Dassin in a period of the post-war ruled by gangsters and corruption. Nick Garcos begins the story happy and expecting to get married with his girlfriend and ends a dark character in love with a prostitute with a heart of gold. The direction and performances are top-notch and the story is realistic. The sequence with the uncontrolled truck without brake in the highway is impressive. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Mercado de Ladrões" ("Thieves' Market")

Tale of tough guy trucker moves along at a brisk pace but triumph over antagonist doesn't ring true

[Turfseer · 6/10 · 19 June 2022]

Thieves' Highway, an unconventional film noir directed by Jules Dassin, delves into the world of trucking and introduces Richard Conte as Nick Garcos, a war veteran truck driver seeking justice and revenge.

The film kicks off with a compelling inciting incident as Nick returns home from the war to discover that his father lost his legs under mysterious circumstances that he cannot recall. This sets the stage for a revenge-driven narrative, with all signs pointing to unscrupulous produce dealer Mike Figlia, portrayed by Lee J. Cobb, as the prime suspect.

In a departure from the typical Hollywood protagonist, Nick lacks direct evidence against Figlia. Instead, he takes a practical approach by teaming up with Ed Kinney (Millard Mitchell), who purchased his father's truck. Their plan involves selling cartons of apples at a substantial profit in San Francisco's produce market.

Director Jules Dassin succeeds in crafting multi-dimensional characters, such as Kinney, who initially displays questionable behavior but later proves his worth by saving Nick from a potentially fatal accident. Nick himself is not a flawless hero, as he exhibits impetuousness and finds himself in life-threatening situations while fixing a flat tire.

Figlia's malicious nature becomes apparent when he sabotages Nick's truck by letting the air out of the tires and orchestrates a scheme involving a prostitute named Rica (Valentina Cortese) to distract Nick while his apples are stolen and sold at inflated prices. Rica, though fitting the stereotype of a prostitute with a heart of gold, is portrayed by a foreign actress, a reflection of Dassin's working-class bias. Conversely, Nick's American girlfriend, Polly (Barbara Lawrence), rejects him after he loses all his money due to Figlia's thugs.

The narrative maintains a brisk pace, and a particularly exhilarating sequence unfolds as Kinney meets a fiery demise in a truck crash caused by faulty brakes. The two opportunistic vultures trailing Kinney have a falling out, revealing that not all wheeler-dealers lack a conscience, as one of them strikes a deal with Figlia to sell the scattered apples at the crash scene.

However, Thieves' Highway falters with an unconvincing climax. Despite Figlia's portrayal as a dangerous gangster, he surprisingly capitulates when confronted by Nick. One would expect his armed thugs to eliminate Nick on the spot. Furthermore, the arrival of the police prevents Nick from exacting his revenge, with an officer chastising him for taking matters into his own hands.

While the film falls short in its resolution, offering an ineffective depiction of the antagonist, it maintains a decent pace, boasts characters with some depth, and defies Hollywood conventions with the portrayal of a romance involving a prostitute. Consequently, Thieves' Highway earns a tepid 6 out of 10 rating.

Romantic Naturalism--Real Life the Hard Way

[secondtake · 9/10 · 20 June 2009]

Thieves Highway (1949)

"Soft Hands." "Sharp Nails." Exactly What He Needs

This starts with such naturalistic joy, and ends with such dark and violent honesty, with a final and really satisfying turn, it's hard to find fault in the details. Nick Garcos, played by Richard Conte, is out for justice, and no one can argue he shouldn't be. The bright, fast opening, more light than shadow, turns in phases to darker and darker moods, as Nick gets to the core of the many crimes associated with the villain, Mike Figlia, played with perfection by Lee J. Cobb . Garcos also gets to the core of his being as the film goes, and he finds what he wants in a woman, a refreshing twist.

Director Jules Dassin had a full career with a concentrated burst of Post-War creative success in Hollywood, including The Naked City and Night and the City. This one, between these two, has a different feel, set out in rural sunny California and then in the night markets of San Francisco. Note the way seasoned cinematographer Norbert Brodine handles some of these darker scenes, such as the busy, sparkling nocturnal produce market, filled with more light than shadow. The night drive and its dramatic scene under the truck with passing lights is terrific, rather believable in its claustrophobia.

The movie survives most of all on this naturalism, that is, on its portrayal of many small details in a intuitively convincing way, to the point of giving insight into a sliver of the world (fruit growers and truckers). Turning it into a crime story isn't just for dramatic effect. It helps flesh out some of the less obvious but important elements of that reality. And it's a polished, fast narrative, linking one scene to the next, interweaving the cross-cutting to a parallel scene, and keeping our attention.

The few breaks from this convincing tone glare a little. A quaint scene with Nick on the phone in a restaurant talking to his fiancée (and the whole crowd in on it, posed perfectly) is too cute, and the two thugs following Nick's partner are a shade hammy in the first half. But these are minor mars on the almost documentary edge elsewhere. The gutsy Rica who Nick meets in the market at night is key for her character as much as her actions, because she isn't a glamorous stereotype. Instead, her character, as played by Valentina Cortese, has complexity, and she comes off as smart and as alone in San Francisco as Nick, so they seem suited, for the moment and beyond, and their entanglement is mature. Their scenes are blocked out and filmed with the darkest and noirest mood of the film, and the best. The clash of the worldly dame and Nick's precious (and dull) fiancée from Fresno is a bit of genius, even if their actual encounter in the film is slightly stiff.

Hearing the Dassin was blacklisted just as he's making some of Hollywood's best films of this type makes you angry all over again. We've been robbed, but of exactly what we'll never know. What we have in these three films is a timeless compensation.

In Top Gear for Story and Look

[krocheav · 7/10 · 25 March 2014]

Turkish born (to Greek and Armenian parents) writer A.L. Bezzerides often wrote about experiences, he actually once drove trucks for a company his father started. Here, his story takes on the struggles of those 'little' trucking men to survive against BIG odds. The big odds being self seeking corruption amongst the soul-less fruit market wheeler dealers.

This film is a wild ride in any mans language! and ace Director Jules Dassin, just months before being foolishly hunted out of Hollywood by the House of Un-American Activities, holds the pace with near relentless energy...endless set backs mount throughout. Dassin was a rare kind of American Director, perhaps because of his Russian parentage he possessed a uniquely European style. In fact, he must be the only American to direct a French crime classic ('Rififi' 55) and reel it in on par with, if not better than, the French themselves! Check out other dynamic mood pieces by Dassin: 'Night and the City' 51 ~ 'Naked City' 48 ~ 'Phaedra' 62 (with Theodorakis's magnificent score) In '57 he also had the rare award winner 'He who must Die', etc....

He could hardly have had a better Director of Photography for 'Highway', than veteran Norbert Bodine. Bodine brings his years of experience to grace this film with moody, spectacular visuals, in the style of 'Kiss of Death '47 ~ 'Of Mice and Men' 39 and the now rare 'Little Man What Now' 34.

Performances are uniformly good, Conte the everyman, Cobb the evil thief, Cortese's first American film, (years later she would appear as the Mother in 1973's 'Brother Sun Sister Moon") there's also good support from several solid old reliables. This was not the first time writer Brezzerides had hit the highways, in 1940 he wrote that other road classic 'They Drive by Night'. He shows diversity with 'Beneath the 12 mile Reef' in '53. Fox's talented man of music, Alfred Newman added his familiar style with an exiting music score.

Then along came Darrel F. Zanuck's interfering hand, apparently re-writing, and re-shooting the ending...adding a silly tacked-on, overly 'sunny' closing. Why interfere when something is working as well as this...? The DVD I bought is the Fox Studio Classics release, it's OK, but the copy I have, has some disappointing digital pixels in the image. I've heard the Criterion disc is superior (the Criterion cover is better also). Who knows, they may even come up with the original ending...? Excellent story and overall film, pity about the ending.

Another Gem from Jules Dassin

[NewInMunich · 8/10 · 3 September 2005]

I have stumbled over the works of Jules Dassin only lately, first the atmospheric and gripping "Night and the City" and now "Thieves Highway", something you would certainly label a sociological drama today. Rchard Conte as a guy out on the mission to avenge the death of his brother and the crippling of his father from indirectly the hands of a corrupt fruit market guy. Wonderful acting by all main people, Richard Conte, Lee J Cobb, Millard Mitchell, and the Italian actress who never made it to a status that i can recall her name without checking the credits again... Dire portrait of the fight for existence of the trucker guys, the ways the retailer controls both ends of the supply chain and the mean and dark ways in a big market. Vegetables and fruits may just be a metaphor for something else, you see.... If you can get it on cable or DVD, don't let it pass by.

Good movie, just saw it.

[hallie-15 · 7/10 · 6 May 2005]

I had the good fortune of being able to see this movie on the big screen last night thanks to a local movie theater that sometimes plays movies that are either hard to come by or are not played in a theater any longer.

This movie was filmed in Sonoma County, north of San Francisco, where I also happen to live. After the movie, there was a small lecture given by a local history professor, and even though his talk was interesting, he didn't really delve into any of the other symbolism which I found to be present in the movie: immigrants being pitted against each other, and exploited not only by each other but by the Capitalist system as well. It's too bad that more older movies aren't shown on a big screen, because I believe that you probably won't receive the full impact of older films on a television.

Proletarian Noir.

[rmax304823 · 5/10 · 27 July 2006]

I understand Jules Dassin was more or less driven to work in Europe by the HUAC investigations. If he was a Commie you'd never be able to tell from this film, which fits right smack into the frame established by the Warner Brothers' working-class films of the 1930s -- "Manpower," "Tiger Shark," "They Drive By Night," and a dozen others. "They Drive By Night," was written actually by the same writer as "Thieves' Highway," Besserides, a Greek-American from California's central valley, a truck driver by training.

Dassin has directed this piece about relatively small-time skulduggery and double crosses efficiently, and he has a good cast. Richard Conte is more animated than usual. Lee J. Cobb is a kind of Johnny Friendly who runs a big but crooked fruit stand. Barbara Lawrence is beautiful, as a model should be, and is as tall as a giraffe. Valentina Cortese has a thoroughly novel role -- a whore with a heart of gold. Her acting isn't exactly subtle. Maybe she had trouble with the language. But she's magnetic, perhaps because she's given some of the best lines in the film and is a more complex character than most of the others. Maybe too it has something to do with her appearance. She's not a beautiful woman. Her face is long, and her nose almost equally long. It's not a Roman nose either. It's Milanese. She has tiny shoulders and very little neck so that she seems hunched over most of the time. But her eyes are exquisite if they are considered individually, as they must be because each is unique and each looks in a different direction. Yes, I think that's her secret. The eyes have it.

The story is out of a B movie. The good guys are good and the bad guys are bad. There are some characters in between -- Millard Mitchell, Cortese, Conte, and two mostly comedic hot-shots -- who may not be entirely dishonorable but are capable of being bent by the drive for money and revenge.

The B-movie budget shows, alas, and there's a tacked-on ending in which a cop shakes his finger in our faces and warns us that just because we've been wronged, that doesn't mean we can go around taking the law into our own hands. The scene was written and directed by Darryl F. Zanuck without Dassin's knowledge. Watching this engaging but no-more-than adequate film, one wonders what could have been done with an A-movie budget. A little more time (shooting took about one month), more money, more thoughtful casting, more polish on the script. It might have been better than good enough.

Everyone likes apples - Except doctors.

[hitchcockthelegend · 8/10 · 10 May 2013]

Thieves' Highway is directed by Jules Dassin and adapted to screenplay by A. I. Bezzerides from his own novel Thieves' Market. It stars Richard Conte, Valentine Cortese, Lee J. Cobb, Barbara Lawrence, Jack Oakie and Millard Mitchell. Music is by Alfred Newman and cinematography by Norbert Brodine.

A war-veteran returns to the family home to find his father has been left wheelchair bound by a amoral produce dealer in San Francisco. Swearing revenge he sets himself up as a truck driver and heads off to Frisco with a truck load of Golden Delicious apples...

Revenge, hope and desperation drives Dassin's intelligently constructed noir forward. It's a film very much interested in its characterisations as it doles out a deconstruction of the American dream. The familiar noir theme of a returning war-veteran kicks things off, with Nico Garcos (Conte) finding a crippled father and a money hungry bride to be waiting for him; welcome home sailor! From there Dassin and Bezzerides push a revenge theme to the forefront whilst deftly inserting from the sides the devils of greed and corruption of the California produce business.

The trucks journey is brilliantly captured by the makers, both exciting and exuding the menace of the hard slog for truckers. Once Nico and his partner, Ed Kinney (Mitchell), get to Frisco and encounter bully business boy Mike Figlia (Cobb), underhand tactics come seeping out and the appearance of prostitute Rica (Cortese) into Nico's life adds a morally grey area that pings with sharp dialogue exchanges. Real location photography adds to the authentic feel of the story, and cast performances are quite simply excellent across the board.

The code appeasing ending hurts the film a touch, inserted against Dassin's wishes, and there's a feeling that it should have been more damning with the economic tropes; while the fact that Nico's father is more concerned about being robbed of money than losing the use of his legs - is a bit strange to say the least. However, from a graveyard of tumbling apples to the fact that more than money is stolen here, Thieves' Highway is sharp, smart and engrossing stuff. 7.5/10

A Dog Eat Dog Business

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 29 July 2013]

Jules Dassin's last American production would be this adaption of A.I. Bezzerides novel about the slimy dealings in the wholesale produce market. After Thieves Highway, Dassin would do Night And The City in London and then be subject to the blacklist. As it is Thieves Highway is a remarkable film with a couple of interesting subplots.

Returning home from the war Richard Conte finds his father Morris Carnovsky crippled, the result of a trucking accident and robbed of the money for recently delivered produce to Lee J. Cobb the man in charge of San Francisco's wholesale market. Conte decides to take some vengeance out and get the money his father was robbed of.

In order to do this Conte goes into partnership with Millard Mitchell an old time trucker who now has Carnovsky's truck which has seen better days. When Conte arrives with a delivery of needed apples for the market, Cobb pays him off all right, but gives him the same kind of treatment he gave dad. A little something extra with femme fatal Valentina Cortese.

The main plot involves Conte and Cobb, but woven into the story is that of Conte's engagement to Barbara Lawrence which takes a jolt when she meets Cortese. Also Jack Oakie and Joseph Pevney play a pair of scavenger drivers who follow Mitchell in his beat up truck waiting for something to befall him.

Trucking wholesale fruit and vegetables is shown to be a dog eat dog business and top dog is Lee J. Cobb. His part here is almost a dress rehearsal for the waterfront racketeer he played in On The Waterfront. In a cast of good performances Cobb is also top dog.

Thieves Highway is a wonderful film that dates not one bit because things you see here still go on.

Bravo

[McGonigle · 4 December 2006]

This is one of the most emotionally affecting film noirs I've seen. Bravo to Jules Dassin for another great movie.

It starts out as fairly standard Hollywood fare, but by the end, Dassin and screenwriter Bezzerides have thrown in a lot more explicit (and unpredictable) violence, and explicit sexuality, than is found in most movies of this era.

The penultimate scene is particularly shocking and "modern". At one point, Dassin actually transforms tough guy Lee J. Cobb into a feminine character visually, with a kerchief (or napkin) around his neck and his hands in a classic gesture of female helplessness as he is (finally) emasculated by Richard Conte. At the same time, Conte's level of out-of-control violence is notable, even for a noir, because his character has been so sympathetic up until then. While "moral ambiguity" is one of the textbook characteristics of film noir, this is one of the few examples I've seen where we truly don't know what to make of the character; rather than the standard anti-heroes (e.g. Double Indemnity) and hapless lovers (e.g. Out of the Past, Criss Cross) of noir, Conte portrays a man who has been genuinely wronged, and who deserves our sympathy, until he snaps at the end and appears ready and able to commit murder.

Of course, the final climax was watered down for mainstream consumption, but nevertheless, this is one of the most powerful and emotionally honest film noirs I've seen, and should be on the short list of movies to see for any fan.

noir thriller

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 19 June 2022]

Navy mechanic Nick Garcos (Richard Conte) returns from the war and is shocked by his crippled father. Greedy produce dealer Mike Figlia (Lee J. Cobb) got him drunk and left him to crash his truck. His father doesn't remember what happened. Figlia claims that he paid but the money is nowhere to be found. He vows to find the truth and get revenge. Figlia hires Rica to distract him in another dirty scheme.

I don't know about Nick's planning. It all seems a bit haphazard. A lot could have happened to his apples. On the plus side, this elevates the tension. Anything could happen to this guy. At one point, he may as well be waving around his $4k in a room full of thieves. He can't expect anything less than a beatdown and getting rolled for the dough. In this way, I don't actually root for Nick or against him. On the other hand, Figlia is a pure villain. Lee Cobb is perfect for the role. It's a noir thriller based on a novel. I can definitely do without the studio mandate happy ending. The material needs a dark ending. It's tough to end the movie with that sour note.

a late bloom in market maturity through a long fuse of revenge

[Zeleny-2 · 9/10 · 27 February 2005]

A lovely, richly nuanced tale of an edgy middle-age boy belatedly growing into manhood, Thieves' Highway features an understated star turn by Richard Conte as WWII combat vet Nick Garcos, against scene-chewing villainy by Lee J. Cobb as the corrupt produce wholesaler Mike Figlia. Among its numerous excellences, enjoy lapidary character development by Morris Carnovsky and Tamara Shayne as Nick's parents Yanko and Parthena; gruff and subtle supporting turns by Millard Mitchell as Ed Prentiss, his ill-fated partner in a spontaneous trucking venture, and Jack Oakie and Joseph Pevney as Slob and Pete, their ruthless, yet ultimately scrupulous competitors; and deceit and counterfeit by Valentina Cortese and Barbara Lawrence as Rica and Polly Faber, the whore and the madonna vying for Nick's favors at different times, in different ways, and for wildly different reasons. Jules Dassin's filmed version of Albert Isaac "Buzz" Bezzerides' socially responsive novel resonates with the allegory of a tough yet guileless prole losing his innocence and earning his place in the ruthless capitalist continuum between commerce and crime. The Criterion Collection DVD, short on extras, delivers on quality.

Anyone for an apple tart?

[AAdaSC · 6/10 · 29 July 2018]

Richard Conte (Nick) returns home after serving with the military and he brings gifts from all over the world for his mother, father and girlfriend. They don't go down well, though. His father Morris Carnovsky (Yanko) has lost both his legs in a trucking accident and has no need for a pair of Chinese slippers. Conte sets out for revenge for those responsible for his father's condition. It involves teaming up with trucker Millard Mitchell (Ed) and selling apples to market trader and bully boy Lee J Cobb (Mike).

I was a bit wary of this film when it started. A film about trucks. Not my thing. However, this is more than just a film about trucks. But it is unbelievable in parts and the main examples of this come with Conte's encounters with gangster Lee J. I'm afraid Conte would have been disposed of pretty sharpish and there is no way he would have got away with such an antagonistic manner towards the king of the thugs. Even in the final climax, Lee J is seen as a cowering wreck when face-to-face with Conte. It doesn't make sense.

My favourite in the cast are street girl Valentina Cortesa (Rica) and fellow trucker Jack Oakie (Slob). They both deliver funny lines and give the most notable performances. They win the acting honours for me. I usually find Oakie an irritant and groan if I see him on any cast list. However, he has won me around with this performance. His character has a conscience - sort of!

Absolutely sensational thriller

[christopher-underwood · 10/10 · 6 January 2012]

Absolutely sensational thriller from Jules Dassin and starring Richard Conte on top form. One would not have imagined that a film revolving around the apple trade would be even the slightest bit interesting but this is a stunner. The tension is so extreme at times that the film is barely watchable and the humour at others so broad we think of Laurel and Hardy. The script from A J Bezzerides based upon his original book is articulate, intelligent, funny and political and with such blistering dialogue and faultless direction and camera work, including trademark montages, this movie never pauses for breath. We even get sizzling non explicit sex scenes courtesy of the lead and an equally stunning performance from Valentina Cortesa. Just wait for the late scene when the aforementioned lady declares in full sarcastic mode, 'Aren't women wonderful'. I gasped and you will too - see it now!

Good - not great - movie

[adrianovasconcelos · 7/10 · 31 December 2019]

I think Henri-Georges Clouzot must have watched THIEVES' HIGHWAY en route to making LE SALAIRE DE LA PEUR. The scenes involving the trucks, especially when one falls on top of Conte, are remarkable and bring to mind the predicaments facing the four drivers in SALAIRE.

Acting is not particularly good. Supporting actor Lee J Cobb easily steals the show. Conte looks much weaker, and is not helped by a character reminiscent of Hamlet, always showing anger in the face of injustice but dithering far too much when it comes to acting. Also, he is not the brightest spark -- why would anyone carrying $4,000 (a very large sum even by today's standards) at night, by a railroad, waiting to be pounced on, when you have just forced it out of a man who has crippled your father, and must perforce want revenge?

Photography is fine, truck stunts are particularly good, and Dassin's direction is sound. Sadly for Dassin, it was this very film, and its portrait of the American Dream going sour, that first caught the attention of Senator McCarthy and of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, forcing him to flee to Europe.

It is worth watching, but not a great noir, certainly no match for the likes of RIFIFI, THE THIRD MAN, OUT OF THE PAST, NIGHTMARE ALLEY or LAURA.

American noir at its toughest

[tomgillespie2002 · 8/10 · 21 November 2016]

Thieves' Highway was the penultimate American film director Jules Dassin made before finding himself banished from Hollywood and placed on the infamous Blacklist. Informed in 1948 of his fate but handed enough time to squeeze out Night and the City (1950) for Fox, Dassin was just one of many cinema giants cut down in their prime (although he would go on to make the masterpiece Rififi in France in 1955), and the bruising film noirs he made during this period were some of the finest the genre has ever seen. Thieves' Highway's world of the produce market may not seen the ideal setting for American's own brand of stylish brooding, but this is one of the toughest and darkest noirs out there.

Nico 'Nick' Garcos (Richard Conte) returns home from the war to find his father crippled after a road accident which resulted in the loss of his legs. After demanding the truth, Nick learns that the crash occurred after his father made a deal with unscrupulous market dealer Mike Figlia (Lee J. Cobb) and was run off the road. Seeking vengeance, Nick first of all demands back the truck his father sold to Ed Kinney (Millard Mitchell), but instead ends up going into business with him on a load of in-demand Golden Delicious apples. Following a 36-hour truck drive, Nick arrives in San Francisco and almost immediately find himself at odds with Figlia. Exhausted, Nick is cared for by good-heated prostitute Rica (Valentina Cortese) while Figlia shrewdly plunders his stock.

Cortese's performance is the beating heart of the movie. A well- rounded, decent person at odds with the shifty-eyed criminals that pepper the marketplace, she is magnificent in the role, a shining light in the midst of an entourage of shady characters. This includes Conte's lead, who while eager to do the right thing at first, soon sees terrible, naive decisions force him into desperate measures. The produce market, with its battered, growling trucks and beaten-down drivers, provides a perfect noir setting. You can hear the cogs of capitalism and industry grind as the underpaid blue- collared types risk life and limb for the chance of a payday. It's littered with the same sense of pessimism and cynicism that made Dassin's Brute Force (1947) such a powerful movie, and will leave you feel somewhat beaten down by the time it's over. American noir at its toughest.

Money business successfully turned into monkey business. That's Jules Dassin's Trademark!

[SAMTHEBESTEST · 7/10 · 3 January 2023]

Thieves' Highway (1949) : Brief Review -

Money business successfully turned into monkey business. That's Jules Dassin's Trademark! You know, having seen the director's best works already makes you go loose on his other flicks. You start out underestimating things, and rightfully so, but some of them turn out to be pleasant surprises. Thieves' Highway was that experience for me. Having seen Dassin's top-rated films like "Brute Force" (1947), "The Naked City" (1948), "Night and the City" (1949) and the bestest from his filmography, "Rififi" (1955), I kind of figured out Thieves' Highway won't be anything up to their level. I was wrong, and am I happy to say that. I certainly am. That joy of an unexpected good film is like unexpected rain in the desert. Thieves' Highway may be too personal as a film, but it connects well with the universal laws of humanity. Unlike other dark-toned film noirs of that time, Jules Dassin has his own subgenre. His protagonist always looks like one of us, even if he is doing wrong things. Thieves' Highway has a similar lead character, who is hardly anything that you call a bad guy or a wrong guy, and so his revenge looks relatable. A war veteran turned truck driver attempts to avenge the crippling and robbery of his father at the hands of an amoral produce scofflaw. He himself gets trapped in his tunnel. Will he be able to fulfil his revenge with the help of his platonic-cum-permanent lover and a couple of temporary business partners is all you get to see here. Richard Conte has done a lot of film noirs in the 40s and 50s, so the genre and theme started suiting him. How could he go wrong in a tailor-made role? Say, from where did they find this Italian cheek, Valentina Cortese? What a stunning dame she was. Lee J. Cobb is just superb, man, and I didn't expect anything less from him. This one directly goes in my top 5 films of Jules Dassin. Do I need to say more?

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Thieves' Highway

[henry8-3 · 5/10 · 11 May 2022]

Richard Conte comes back from WWII to discover his father legs have been destroyed by bad guy fruit trader Lee J Cobb whilst trying to get his money for tomatoes he's 'sold' to Cobb. Conte seeks revenge and acquires with his new partner Millard Mitchell, apples to get close to Cobb.

Film noir with a rather strange plot and set of characters Conte's character is keen for revenge but get most things wrong whilst his partner, Mitchell spends most of the film fixing his lorry whilst being chastised by a couple of clowns also out to make a profit. It does though come rather nicely together with 2 excellent scenes - one a road accident that is shocking and visibly impressive and the inevitably face off in a cafe. A bit different but nicely done for the most part.