Skip over navigation

Help

The Asphalt Jungle on DVD (1950)

The Asphalt Jungle cover art
Play The Asphalt Jungle trailer
Average rating: 74%
111210142049
3.5
from 428 members
 
Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Sam Jaffe, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore, John McIntire, Marc Lawrence, Barry Kelley
Director: John Huston
Studio: WARNER HOME VIDEO
Run time: 112 mins
Certificate: PG
User collections: Films You Should Watch..., Heist movies
Genres: Drama
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Released: 01/02/2006

Brief synopsis of The Asphalt Jungle

Directed by John Huston, THE ASPHALT JUNGLE is considered by many to be the defining film of the crime oeuvre. After many years in prison, Doc (Sam Jaffe), a seemingly over-the-hill and retired (i.e. rehabilitated) criminal decides upon his release to make one last go of it. His attempts at reuniting the old gang come up against the intentions of his partner who intends to start a Kentucky horse farm with his share of the take. Doc's lecherous tendencies for young curvaceous women get him nowhere but delight the viewer with standout performances by Jean Hagen and a lusty Marilyn Monroe. The tremendous character development is aided by Huston and Ben Maddow's script, and Huston's direction. Based on a novel by W.R. Burnett. Remade in 1958 as BADLANDERS, in 1963 as CAIRO and 1972 as COOL BREEZE.

Related

Critics Reviews

Rating of 5 stars out of 5 Radio Times

Shot with an almost documentary realism, this exceptional film noir from director John Huston continues to influence heist movies today. It has everything you could ask of a thriller. There's a scintillating plot (co-scripted by Ben Maddow and Huston from WR Burnett's novel), in which the perfect plan unravels with compelling inevitability; a seminal performance from Oscar-nominated Sam Jaffe as a criminal mastermind; totally convincing ensemble playing from his bungling gang (including Sterling Hayden and Anthony Caruso); and superb support from Jean Hagen and Marilyn Monroe as molls. Add Miklos Rozsa's atmospheric score and Harold Rosson's gritty photography and you have a masterpiece.

Rating of 3 stars out of 4 Halliwell's Film Guide

Probably the very first film to show a 'caper' from the criminals' viewpoint (a genre which has since been done to death several times over), this is a clever character study rather than a thriller, extremely well executed and indeed generally irreproacha

Time Out

A classic heist movie, and one of Huston's finest, this adaptation of WR Burnett's novel in which a gang of thieves... Read more on www.timeout.com

See all 5 Critics Reviews »

Members Reviews

Reviews Voted Most Helpful

Rated - 4 starsHow it should be done

A customer from gloucester , 03/12/2006

Must have made a real impact when it first came out and could still serve as a model for todays gangster movies.

It's good to see something with a plausable plot that is not a vehicle for improbable care chases and 'goodies' escaping machine gun fire as so often happens in contemporary film. Honest to goodness docu style depicting human aspirations brought down by human failings.

  2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
Report offending content.

Read all reviews

Rated - 4 starstop notch thriller

itstinks , 31/07/2007

A good mix of crime thrills and talk where the crime planner analyses what has happened and probably why in a lot more plausible manner than you get in films nowadays. The guys are tough, Marilyn Monroe is gorgeous but weak and the cops are impossibly effecient. But a good film for any crime film fan.

  2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
Report offending content.

Read all reviews

Rated - 4 stars

A customer from Wallasey, Wirral , 22/03/2006

This film is a must see and shows the best of this type of film from the 1950s. Its hoodlums v the authorities and it fairly zips along. Good cast. and the bonus of Marilyn Monroe in one her earlier films,”Ypes” Very good plot and excellent acting and “Cracking” pace ( excuse the pun). And again“Ypes “what more could any one want from a DVD.

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
Report offending content.

Read all reviews

Rated - 3 starsbit disappointing

SAM from hemel hempstead , 19/05/2006

For a John Huston film, this was a bit of a let down, perhaps it was considered very good in it's day, but I thought the plot and the characters were slightly shallow. as for this being 'one of Marilyn Monroe's films' she's hardly in it and its a nothing role for her.

Report offending content.

Read all reviews

Most Recent Reviews

Rated - 4 starstop notch thriller

itstinks , 31/07/2007

A good mix of crime thrills and talk where the crime planner analyses what has happened and probably why in a lot more plausible manner than you get in films nowadays. The guys are tough, Marilyn Monroe is gorgeous but weak and the cops are impossibly effecient. But a good film for any crime film fan.

  2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
Report offending content.

Read all highest rated reviews

Rated - 4 starsFilm Noir

MarkCh from Cambridge , 24/03/2007

Sums up the run down post war atmosphere of town centre life. Interesting hints of the beginnings of relationships between people otherwise made cynical by crime.

... - from a time when america knew how to make films.

Report offending content.

Read all highest rated reviews