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Thieves' Highway (1949)

Director: Jules Dassin

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From Time Out Film Guide

Jules Dassin's trendy reputation (and an awful lot of money) was made with Rififi, Never on Sunday and Topkapi - triumphant European success for a blacklisted Hollywood talent. But cultists groaned, for the 'real' Dassin was surely to be found in the baroque and electrifying Brute Force, the grotesquely Dickensian Night and the City, and - a personal favourite - Thieves' Highway. AI Bezzerides' script (from his own novel Thieves' Market) and the performances of Conte, Cobb, and Cortese (in her American debut) help restrain Dassin's feverish artistic ambitions in this tale of racketeering in the California fruit markets. The result slots sleazy eroticism and rigorous action seamlessly together into a high-grade trucking melo. Nothing more, but nothing less, which in the '40s was the most triumphant kind of American success.

Author: CW 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

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Thieves' Highway

Cast & crew

Director: Jules Dassin

Producer: Robert Bassler

Cast: Richard Conte, Valentina Cortese, Lee J Cobb, Barbara Lawrence, Jack Oakie, Millard Mitchell, Joseph Pevney, Morris Carnovsky full cast

Genre(s): Film Noir

Duration: 94 mins


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