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Ben's Top Pick for 31 Days of Oscar®
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THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (1950) - March 3
The bad guys in The Asphalt Jungle are not your father’s
Ocean’s 11 (unless you’re Anjelica Huston, in which case
they are your father’s). There’s no Clooney stylized
sexiness here. These guys are thugs. But goodness, do
these brutes ever deliver.
Sterling Hayden is the star here, but Sam Jaffe plays the
criminal mastermind in an Oscar®-nominated turn. Just
out of prison, Jaffe’s plan is to steal a million in jewels. He
just needs a gang and front money.
The gang includes Hayden as the heavy and James
Whitmore as the getaway driver. They have a code: honor
among thieves. The problem is the money — Jaffe climbs the
societal ladder to Louis Calhern, who exhibits a silver spoon
amorality that makes you yearn for his comeuppance.
The heist itself is a long, gripping scene — no music, but
you’ll sweat out every second with Hayden, watching for
cops from the window. Then there’s the dialogue — classic
noir language — all capers, hooligans, boxmen and finks.
But what’s best is the attitude — a celebration of the
working class, even if that class is criminal. Jaffe, Hayden,
Whitmore and the others are in it for the money, sure, but
they’d never betray the gang. These are scumbags — and
I mean that in a good way — doing right by each other.
Whitmore does a solid for Hayden; Hayden looks out for
Jaffe, and so on.
The only people in it for themselves are the moneymen,
Calhern and his sleazy middleman, Marc Lawrence, who
should have won an Oscar® just for sweating.
Only a director as talented as Huston could remove the
glossy sheen from those bad guys and still have us
rooting for them to the bitter end.
by Ben Mankiewicz
 
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31 Days of Oscar Highlights for Feb. 17
A baseball player (Robert De Niro) develops a terminal illness in Bang the Drum Slowly (1973), co-starring Vincent Gardenia in an Oscar®-nominated Supporting Actor performance. The lineup also includes Moonstruck (1987), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), and other Academy honorees.
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