MovieChat Forums > The Killing (1956) Discussion > This film's grandaddy is The Asphalt Jun...

This film's grandaddy is The Asphalt Jungle

posted 9 years ago by jrl0726
3 replies | jump to latest

If you like this one you really should see the gold standard of all caper films. TAJ was made in 1950 by the creator of film noir, the incomparable John Huston. It was the first film which told the story of a crime entirely from the viewpoint of the criminals. Huston's use of perhaps the greatest cast of character actors ever assembled, minus the presence of a big name lead is one of the things that made this masterpiece so special. TAJ is Huston's progression of noir to it's full maturation.

[–] Eddie_Fingers 9 years ago

If you like this one you really should see the gold standard of all caper films.

Well, it only came out six years before, but, yeah, let's call it The Killing's granddaddy...

TAJ was made in 1950 by the creator of film noir, the incomparable John Huston.

Fritz Lang says hi....

It was the first film which told the story of a crime entirely from the viewpoint of the criminals

Fritz Lang says hi...

Huston's use of perhaps the greatest cast of character actors ever assembled

Sterling Hayden portrays the only memorable character from that film. Still a fantastic film, mind you, but Hayden is what made the cast work.

"This life's hard, man, but it's harder if you're stupid!"

[–] edlitz36 9 years ago

Wrong. Fritz Lang is not the creator of film noir. Film noir was coined by French critics to describe the look and themes of highly stylized Hollywood crime dramas that were dark, downbeat, cynical or "black" (hence film-noir) during the 1940s and 50s. Yes, the visual style of noir is rooted in German Expressionism-- Fritz Lang's visual style (particularly M) was indeed a major influence for the techniques that defined the genre, but M is NOT considered a film noir. The Maltese Falcon (by John Huston) is widely regarded as the first prominent example of the genre. Strictly speaking, film noir is not a genre, but rather the mood, style, point-of-view, or tone of a film.

It's in the same vein in that Halloween is the first slasher film, yet its cinematic techniques were inspired by Psycho, yet Psycho is not regarded as a slasher film.

Religion should be made fun of. If I believed that stuff, I'd keep it to myself. -Larry David

[–] Degree7 9 years ago

Well I guess you could call M a "proto-noir."

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