Gefahr in Frisco

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.

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.

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

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.

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.