Lists
- ranked 89 in BBC 100 Greatest American Films
- ranked 315 in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1000 Greatest Films (December 2006)
- ranked 330 in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1000 Greatest Films (March 2006)
- ranked 365 in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1000 Greatest Films (August 2005)
- one of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
- one of Guardian 1,000 films to see before you die
- one of Slant Magazine 100 Essential Films
- one of They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 250 Quintessential Noir Films (1940-1964)
- one of TIME Magazine All-Time 100 Movies
Dixon "Dix" Steele (Humphrey Bogart), a soldier turned screenwriter, is suspected of the murder of Mildred Atkinson (Martha Stewart -- no, not that Martha Stewart), a suspicion that seems borne out by his propensity for sudden acts of violence. He and his neighbour-cum-alibi Laurel Gray (Gloria Grahame) fall in love, but can they survive his violence -- and her suspicion?
It's a brilliant deconstruction of the sardonic, hard-drinkin', hard-fightin' bad-boy figure so beloved of films noirs. Steele is driven by bitter loneliness -- a product, perhaps, of his obvious ego and sexism -- and out of control in his inability to express it. His relationship with Grey is both wonderful and harrowing to watch: it's like water to a man dying of thirst, but it's obvious to us that, no matter how frantically he clutches at it, it's not something he can hold on to.
The cinematography is gorgeous, and Nicholas Ray gets wonderful performances from his leads; the only weak point in the cast is the nigh-superfluous Robert Warwick, included only at Bogart's request, though his presence does serve to strengthen Steele's character. A few other issues keep the film from greatness, such as the confused shift in focus from Steele to Grey halfway through and the horribly clunky "born when she kissed me" line.
Ray deserves tremendous credit for his change to the film's ending, making it less neat and much less trite. Definitely worth seeing.