I know I sound like a broken record, but Jules Dassin was the man. This is his final American film (before he was blacklisted and driven out of the country). It is the story of the fruit farming / trucking and produce business of the early part of the 20th century in California.
The movie follows Nick Garcos, a former military man who returns home to find his father crippled after a trucking "accident". Come to find out the produce seller refused to pay him, got him drunk and sent him down the road. Nick sets out to find this man and make things square.
Along the way he gets in with a crooked trucker named Ed that sort of shows him the ropes. Once Nick gets to the market he runs into serious trouble with the grocer that screwed his father over. This man was played wonderfully by Lee Cob. He finds a part-time friend in a street walker named Rica who helps him bring down the gorcer.
I don't recall ever having seen so many foreign actors in a movie before 1950 in my life. It is not hard to see what Dassin was painted as a Commie. Thieves' Highway reads like a condemnation of all things Capitalistic. It was written by A.I. Bezzerides who was quite a character himself.
Dassin adds a visual flare to many scenes, but is smart enough to know when the script will carry the load. The acting here is good, but a little stagy. You can tell most of these actors come from a theater background. This script is filled with that 50's grit and dialogue. This movie was most definitally made under the watchful eye of the Hayes Code. There is a moment with a police officer at the end of the movie that made me laugh out loud. Apparently D. Zanuck got his grubby little paws all over this movie and changed a bunch of stuff near the end and it shows. While watching it you can clearly see the "studio added" scenes.
The film it's self reminded me of There Will Be Blood and another movie I reviewed this year called Wages of Fear. They would be good companion pieces. Or should I say comrade pieces. I give Thieves' Highway a ★★★★.
Jules Dassin is the king...
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