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43 reviews in total |
*
*
Actually quite good
Author: Patsy-9 from Calgary, AB15 June 1999
An early, nearly-forgotten picture from the director of "Rebel Without a Cause", this story of fugitive love (though not in the same was as "Bonnie and Clyde" or "Gun Crazy") is in its own right a rather accomplished picture.
Farley Granger is best remembered for his Hitchcock roles, and he gives a good, multifaceted performance. It's clear from the get-go that despite the company he keeps and despite his time in prison, he's really a scared, uncertain kid. Cathy O'Donnell is all but forgotten, but here gives a nearly Oscar-calibre performance, extremely convincing and appealing as his naive bride.
The film is also notable for early use of helicopter shots of cars, and for its refusal to vilify either the criminals or the cops (one of the policemen admits that "the system failed him", an astonishing statement for 1949).All in all, a film which deserves to be resurrected from its obscurity.
*
Nicholas Ray is mostly known for his work, "Rebel WIthout a Cause", but his first work, a dazzling, moving (if sentimental) film noir, is far better. Unjustly out-of-print, "They Live By Night" may have its minor flaws, but the stark, beautiful camerawork, stolid dialogue and (perhaps above all) exquisite performances make up for it. It has none of the often phony emotions and annoying characters that are found in "Rebel Without a Cause."
Bowie, the innocent, sympathetic outlaw hero of "They Live By Night" is a wonderfully drawn. By no means is he the cliched nice-guy-in-a-bad-situation; though essentially good-hearted, he can be frighteningly callous at times. Farley Granger, working with excellent direction, he gives us glimpses of a violent yet passionate nature, struggling against the condemnation of society. Cathy O'Donnell is also entrancingly tender, yet we can vaguely see that her character is trapped in a hopeless relationship with Bowie. She is also sadly obscure, which plainly has nothing to do with her talent.
The one significant fault of this film is over-restraint. At times, Ray's understated direction can be extremely effective, such as when he is dealing with violence. But at other times the characters' (and especially Keechie's) emotions are so tightly controlled that some of the impact on the audience is lost. Still, despite a few faults, "They Live By Night" is a wonderful film, and if ever you can find it, sell your hair but GET IT!!!
*
This was the first pairing of Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell and it was successful enough so that the two worked together two years later in "Side Street. I heard that this movie was sort of a early "Bonnie and Clyde," and it was, but only to a degree.
Granger and O'Donnell didn't really dominate the screen until after 40 minutes but after that, it was mostly them. Frankly, I enjoyed the first 40 minutes best when Howard da Silva and J.C. Flippen shared the screen time. They were great film noir characters in this movie (and they did come back in the second half, livening up the film again.) I liked their names in here: da Silva was "Chicamaw." and Flippen was "T-Dub." In most of the second half of this movie, it went from a noir to a romance. but that's not surprising knowing the director was Nicholas Ray.
This is the best I've ever seen O'Donnell, who never impressed me much but she's impressive here with a fine performance and a nice '40s look to her. She had a strange character name, too: "Keechie." Granger ("Arthur Bowers") does a nice job, too. For an uneducated thug, he sure comes across as a really nice guy. It's kinda of weird. He reminded me of John Dall in "Gun Crazy" (1950). Some of the camera-work also reminded me of "Gun Crazy."
However, one major detail should be noted: unlike "Gun Crazy" and "Bonnie & Clyde," the two lovers in this movie did NOT rob banks together. O'Donnell's character never gets involved in any crime, so comparing this film to those doesn't really fit. Most of "Keechie's" time is spent living in a remote cabin lodge, and suggesting periodically to her husband that he go straight - a far cry from the women Peggy Cummins and Faye Dunaway played.
Like a lot of good film noirs, this also has some very good supporting actors who play weird people, and say weird things. Some of the dialogue in this movie is fascinating because it's so odd. One example is the guy who marries the couple for $20. Another is Keechie's father.
This is a odd little "B" noir/melodrama and definitely one that film noir fans should check out. Romantics will like it, too. I'm glad it is now available on disc, as part of the Film Noir Classics Collection Volume 4.
*
Nicholas Ray's first film is a fascinating, enveloping example of a filmmaker getting as much as he can out of so little. His film was made under the radar at RKO, despite having John Houseman as a producer. While also having a cast of really unknowns, he also uses it to his advantage to tell a small story very well. It's close to being one of the more 'text-book' examples, in the story's core, in the history of B-noir (film-noir that didn't get the hype of The Big Sleep or Out of the Past, star vehicles as much as unique thrillers). Bowie (Farley Granger, soon to be a Hitchcock stock-player) escapes from jail with the help of a couple of bank robbers who make him, as they say, "an investment." He meets a girl, Keechie (Cathy O'Donnell), daughter of a farmer they pass by, and he becomes friends with her, so to speak. She agrees to leave town with him and they also decide, almost on a whim, to get married (for twenty bucks no less). But soon, very soon, fall in love, however, despite the checkered and now notorious past catching up to Bowie.
Obviously, if you're looking for stellar, "method" acting, look elsewhere in the main performances. But they do have enough of a pull in their chemistry on screen- sometimes rough and spelling of their doomed relationship, other times tragically tender- to back up the best aspects to the film. The true pleasures in seeing They Live By Night are the details that Ray lays in the scenes, bits of life probably taken from the book the movie's based on. Godard once proclaimed that Ray "IS cinema". If this statement does hold validity to a degree, it shows for certain even in Ray's debut in the scenes with the secondary platers. Such as the wedding scene, or in general with the dialog in the script (i.e. "Between him and the chicken, I'd bet on the chicken", or "I'm the black sheep" "the only thing black about you are your eyelashes), or even with the strengths in Ray's camera as a simple storyteller. In a sense this cuts right to the chase with the theme of doomed youth, years before Rebel Without a Cause yet with the given desperation of the noir films.
While generally less seen than Ray's other films (though more attributable to being less available on video), it's likely one of his best; a powerful mix of the bittersweet tale of a criminal and his love that would decades later meld with other crime-film elements into a work like True Romance.
*
Author: ronb828 from United States19 February 2005This is a very good film noir movie with excellent performances from the leads Farley Granger (of Hitchcock's "Rope" and "Strangers on a Train" and another great film noir movie "The Edge of Doom") and Cathy O'Donnell, whom I have not seen in any other role. Howard Da Silva also gives an excellent performance as a "one-eyed lush" of a gangster. I saw this movie as a teenager when it first came out and had not seen it since until recently, but I still think it holds up well as a movie well worth watching. Farley Granger, who tired of being cast as a "pretty boy" in trouble with the law and sought his fortunes elsewhere, in Europe, was a big loss to American movies.
*
Author: RanchoTuVu from Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico2 December 2004
Farley Granger plays Bowie, a young con who escapes from the pen with two hardened criminals, Chicamaw and T-Dub played respectively by Howard Da Silva and Jay C Flippen in They Live By Night, an aptly titled film if there ever was one. Da Silva and Flippen are both terrific here, as is Cathy O'Donnel as Keechie, Bowie's equally young girlfriend. The movie revolves around the relationship between them and their efforts to get away from the life of crime that is always a few steps behind them and also to try living like normal people, during the day, instead of at night, like their criminal associates. This was Nicholas Ray's first film as a director and it certainly was a worthy effort, as it has fine performances throughout, especially O'Donnels. As the film comes to a close, you can pretty well figure out the ending, but that doesn't detract from its potency, as they are let down by one of their own, blackmailed it seems by the cops.
*
This film really moved me in the way the lead characters Keechie and Bowie were portrayed. One of the best scenes is early when Farley Granger (Bowie) is asking Keechie if she has a fella, and if she would like one. It is very well done. Granger does a great job of playing the sweet but troubled young man caught in a jam. A sense of dread overtakes the picture as it moves towards its inevitable tragic conclusion. Overall, get your hands on this one if you can. The studio needs to release a DVD of it, anyone know anything about that?
*
Author: bmacv from Western New York23 January 2001
Nicholas Ray's first feature, in 1949, was an adaptation of the novel Thieves Like Us (which Robert Altman so memorably filmed in the mid-1970s). It's a bit of a surprise to encounter the same characters -- Bowie, Keechie, T-Dub et al. -- in postwar black-and-white. Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell play the star-crossed lovers later rended by Keith Carradine and Shelly Duvall, and they bring a vulnerable, doomed edge to this very interesting, tragic movie. (Granger may never have been better during his brief bout of stardom). The supporting cast isn't quite up to the level of Altman's (without Louise Fletcher and her odd little girl), but on the whole this remains an honorable and moving piece of film art -- and a vital instalment, along with the same year's Gun Crazy (also a tale of doomed, romantic outlaws), in the noir cycle.
*
"They Live By Night" joins "Gun Crazy" (1949) and "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967) to form a little trilogy of remarkable films in the "lovers-on-the-lam" sub-genre. Nicholas Ray's film has much in common with "Gun Crazy," both in look and theme, but it's a much warmer and more emotionally effective piece of film-making. Peggy Cummins gave a fascinating performance in "Gun Crazy" as a flinty, unbelievably callous femme fatale; Cathy O'Donnell in "They Live By Night" will break your heart.
Indeed, the acting is probably this film's greatest asset, and it enables what in all respects is a B movie to feel like an A one. Farley Granger and O'Donnell bring wonderful nuances to their roles, and they have a naturalistic style of acting that feels ahead of its time when compared to other films from the same period. Howard da Silva is also tremendous in the supporting role of Chickamaw, managing to create a grotesque character who nevertheless feels at home in the very human world created by Ray. And Helen Craig shines in a small but vital role as Mattie, who may be the most heartless character in the film.
At a time when America most likely just wanted to hurry up and get everything back to normal, how shocking that a film like this would emerge. The domestic contentment that Granger and O'Donnell establish for themselves is a sham; they know it and we know it. They're living on borrowed time, and the things that the average American strived for in a booming post-war climate--loving spouse, children, safe and secure home--exist in this film as taunting reminders of blessings this couple can never have.And the ending---that could have been so sentimental and is instead in Ray's hands so spare and sad---just may well take your breath away.Grade: A+
*
This is undoubtedly one of the finest directorial debuts in American cinema, with its ground-breaking use of helicopter shots to depict the escaping convicts instantly alerting one to a film-maker to watch – even if, as it turned out, some of his next assignments were not as rewarding.
Most of the cast members have arguably career-best roles here: O'Donnell – who died of cancer at age 46 and got married to William Wyler's producer brother Robert some months before this film's release – is a beguiling presence as the vulnerable, slightly tomboyish garage attendant who has never had a boyfriend and doesn't know how to kiss but, after a false start, she instinctively hitches up with doomed runaway convict Granger. The latter, then, had a great run of pictures during the early stages of his career – including leading roles for Alfred Hitchcock, Anthony Mann and Luchino Visconti – but his career petered out after the mid-50s; still, his brooding, sensitive portrayal of a rebellious youngster here would soon prove very influential, particularly on the likes of James Dean (who, of course, would essay his most iconic role in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE [1955] for Nicholas Ray himself).
However, the supporting players are equally impressive: Howard Da Silva as the boozing, trigger-happy and one-eyed leader of the gang; Jay C. Flippen as the more level-headed of the two hardened bandits who make up the rest of Bowie's gang, a characterization far removed from the happy-go-lucky sidekick he often played in John Wayne movies; Helen Craig as Flippen's two-timing sister-in-law who is more concerned with springing her own hubby out of jail, even if it means betraying Bowie to the authorities; Will Wright as O'Donnell's alcoholic weakling of a father; and, especially, reptilian Ian Wolfe as a 24-hour service Justice of the Peace – who has all the right "connections" for the perfect wedding ceremony and honeymoon, so long as the customers are able to pay for the comforts provided.
While there is perhaps an excess of romanticism and verbosity in the script itself (the expected action is largely downplayed and the unsuccessful second robbery is not even shown), the tender portrayal of the two lovers on the run is what gives this film its heart and sets it apart from other noirs of the era – compare, for example, Joseph H. Lewis' slightly superior GUN CRAZY (1950) for a different (i.e. more nihilistic) approach to similar material. In this context, therefore, I found the use of hard-boiled dialogue in THEY LIVE BY NIGHT a bit surprising. Incidentally, the film was remade by none other than Robert Altman in 1974 as THIEVES LIKE US, the name of Edward Anderson's original novel; the latter is a pretty good effort in its own right, but hardly one of the director's major works – and, in retrospect, a lesser achievement than Ray's version.
