The majority of this Raoul Walsh crime thriller is standard issue, but it does boast a knockout finale set in the gorges of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Bogart plays a brooding thug "rushin' toward death," who's hitched himself to one last scheme -- knocking off a ritzy hotel -- that will allow him to rest easy for a while. But this is a film noir, and the life of relative normalcy that Bogie's character chases remains just outside of his grasp, and fate has other plans for him. One circumstance after another intervenes to prevent his having a happy ending, and he meets his tragic fate in a climactic shoot out while his girlfriend (Ida Lupino) looks on.
A good part of the film's narrative concerns a rural family who Bogart befriends, and in particular the young woman (an annoying Joan Leslie) who Bogie sees as a path to domestic happiness. I understand the significance of this plot line, but it slows the film down considerably, and makes it feel longer than it even is. On the other hand, there's an inventive and memorable subplot about a dog who may be a harbinger of doom.
The mountains themselves are used to tremendous effect, representing both figuratively and literally the insurmountable environmental factors that will always hold Bogie down.
Grade: A-
Bogart plays a brooding thug "rushin' toward death," who's hitched himself to one last scheme -- knocking off a ritzy hotel -- that will allow him to rest easy for a while. But this is a film noir, and the life of relative normalcy that Bogie's character chases remains just outside of his grasp, and fate has other plans for him. One circumstance after another intervenes to prevent his having a happy ending, and he meets his tragic fate in a climactic shoot out while his girlfriend (Ida Lupino) looks on.
A good part of the film's narrative concerns a rural family who Bogart befriends, and in particular the young woman (an annoying Joan Leslie) who Bogie sees as a path to domestic happiness. I understand the significance of this plot line, but it slows the film down considerably, and makes it feel longer than it even is. On the other hand, there's an inventive and memorable subplot about a dog who may be a harbinger of doom.
The mountains themselves are used to tremendous effect, representing both figuratively and literally the insurmountable environmental factors that will always hold Bogie down.
Grade: A-