Bezzerides' _Thieves Market_ is one of the best hard-boiled
novels about working class men in the years after WWII.
_Thieves Highway_, directed by Jules Dassin, was written by
Bezzerides, and is a renown noir film. The story line is
similar, but the ending of the film is significantly
modified. *Spoilers* The racketeering produce distributor,
Mike Figlia
(Lee J Cobb) is taken into custody by the cops, who tell Nick
(Richard Conte) that he should leave justice to the
authorities (the good guys). After all, this is America and
the goods guys always get the bad guy. Now Nick can marry the
girl. Interestingly, that girl is not the pretty blonde
princess, who turns out to be innocent and small-town
mercenary. It is the Italian immigrant prostitute Rica who is
his natural mate
(quite a change from the novel). They drive off in Nick's
army-surplus truck to be married as his pal truckers wish
them well. It's a fine film with wonderfully lit scenes from
the SF produce terminal, where the working day begins after
midnight, where smoky fires in trash cans keep the workers
warm, and where a belligerent cacophony of sweating men's
catcalls split the floodlit darkness. You can feel the
tensions and edginess of guys hoping to get a square enough
deal to feed their families, and not above making their own
profits by undercutting their buddies.
The writer groused about the changes the studio wanted. IMHO,
they un-noired the story! In the novel, Figlia's power is
undisturbed, and Nick (who financed his truck with funds
stolen from his mother) seems to be about to take what he can
get for the apples spilled over the field where his partner
crashed and burned. The struggle broke his dead father's will
(in the film his dad lost his legs but not his will, and Nick
gets back at Figlia in his dad's name). In the novel, events
have broken the pride and honor of Nick and a hard-bitten
trucker who, because he too has to eat, convinces Nick to go
and collect the apples. The windup: Nick grimly navigates his
truck down the thieves' highway, as he probably will do for
years to come.
The film's drive-by-night scenes are wonderful. But damn it,
how can it be noir, with justice being done, crime not
paying, and Nick marrying the sexy sultry as his buddies
cheer? It's about as noir as Bogart and Bacall's _Big Sleep_
or _Dark Passage_. Shouldn't there be another term for such
films to distinguish them from ones such as
_Chinatown_,
_The Asphalt Jungle_, _The Killing_, _Detour_, or _Odds
Against Tomorrow_?
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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