Solid noir that works in every aspect but struggles to excel at any one of them. Ray shows some nice visual moments but the driving shots are a joke, the leads are sympathetic but too bland to care deeply about, the supporting cast doesn't have enough screen time and the story plays out just like you'd expect it too. On the whole it's a perfectly good film but I didn't see anything special in it.

A gentle, poetic film about doomed teenagers on the run, "They Live by Night" is romantic in the best sense of the world, seeing love as a force that--although it cannot alter circumstances or prevent tragedy--can still redeem and transfigure the souls of lovers. Cathy O'Donnell's sweetness and sincerity help us sympathize with innocent-eyed Farley Granger, and Howard DeSilva is outstanding as the petty, envious and cruel one-eyed "Chickamaw."

Great stuff

#605

Kind of underwhelming and I want to chalk this up to distractions during my viewing experience but maybe I'm right. Oh well. Farley Granger was a cool leading man, if not a great one. Nicholas Ray was awesome, though.

Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell have no presence. Where this movie tries to work as romance, it's rather boring and flat. The darker elements are filmed well enough, and if they were the sole focus - maybe with a couple better leads - this would be a more than competent noir.

I think I like Farley Granger more than most people.

577

It's a good little movie - working as a film noir on one level, and as a romance on another. None of the movie's elements are remarkable on an individual level, but they all seem to combine to form something just a slight bit greater than the sum of its parts. Granger is admittedly a bit dull, but he's always done decently as the straight man to the scene-chewing of antagonists - in this case, Howard Da Silva, in a performance that you wish got more screen time. Still, an enjoyable watch.

# 490

Deliberately over-the-top crime story. Next!

The DVD case says "one of the most unforgettable noirs ever made" and I have to agree. I tend to forget a lot of details about movies, but two years after my first viewing, much of this film stuck with me. The film has a thick aura of bleakness about it, and even the happier moments between Granger and O'Donnell are overcast with dread. Their doomed relationship is tremendously affecting and makes for not only one of the most unforgettable noirs, but one of the most romantic and lyrical.

Good cast, and sharply directed (with lots of cool helicopter shots). O'Donnell is excellent, and Granger is quite good as well (playing his trademark sensitive guy troubled by conscience). Problem is that the script tends not to know whether it wants to be a thriller or a romance. It starts out great (in classic noir style)...and ends that way too...but it comes off as rather diffuse in the middle (since the caper guys all disappear and we're left with only the two romantic leads).

Ray's first film is possibly the most romantic crime film ever made.

Incredible atmosphere.

597

Ray's first film, a _Bonnie and Clyde_ precursor (not to mention its literal remake, _Thieves Like Us_), with a lyrical emphasis on Young Love, First Love, True Love. Granger and O'Donnell are awfully soft and dewy as the star-crossed couple, but fortunately there's also da Silva with his marled eye and boiling surface of pathology.

i think ray's talent is what makes this movie a joy to watch, for the most part. granger is a little bitch but the girl was super sweet. and the one-eyed dude kicks ass.