They Drive by Night

Noir mixed snappy dialogue and even some humor? Sign me up. It has some issues with pacing and tone, but it has both genuine comedy and real tension in a very entertaining mix and the leads are a real treat to watch. I even liked the ending, despite it being a little hokey, except for the very last few seconds.

A troublesome production because it is two different films, both of which could have been excellent, but neither of which is long enough to succeed separately. It starts out as a social-conscience film embracing the transition in America from the Lincolnesque Free Soil Theory of labour to the Modernity in which labour is literally proletarianised before our eyes. It then becomes a film noir dominated by Ida Lupino (who was born not very far at all from where I lived most of the time in London).

Good film.

A good, tragic noir with comedic undertones, snappy dialogue, great (as usual) screen presence by Bogart and Raft, and a cute Ann Sheridan standing her own ground. It's a good story with a few unexpected turns here and there, solid performances and characters, but it suffers slightly from inconsistent pacing and weaker sequences. The ending is somewhat lackluster, but ties everything nicely. Great for a rainy afternoon.

Great film, two stories rolled into one.

Damn, I was looking for the Nicholas Ray flick of a similar name. Oh well.

Great cast, good acting, pretty good story, lame resolution. Bogart and Raft are brothers who drive a big truck, owing money to some guys and owed money by others. Bogart's pretty good. Lupino (in a real Bette Davis kind of role) is good, but they don't beautify her enough, if you ask me. Ann Sheridan is LOVELY. Machine-gun-quick dialogue and a couple of surprisingly good stunts make it an enjoyable 95-minutes, even if the end is kinda overwrought and silly.

Prototypical in some respects, but also not that interesting.

I wasn't that impressed by George Raft and Humphrey Bogart was criminally underused. This was a mildly entertaining miss.

Apparently someone in Hollywood thought that truck drivers had a lifestyle that was markedly similar to gangsters, They couldn't have been more right, could they? All sarcasm aside, this will go down in history as simply the worst movie Bogey ever graced his face with.

George Raft takes more of the lead in this one than Bogart. Excellent drama.

You're trying to tell me that that ugmug can deny Lupino like that?

The first part is more a hangout movie about the truck driving brothers than a noir, which moves along on a leisurely pace but nothing really suspenseful happen. The second part shifts to a noir about a jealous woman with a show stealing Ida Lupino. Unfortunate Bogey takes a backseat in the second part.

84.50

See my full review at http://www.ducksoup.me/2013/03/bogey-and-bandit.html

"There's no denying that this overlooked 1940 gem is essentially two films in one." - Nick Schager

Unexpectedly insightful as to the lives of long-distance truckers at the end of the Depression. It's a bit funny to see Bogart in a supporting role, and he even gets out-acted by both Raft and Lupino. Definitely worth seeing as a piece of Americana.

This adaptation of A.I. Bezzerides' hard boiled trucking novel feels like two movies pasted together. The first half is mostly a slice-of-life flick about truckers and their terrible working conditions filled with deadbeats who refuse to pay them and fiery crashes caused by exhaustion. The second half is a delirious melodrama that Ida Lupino completely dominates with a wonderfully histrionic performance.

Revisto em 21 de setembro de 2023

Spectacular cast! Some amazing scenes! A bewildered story.... It's like two different films. One about the rise and fall of a couple of trucker driving brothers. The other about the crazy wife of the boss... and the moods doesn't exactly mix. They use too much time on the brothers, then they use too little time establishing the mad woman's growing desperation. But once Ida Lupino was on... IT WAS ON!!!

Good film, but sadly Bogart has little to do in the second half. Lupino was brilliant and stole the show (which wasn't hard up against Raft).