The Asphalt Jungle (Criterion Collection)

Overview

"In a smog-choked city somewhere in the American Midwest, an aging criminal mastermind, newly released from prison, hatches a plan for a million-dollar jewel heist and draws a wealthy lawyer and a cherry-picked trio of outlaws into his carefully devised but inevitably doomed scheme. Anchored by an abundance of nuanced performances from a gifted ensemble—including a tight-jawed Sterling Hayden (Dr. Strangelove) and a sultry Marilyn Monroe (Some Like It Hot) in her breakout role—this gritty crime classic by John Huston (The Maltese Falcon) climaxes in a meticulously detailed anatomy of a robbery that has reverberated through the genre ever since. An uncommonly naturalistic view of a seamy underworld, The Asphalt Jungle painstakingly depicts the calm professionalism and toughness of its gangster heroes while evincing a remarkable depth of compassion for their all-too-human fragility, and it showcases a master filmmaker at the height of his powers. Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, Sam Jaffe, and Marilyn Monroe (in one of her early major roles).

112 min. Standard; Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital mono; Subtitles: English (SDH). Two-disc set.

Additional Details

• New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Audio commentary from 2004 by film historian Drew Casper, featuring archival recordings of actor James Whitmore
• Pharos of Chaos, a 1983 documentary about actor Sterling Hayden
• New interviews with film noir historian Eddie Muller and cinematographer John Bailey
• Archival footage of writer-director John Huston discussing the film
• Episode of the television program City Lights from 1979 featuring Huston
• Audio excerpts of archival interviews with Huston
• Trailer
• PLUS: An essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien