They Live by Night (1948)

Director:

Nicholas Ray

Writers:

Charles Schnee (screenplay)
Nicholas Ray (adaptation)

Release Date:

June 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Film-Noir | Romance

Tagline:

Cops or no cops I'm going through!

Plot:

An escaped convict is injured and is helped by a woman with whom he has an ill-fated relationship.

Plot Keywords:

Prison Farm | Police | Escaped Convict | Car Accident | Teen

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Cathy O'Donnell	...	Keechie
Farley Granger	...	Bowie
Howard Da Silva	...	Chickamaw
Jay C. Flippen	...	T-Dub
Helen Craig	...	Mattie
Will Wright	...	Mobley
William Phipps	...	Young Farmer
Ian Wolfe	...	Hawkins
Harry Harvey	...	Hagenheimer
Marie Bryant	...	Singer
Will Lee	...	Jeweler
James Nolan	...	Schreiber (as Jim Nolan)
Charles Meredith	...	Comm. Hubbell
Teddy Infuhr	...	Alvin
Byron Foulger	...	Lambert

Also Known As:

The Twisted Road (UK)
Your Red Wagon (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

France:U | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | USA:Approved (certificate #12567)

Filming Locations:

RKO Encino Ranch - Balboa Boulevard & Burbank Boulevard, Encino, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

Nicholas Ray's first directing credit.

Goofs:

Continuity: Chicamaw's right eye is okay in a brief scene toward the end. Otherwise, the eye is opaque.

Quotes:

Arthur 'Bowie' Bowers: Fifteen hundred bucks foe a second hand car?
Henry 'T-Dub' Mansfield: That's right.
Arthur 'Bowie' Bowers: Whoever sells them for that, that's worse than robbin' a bank!
Henry 'T-Dub' Mansfield: They're thieves - just like us.

Movie Connections:

Featured in They Live by Night: The Twisted Road (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

Your Red Wagon

The birth of a new voice in American cinema.

This is not a great film but it marks the directorial debut of Nicholas Ray, one of the most original directors of the 1950's. From the startling pre-credit sequence on, it is clear that here is a striking new cinematic voice. Unfortunately the story he has to tell is not very interesting, but the way he tells it must have astonished audiences in 1949. From unusual aerial shots, to brilliant extreme close-ups, to great shots inside cars, Ray takes us on a new type of film journey. He also lovingly films his two pretty young leads and extracts strong performances from them. This is a film to be admired rather than loved, but no student of film should miss it.