High Sierra (1941)

After being released from prison, notorious thief Roy Earle is hired by his old boss to help a group of inexperienced criminals plan and carry out the robbery of a California resort.

Director:

Raoul Walsh

Writers:

John Huston (screen play), W.R. Burnett (screen play)

Stars:

Ida Lupino, Humphrey Bogart, Alan Curtis

3 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ida Lupino	...	Marie
Humphrey Bogart	...	Roy Earle
Alan Curtis	...	'Babe'
Arthur Kennedy	...	'Red'
Joan Leslie	...	Velma
Henry Hull	...	'Doc' Banton
Henry Travers	...	Pa
Jerome Cowan	...	Healy
Minna Gombell	...	Mrs. Baughmam
Barton MacLane	...	Jake Kranmer
Elisabeth Risdon	...	Ma (as Elizabeth Risdon)
Cornel Wilde	...	Louis Mendoza
Donald MacBride	...	Big Mac
Paul Harvey	...	Mr. Baughmam
Isabel Jewell	...	Blonde

Storyline

Roy 'Mad Dog' Earle is broken out of prison by an old associate who wants him to help with an upcoming robbery. When the robbery goes wrong and a man is shot and killed Earle is forced to go on the run, and with the police and an angry press hot on his tail he eventually takes refuge among the peaks of the Sierra Nevadas, where a tense siege ensues. But will the Police make him regret the attachments he formed with two women during the brief planning of the robbery.

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Plot Keywords:

mountain | mountain road | heist | mob boss | farmer | 

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Taglines:

The blazing mountain manhunt for Killer Mad-Dog Earle!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Thriller

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Certificate:

Passed

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ida Lupino was very annoyed by Humphrey Bogart's continual sarcasm during the shooting of the movie.

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Goofs

When Roy Earle leaves Indiana, he's driving a 1937 Plymouth coupe. As he's approaching California, the car is a 1938 (similar to the '37 but shorter, wider grille). Later, it changes back to the '37, then to the '38 again.

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Quotes

Roy Earle: Of all the 14 karat saps... starting out on a caper with a woman and a dog.

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Crazy Credits

"Pard" as Portrayed By "Zero"

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Alternate Versions

Also available in a computer colorized version.

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Connections

Featured in Bullets Over Hollywood (2005)

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Soundtracks

I Get a Kick out of You (1934)
(uncredited)
Written by Cole Porter
Played on a record at Velma's Home
Danced to by Joan Leslie and John Eldredge

User Reviews

A highly important movie.

*High Sierra* is almost excruciatingly important in the development of cinema, laying to bed the "gangster picture" of the 1930's while simultaneously giving birth to American film noir. Oh, and it made Humphrey Bogart a major star while it was at it. Therefore, I'm not entirely sure that your film collection, if you have one, can survive without it.

Based on a pulpy novel, it chronicles the story of Roy Earle, sprung from a life sentence in prison so that he can knock over a casino along the California-Nevada border. It's easy to miss, but notice the first minute of this picture closely: it's of course the Governor -- bought off by a mobster -- who gets Roy released from his life sentence, indicating that the corruption has finely infested the top of the social order. This is the usual tough-minded, whistle-blowing gangster-picture stuff that Warner Bros. specialized in. But there's also something else at work here, perhaps something new: one gets the sense that what happens to Roy in this movie has been engineered from On High, in advance . . . in other words, he's in the Jaws of Fate. And thus we're in the unforgiving world of Film Noir.

More than the opening scene, it's Bogart who almost single-handedly invents film noir with his groundbreaking work in *High Sierra*. Not cocky like Cagney and Muni, not psychopathic like the early Edward G. Robinson, not as smooth as Raft, Bogart is a ruthless professional with a wide stripe of sentimentality. His Roy never shirks from killing, but he doesn't get off on it. He's more a rebel than a gangster, a poetic soul denied respectability, a man longing for the innocence of his youth. Unfortunately, he thinks he finds in the personage of a transplanted Okie farm-girl (Joan Leslie) a reasonable facsimile of that innocence. Competing for his affections is Ida Lupino, a sour "dime-a-dance girl" who's been up, down, and around the block a time or three. She's the baggage that comes with the two new-generation hoods whom Bogart is assigned to babysit for the casino heist. Not until later in the picture does Bogart recognize Lupino's better suitability to his own temperament and experience. (They share in common, among other things, suicidal impulses, a desire to escape a corrupted world.)

Roy Earle was a new type of character -- the truly romantic criminal. Bogart would play variations on Earle throughout his career, though he rarely exceeded his triumph here. And while I've given the actor much of the credit, some more credit must be extended to the screenwriter, John Huston. *High Sierra* was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Oh, and did I mention that the movie -- aside from its importance in American film history, yadda yadda -- is quite simply a good time? Witty dialogue, great on-location direction by Raoul Walsh, a cute dog, and a climactic car chase that wouldn't be equaled until 1968's *Bullitt*, are just some of this movie's other virtues.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 January 1941 (USA)

Also Known As:

High Sierra

Filming Locations:

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$455,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1