George Raft, Ann Sheridan and Humphrey Bogart star, but Ida Lupino steals the show in this tonally all-over-the-place film noir about the underbelly of truck driving.
Thank you for this piece. This film is celebrated, but it fell flat for me. It wants to be a film noir, maybe, but then it’s a romance, or several. Is it an anti-capitalist statement? Sorta. Why is there a happy ending? A waste of some great actors, both leads and smaller parts.
Thanks for your insight. Hollywood made TONS of movies like this in the 1930s-50s. It was not unusual for actors to appear in 5-7 pictures a year. Not all of them were keepers. But I still find it interesting to see how they stood the test of time.
I took a whole course in college on Hollywood and the Studio System! :) I'm not entirely sure how this one came to be a keeper, but it's interesting to see this.early role from Ida Lupino and George Raft as a decent person non-gangster. Bogart was big yet, although he was just about to launch.
I'm glad I found your substack while searching for more recent writings on They Drive By Night. Interested in what you'll be writing about in the future.
Thank you for this piece. This film is celebrated, but it fell flat for me. It wants to be a film noir, maybe, but then it’s a romance, or several. Is it an anti-capitalist statement? Sorta. Why is there a happy ending? A waste of some great actors, both leads and smaller parts.
Thanks for your insight. Hollywood made TONS of movies like this in the 1930s-50s. It was not unusual for actors to appear in 5-7 pictures a year. Not all of them were keepers. But I still find it interesting to see how they stood the test of time.
I took a whole course in college on Hollywood and the Studio System! :) I'm not entirely sure how this one came to be a keeper, but it's interesting to see this.early role from Ida Lupino and George Raft as a decent person non-gangster. Bogart was big yet, although he was just about to launch.
I'm glad I found your substack while searching for more recent writings on They Drive By Night. Interested in what you'll be writing about in the future.
Thanks for dropping by!