Movie Monday: High Sierra

Movie Monday: High Sierra

The 1940s and 1950s are considered the “classic period of American film noir,” although that term wasn’t used until much later. Instead, the movies were referred to as melodramas, and the plot typically revolved around a crime of some sort and often featured a “hard-boiled detective.”

Based on the W.R. Burnett novel of the same name, High Sierra released eighty-five years ago this month and stars Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino, an actress with a long career, yet who is often forgotten when listing the leading ladies of the time.

Bogart is convicted bank robber Roy Earle, whose release from prison is the result of bribing the governor. Big Mac M’Gann is responsible because he wants a bank heist led by Roy on his behalf. Gang members include Red Hattery and Babe Kozak who brings his “dime-a-dance” girlfriend Marie Garson (played by Lupino). The robbery goes wrong as does the getaway, resulting in the deaths of Red and Babe. Roy and Marie head across country to discover the Big Mac is also dead having suffered a heart attack.

Former policeman Jake Kranmer has taken over Big Mac’s operation and tries to force Roy to give up

the jewels. Instead, Roy kills him, then tries to fence the jewels. After seeing the front-page news about the robbery that includes Roy’s photo and a description of Marie, Roy sends Marie to Las Vegas and returns to the get his money from the fence. Things go from bad to worse when Roy conducts a stick up for money to fill his gas tank and his recognized by local police. He heads into the mountains where he is pursued by law enforcement. The shootout that occurs is considered the highlight of the film.

Performances by both Bogart and Lupino were widely praised at the time and continue to be held in high regard. His portrayal of the “good bad man” creates a sympathetic character and adds depth to the quintessential, sometimes cliched gangster. About Lupino, one critic indicated she was “impressive as the adoring moll.” The film changed the way studio executives saw Bogart who until then had appeared in mostly “B movies. Warner Bros. realized they had a star on their hands.

With a budget of just under a half-million dollars, the movie made more than $1.5 million in the US and other markets. Despite its excellent reception High Sierra did not receive any Academy Award nominations, however, it was recognized by the National Board of Review as part of its top ten films for 1941.

The 1949 film Colorado Territory starring Joel McCrea and Virginia Mayo is also based on the novel as is the 1955 movie I Died A Thousand Times (Jack Palance and Shelley Winters). Two radio broadcasts were made on the Screen Guild Theater: 1942 with Bogart and Claire Trevor and 1944 with Bogart and Lupino.

Have you seen this classic?

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Spies & Sweethearts

She wants to do her part. He’s just trying to stay out of the stockade. Will two agents deep behind enemy lines find capture… or love?

1942. Emily Strealer is tired of being told what she can’t do. Wanting to prove herself to her older sisters and do her part for the war effort, the high school French teacher joins the OSS and trains to become a covert operative. And when she completes her training, she finds herself parachuting into occupied France with her instructor to send radio signals to the Resistance.

Major Gerard Lucas has always been a rogue. Transferring to the so-called “Office of Dirty Tricks” to escape a court-martial, he poses as a husband to one of his trainees on a dangerous secret mission. But when their cover is blown after only three weeks, he has to flee with the young schoolteacher to avoid Nazi arrest.

Running for their lives, Emily clings to her mentor’s military experience during the harrowing three-hundred-mile trek to neutral Switzerland. And while Gerard can’t bear the thought of his partner falling into German hands, their forged papers might not be enough to get them over the border.

Can the fugitive pair receive God’s grace to elude the SS and discover the future He intended?

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/m0Od9l

Photo credits:
Movie Poster: By Heritage Auctions, Fair use.
Bogart and Lupino: Movie Still, Warner Bros.
Bogart: mptvimages.com