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Night and the City (1950)

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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 4
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 1

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Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 2,992

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Movie Info

Jules Dassin's Night and the City opens with cheap grifter Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark) running for his life through the streets of London. Harry wants to be big-time, and he does not care how he raises cash for his schemes. Like a junkie, he uses and steals from his girlfriend Mary (Gene Tierney), a singer at the Silver Fox, a seedy nightclub owned by the physically grotesque Phil Nosseross Francis L. Sullivan. Harry, who also works for Phil steering unsuspecting customers to the club, comes

R, 1 hr. 35 min.

Drama, Mystery & Suspense, Classics

Jo Eisinger

Feb 1, 2005

Criterion Collection

Cast

All Critics (16) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (15) | Rotten (4) | DVD (11)

Jules Dassin, in his direction, manages extraordinarily interesting backgrounds, realistically filmed to create a feeling both of suspense and mounting menace.

April 15, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A pointless, trashy yarn.

January 28, 2006 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment (1)
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A moody piece of Wellesian chiaroscuro (shot by Max Greene, né Mutz Greenbaum) and an occasionally discomfiting underworld plunge.

March 25, 2003 Full Review Source: Village Voice | Comment
Village Voice
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Before he met Melina Mercouri and became an Artist, Jules Dassin made a number of worthwhile thrillers as a Hollywood contract director.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
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A dark, brooding noir, with Widmark riveting as a hustling promoter who sinks into the quagmire of his own ambitions.

April 15, 2008 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

one of the quintessential film noir, not only because its inky chiaroscuro visuals, but because of its gripping downward spiral of a narrative

May 1, 2007 Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | Comment
Q Network Film Desk

Inclined to go over the top, it all too clearly contains the seeds of Dassin's later -- and disastrous -- pretensions.

January 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

One of the true-blue noir classics. RIchard Widmark is a certifiable force of nature.

April 3, 2005 Comment
eFilmCritic.com

the rare masterpiece that earns the appellation not by announcing its grand intentions but by following them through with sublime confidence and precision

February 20, 2005 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | Comment (1)
Filmcritic.com

Night and the City's desolate vision of city life is enough to make any aspiring crook head straight for the 'burbs.

February 15, 2005 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comment
Slant Magazine

The archetypal film noir.

February 15, 2005 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comment
Slant Magazine

A quality cast give vivid performances in a stylish and sharply written thriller with some striking visual flourishes.

May 24, 2003 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

An offbeat film noir, set in foggy post-WWII London...

August 31, 2001 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comment
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Night and the City

As my dear old grandmother used to say, before she gave up prostitution to become a carnival barker, "I am loving me some Richard Widmark!"

January 18, 2009
flixsterman
Randy Tippy

Super Reviewer

Imagine Charles Dickens had to make a bit of extra money by writing B-movies in Hollywood and you might get close to imagining this haunting, wonderful film. It fuses the best traditions of film noir with a very British atmosphere: a cast of character actors playing vividly drawn and desperate people.There's a mournful

February 10, 2011
matertenebraum

Super Reviewer

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Foreign Titles

  • Night and the City (1950) (DE)
  • Night and the City (1950) (UK)
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