You really don't want to believe that dirt bags like Mike Figlia hold sway in real life, but this film from 1949 is a pretty good reminder that they're out there looking for a cheap angle any way they can get it. Lee J. Cobb does a try out here for his later role as a corrupt union boss in 1954's "On The Waterfront" and he's a real creep, attempting to steal Nick Garcos' (Richard Conte) load of apples right out from under him. Figlia throws everything at him including a hooker, a hatchet to his truck tires, and a pair of goons that roll him for his cash, while the determined Greek trucker keeps bouncing back each time.One of the surprises here was how quickly Nick's girl Polly (Barbara Lawrence) from back home throws him over when she finds out he got robbed and winds up stranded in San Francisco. So much for true love finding a way. But then you've got hooker Rica (Valentina Cortese) who makes the big play for Nick and has a hand in redeeming the both of them. I don't know that I'm buying the feel good ending with Nick and Rica going off to live happily ever after, but up till then the film's gritty realism and treatment of corruption in the produce market made for an effective noir tale.For another compelling story of wildcat truckers you might look up Humphrey Bogart and George Raft in the 1940 film "They Drive By Night", with a truly over the top performance by Ida Lupino in a courtroom scene following the death of her husband played by Alan Hale. Bogey and Raft portrayed a couple of brother truckers in that one, hauling lemons instead of apples, but otherwise working long and hard, determined to make that one big score.

For a change, Richard Conte shows that he can be vulnerable as depicted in this film. Coming home to find his father confined to a wheelchair, as a result of a supposed accident, Conte goes after the guy who had a supposed part in the accident.Conte suffers a near broken neck and is severely beaten by the thugs of Mike Figlia, Lee J. Cobb, a sinister gangster in the film. Cobb reminds me of his part as the corrupt person in "On the Waterfront."Don't you think that Valentina Cortese looked too old for the part? Perhaps, the reason was due to the way her hair was cut in the film.It's basically a story of the apple industry and how like everything else, it can be manipulated by hoodlums.The ending comes rather quickly and it's just as well.

***Great summary by imogensara_smith ("A movie like this keeps the doctor away", imogensara_smith from New York City, 5 June 2006). Meanwhile, McGonigle ("Bravo", McGonigle from bean world, Massachusetts, 4 December 2006) has interesting thoughts about Nick's mental state at the film's end.***"Thieves Highway" (1949, Jules Dassin), Where film noir and Golden Delicious apples meet, is extremely gritty and suspenseful. Appearing a year before Dassin is blacklisted by the House un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), it depicts capitalism as an all-but-universal corrupter. With the lone exception of the protagonist, every character is seen destroying another for profit. The titanic struggle for working people to get ahead in a rigged game resonates today.War-veteran Nick Garcos (Richard Conte) comes home bearing presents for his family and somewhat tall girlfriend Polly (former model Barbara Lawrence, 5'8"). He learns that his formerly wildcatting father has been recently crippled by the perfidy of a Frisco-based produce market dealer, Mike Figlia (Lee J. Cobb). Headstrong and possessing a bad temper (when wronged), Nick partners up with occasionally unscrupulous, hard-boiled Ed (Millard Mitchell) to each drive a truck loaded with Golden Delicious apples from a particularly sun-kissed orchard to the Frisco market. Nick wants to do business with Figlia in order to make money and avenge his father at the same time. Unfortunately, Nick does not fully understand the depth to which Figlia employs murderous thugs to undermine business deals.There is a lot to enjoy. The performers are all excellent. Conte brings a physicality to Nick that is evident with his smoldering eyes, cat-like movement and athletic build. Lee J. Cobb, in a role that reminds many of his later appearance in "On the Waterfront (1954)", is perfect as the cigar-chomping, duplicitous produce dealer. There is always money to be made crossing unsuspecting saps and Lee J. Cobb seems to have known this from birth. Valentina Cortese is remarkably effective as the occasional Italian prostitute Rica, who is as street-wise as she is sensual. After being hired by Figlia to distract Nick from his load of apples, she double-crosses Figlia and becomes Nick's best ally. She helps Nick negotiate the tricky San Francisco underworld, a brutal environment that Nick's rarefied fiancé, Polly, could never acclimate to. The scenes between Nick and Rica in Rica's apartment are often beautifully realized. The moment where the pair play tic-tac-toe with their fingers on Nick's chest is really sexy.The screenplay (by A. I. Bezzerides who adapted his own novel) really breathes; i.e., events change at a believable pace, as seen by the length of screen time before Figlia begins appropriating Nick's apples. I love how vital the market scenes are, as Dassin's camera is normally stationary while the background is filled with people and objects in motion. Some reviewers believe that Dassin is showing his antipathy towards capitalism by making the audio and visuals from the early market scenes "noisy", as if to portray it as an assault on the senses. However, there is one particular image that everyone remembers from "Thieves." The much-discussed sight of apples tumbling down a steep hill after the truck that was carrying them has crashed is uniquely profound. Again, many will find an anti-capitalist message here. Clearly Dassin is commenting on the sheer destruction of countless lives in the pursuit of monetary gain.Speaking of double-crosses, executive producer Darryl Zanuck is known to have included (and personally directed) the final shot, without Dassin's knowledge. Zanuck also altered the roadhouse showdown between Nick and Figlia by including surprisingly uncorrupted police officers, one of whom is laughably from a different universe than every other character.) Also, Star Trek fans will want to notice Joseph Pevney as Pete. (Pevney later became one of Star Trek's principal directors.) "Thieves Highway" is a top-shelf noir, and an absolute must-see for Cinephiles. However, if you are driving an over-loaded big-rig to the revival theater showing this, it is recommended that you have slept within the last 36 hours and that your universal joint is not being held up by wire and spit.

A returning war vet becomes a truck driver to avenge the maiming of his father.This is an outstanding movie. Written by the same person who wrote "They Drive By Night" (1941),A.I. Bezzerides. This tells the story of the cutthroat business of trucking, which still persist today. I definitely reacted when Richard Conte left his exposed truck load for a couple hours with a strange woman. Im screaming,"Some ones gonna take your cargo and strip your truck." But as we learn that was part of the plan. This was well written,acted, and directed.Millard Mitchell dives the Mack big truck.Richard Conte drives the Studebaker big truck.Joseph Peveny and Jack Oakie drive a separate Syudebaker big truck.Millard Mitchell,Richard Conte,Joseph Pevny, and Jack Oakie were permanent A list actors.Valentina Cortese,Barbara Lawrence, and Tamara Shayne were hot!!Joseph Pevenys' performance was outstanding!!!erldwgstruckermovies.com