Turkish born (to Greek and Armenian parents) writer A.L. Bezzerides often wrote about experiences, he actually once drove trucks for a company his father started. Here, his story takes on the struggles of those 'little' trucking men to survive against BIG odds. The big odds being self seeking corruption amongst the soul-less fruit market wheeler dealers.This film is a wild ride in any mans language! and ace Director Jules Dassin, just months before being foolishly hunted out of Hollywood by the House of Un-American Activities, holds the pace with near relentless energy...endless set backs mount throughout. Dassin was a rare kind of American Director, perhaps because of his Russian parentage he possessed a uniquely European style. In fact, he must be the only American to direct a French crime classic ('Rififi' 55) and reel it in on par with, if not better than, the French themselves! Check out other dynamic mood pieces by Dassin: 'Night and the City' 51 ~ 'Naked City' 48 ~ 'Phaedra' 62 (with Theodorakis's magnificent score) In '57 he also had the rare award winner 'He who must Die', etc.... He could hardly have had a better Director of Photography for 'Highway', than veteran Norbert Bodine. Bodine brings his years of experience to grace this film with moody, spectacular visuals, in the style of 'Kiss of Death '47 ~ 'Of Mice and Men' 39 and the now rare 'Little Man What Now' 34.Performances are uniformly good, Conte the everyman, Cobb the evil thief, Cortese's first American film, (years later she would appear as the Mother in 1973's 'Brother Sun Sister Moon") there's also good support from several solid old reliables. This was not the first time writer Brezzerides had hit the highways, in 1940 he wrote that other road classic 'They Drive by Night'. He shows diversity with 'Beneath the 12 mile Reef' in '53. Fox's talented man of music, Alfred Newman added his familiar style with an exiting music score. Then along came Darrel F. Zanuck's interfering hand, apparently re-writing, and re-shooting the ending...adding a silly tacked-on, overly 'sunny' closing. Why interfere when something is working as well as this...? The DVD I bought is the Fox Studio Classics release, it's OK, but the copy I have, has some disappointing digital pixels in the image. I've heard the Criterion disc is superior (the Criterion cover is better also). Who knows, they may even come up with the original ending...? Excellent story and overall film, pity about the ending.

Jules Dassin's last American production would be this adaption of A.I. Bezzerides novel about the slimy dealings in the wholesale produce market. After Thieves Highway, Dassin would do Night And The City in London and then be subject to the blacklist. As it is Thieves Highway is a remarkable film with a couple of interesting subplots.Returning home from the war Richard Conte finds his father Morris Carnovsky crippled, the result of a trucking accident and robbed of the money for recently delivered produce to Lee J. Cobb the man in charge of San Francisco's wholesale market. Conte decides to take some vengeance out and get the money his father was robbed of. In order to do this Conte goes into partnership with Millard Mitchell an old time trucker who now has Carnovsky's truck which has seen better days. When Conte arrives with a delivery of needed apples for the market, Cobb pays him off all right, but gives him the same kind of treatment he gave dad. A little something extra with femme fatal Valentina Cortese.The main plot involves Conte and Cobb, but woven into the story is that of Conte's engagement to Barbara Lawrence which takes a jolt when she meets Cortese. Also Jack Oakie and Joseph Pevney play a pair of scavenger drivers who follow Mitchell in his beat up truck waiting for something to befall him.Trucking wholesale fruit and vegetables is shown to be a dog eat dog business and top dog is Lee J. Cobb. His part here is almost a dress rehearsal for the waterfront racketeer he played in On The Waterfront. In a cast of good performances Cobb is also top dog.Thieves Highway is a wonderful film that dates not one bit because things you see here still go on.

I came awfully close to giving this film a 10 but I only reserve this for a very select number of films--and, at least in my semi-humble opinion, too many 10s are given out. A 10 implies a truly great film--the best among the very best. While "Thieve's Highway" is a great film, it didn't quite make it to this level...but it came darn close! Why, then, isn't it better known? It is terrific. Perhaps some of this might be that there are an awful lot of dumb people who just won't watch older black & white films. And, perhaps some of this is because the director, Jules Dassin, was blacklisted in the 1950s and lost favor among American audiences (though his reputation soared once he went o Europe to make films). Whatever the reasons, this film should be seen by more people--particularly young film makers, as they can learn a lot about how to make an exceptional and realistic film with a relatively low budget."Thieve's Highway" is, in many ways, like a Film Noir movie without cops or detectives. It's also a lot like the later film "The Wages of Fear"--another exceptional film. The camera angles and style are pure noir and the presence of an evil gangster-like "businessman" (Lee J. Cobb) really reminded me of this films style. I have always liked Cobb in films and he made a great heavy. Here, he is totally despicable as a produce wholesaler who isn't above stealing, beating up truckers or other underhanded behaviors to make a buck. His counterpart is Richard Conte--a highly underrated actor who had a knack for playing John Garfield-like guys--but with a touch more realism. To make things better, there are some wonderful supporting actors who make the film--such as Jack Oakie, Millard Mitchell (another underrated actor whose face you probably will recognize) and Valentina Cortese (rather unknown but very effective here). Also buried within the cast is Joseph Pevney--a guy whose real success came in directing such notable TV shows as "Star Trek" (such as "The Trouble With Tribbles") and a zillion other shows.The film begins with Nick (Conte) returning home to visit him immigrant parents. However, he's shocked to find that his father has lost his legs--and it's due to the scum-bag Mike Figlia (Cobb) whose thugs caused an accident that crippled him. To boot, Figlia then refused to pay him for the shipment--claiming he'd already paid him. Because of this, Nick is determined both to keep the family's trucking business going AND give Figlia his comeuppance. There is much, much more to the story than this, but I'll leave the rest of it for you to see for yourself.Suffice to say, the writing, acting and direction were first-rate and it's among the best of the late 1940s--and a definite must-see. Exciting, realistic and intelligently made from start to finish. See this movie!!

That's right! how many movies main character falls in love with a hooker these days, and please don't mention 'Pretty Woman'.This film is sensational, each and every performance is on the dime every time. Lee J Cobb is superb as the slimy Market Boss. Richard Conte is great, Stars of this period seem to have a little more to tell you, maybe they have had a few more knocks than many stars of today a little more life experience, whatever it is it helps tremendously when delivering tough performances, it's the same for many of these old schoolers, Paul Muni, John Garfield for example, and I will mention Valentina Cortese who plays Rica she has the same quality and remains beautiful so I'm not saying they have to look like Jack Palance to have a story book face, it's something that shines through regardless of appearance.Jack Oakie who plays Slob was a very endearing character in this movie and due to the Films serious vibe his likable demeanor was very welcome, he's like the old friend you never knew.The Love Story is very sincere, and very simple, and dare I say it very touching. Jeeze I'm almost gummy smiling, I must be eating too much estrogen, now where did I put my wine and chocolates?