rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 1941
Directed by Raoul Walsh; executive produced by Hal B. Wallis; screenplay by John Huston, W.R. Burnett
Starring Ida Lupino, Humphrey Bogart, Alan Curtis, Arthur Kennedy, Joan Leslie, Henry Hull
Still no top billing (the honor goes to Ida Lupino, after great reactions to her performance in 'They Drive By Night'), but finally a leading part in a film that gives him a real character to work with. This film, together with 'The Maltese Falcon', another 1941 film, turned Humphrey Bogart into a star. A year later 'Casablanca' was released. 'High Sierra' itself, about a bad guy with a heart on the right place, but a mind on the wrong things, is entertaining from the relaxed start to the dramatic and spectacular finish.
Roy Earle (Bogart), just out of prison, is the leader in a new robbery. Together with unexperienced Babe (Alan Curtis), Red (Arthur Kennedy) and Marie (Lupino) they plan and execute it all, but things, of course, do not go as planned. Now Roy and Marie are on the run. Marie shows great affection for Roy, but he has his mind set on Velma (Joan Leslie), the daughter of a man (Henry Travers) he meets in a subplot that seems completely isolated from the real story.
I did not really mind that subplot, but it seems there just to show Roy's good nature and how his doing good turns against him. On its own terms I actually kind of liked it. Of course Marie ends up being a love interest after all, but she exists in his "bad guy"-world, which leads to no good. The final sequence is set in the High Sierra, Nevada, already shown through the entire film. The poetic ending is inevitable.
The film is quite simple and predictable, but performers, especially Bogey, make sure 'High Sierra' is a very entertaining crime film that could be considered as an early noir. Director Raould Walsh turns the material, based on a novel by W.R. Burnett and a screenplay by him and John Huston, into one of his better films and a Humphrey Bogart-classic. It contains enough interesting and entertaining material to highly recommend it.