Absolutely brilliant

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Sorry, but this is as good as noir gets. Gritty, beautifully shot on location. Crisp and dead level-written dialogue. Not a dead spot in the fast moving story. And Huston's direction underlines this classic.

A major heist goes off as planned, until bad luck and double crosses cause everything to unravel.This is everything you want in a film noir. Crooks, cops, a bit of police procedural, the heist... and from John Huston, who has to be one of the best directors of his era.What is particularly interesting about this film is that although it is among the greatest noir films ever made (possibly the best ever), it has no real stars to speak of. Marilyn Monroe has a smaller part, but no big stars like Robert Mitchum or Rita Hayworth carrying the picture.If you have not seen this, see it. I am amazed I made it this long without having it on my list.

One quick look at director John Huston's career as a director would enable viewers to ascertain that "The Asphalt Jungle" was a minor work in his illustriously long cinematographic career.He is best remembered for two great successes with superstar Humphrey Bogart namely 'The Maltese Falcon' and 'The treasure of the Sierra Madre'.By virtue of being one of the most important American heist film, The Asphalt Jungle is one film which can neither be ignored nor neglected by both critics and viewers whenever one speaks about its association with John Huston.This was also the film with which legendary American actress Marilyn Monroe was associated.She plays an interesting albeit minor role as a young lady who lies in order to save her married lover from an impending prison sentence.'The Asphalt Jungle' provides simple viewing pleasure to its audiences as everything has been told in a prosaic manner.Its actors have done justice to their roles but it becomes an ordinary film as there is no scope for any intrigue. Lastly, "The Asphalt Jungle" may not be voted as the best heist film in the world but it can surely be considered best heist film ever produced by a Hollywood studio.There are not many who would protest when somebody reveals that Jules Dassin's Rififi can rightly be called one of the best heist film ever made in the world.

Marilyn Monroe lights up the screen in The Asphalt Jungle. Unfortunately she's only on the screen for around five minutes. And the rest of the film disappoints. It's a simple heist film. We see the plotting of the caper, we see the caper take place, we see the aftermath. None of this is particularly interesting. The caper is meticulously planned. All that planning doesn't make for much entertainment, you really wish the film would hurry itself along to some action. Then the action comes and just as quickly goes. The execution of the caper has its moments, there is some tension and drama. But afterwards the drama drains away as we just wait for each conspirator to meet his fate. The caper was not executed perfectly, there were some problems. And even more problems await our burglars. Their little caper seems to have fallen apart. And the movie falls apart too.For a heist film there is very little excitement to be had here. The whole thing is very dry. Sterling Hayden plays Dix, the member of the gang the film ends up focusing on most of all. And Hayden is dry as dry can be, there is no personality or life in the role. In playing Doc, who masterminds the heist, Sam Jaffe is a little more interesting. But he, like everyone else in the film, is encumbered with some rather lousy dialogue. Everything is clipped and clunky and highly unnatural. The third key player is Louis Calhern, playing a lawyer who agrees to finance the caper even though he is actually completely broke. This of course ends up causing all kinds of complications. At least this character brings Monroe into the picture, playing his young mistress. Monroe adds a little spark into the proceedings but it's not nearly enough to salvage the film. The whole last half of the film plods along with a sense of inevitability to it. It turns into a 1950s morality play, look at what happens to dastardly criminals. The one detective we meet in the film is totally corrupt. But that doesn't stop the police commissioner from late on in the film launching into a ridiculously preachy speech about how wonderful the police are. By this point in the film you might be stifling yawns. The film really drags as it heads for the finish. The Asphalt Jungle is a highly regarded film but honestly it is hard to see why. There is very little entertainment on offer in this incredibly overrated film.