Runtime: 101 minutes
Directed by: Raoul Walsh
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Ida Lupino, Alan Curtis, Arthur
Kennedy, Joan Leslie
From: Warner Bros.
Yesterday I learned what “crashing out” meant. As someone who saw, liked and reviewed the similar They Come by Night several years ago, there was no real good reason for me to review this now only after making a TCM recording onto the DVR then waiting until last night to press “play.” Not only did this propel Humphrey Bogart into a leading man (a perch he never left) but it also propelled John Huston from a screenwriter to a screenwriter & director. High Sierra is also very good independent to its impact on Hollywood.
Bogie plays Roy Earle, a bank robber who is just released from prison. Instead of becoming reformed while serving his time in the slammer, he immediately heads to California to lead a quartet of people he barely knows in a daring heist of a resort, for the benefits of an old ailing pal. Of course those young men are goofs and of course they brought along a woman in former dancer Ida Lupino. There are complications with the heist, and... I won't reveal any more, except that we do see more of Pard the mutt dog than expected. According to rumor it was Bogie's own dog Zero—but that's just a rumor as far as I can tell as the pooch was trained rather well.
There is a minor Black servant character (Algernon) who regrettably was almost always portrayed stereotypically, due to no fault of the actor Willie Best. Otherwise, I have few complaints regarding this early noir during that golden age. Earle is a complex character who loves dogs, helps out a poor family moving to California by giving the money to allow for Joan Leslie to have her club foot operated on (how altruistic is he being here? Does he have other motives?) yet is still a criminal willing to kill... in fact, Bogart nailed this role and it was a key reason for me enjoying this tale to a high degree. I'd be remiss if I don't note the performances of Lupino and Leslie also, the solid direction from Raoul Walsh and the stunning vistas from the mountainous forest Sierra Nevada region in California that are present often due to the plentiful location shooting
High Sierra is exactly the sort of jam that I should have discussed here many moons ago as it was exactly the form of entertainment I love.
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