- Holy smokes, was the California fruit distribution racket really this bad? If Jules Dassin's amazing Thieves' Highway is to be believed, the fruit industry once thrived on the sort of grift that I normally associate with black markets and rum-running. I'd use the word "seedy," but I honestly don't intend the pun. The first sign that something is amiss arrives when young Nick Garcos (Richard Conte) returns home to discover that his father (Morris Carnovsky), a hapless fruit truck driver, has lost his legs in a tragic accident. Only, was it an accident? A crooked fruit peddler named Mike Figlia (Lee J. Cobb) claims he paid Mr. Garcos the night of the crash, but there wasn't any money in the wreckage. Time for Nick to take a closer look.
- He starts off by seeking out a driver named Ed Kinney (Millard Mitchell), who bought Mr. Garcos' truck. Well, he hasn't actually paid Nick's father yet, but the money will start flowing just after he makes this huge apple delivery and, hey, would Nick be interested in financing him? Like a lot of people in this film, Kinney is not naturally inclined towards honesty. After teaming up with Nick, Kinney proceeds to break a deal with a couple of crooked-looking hoodlums (Jack Oakie and Joseph Pevney) just before attempting to rip off the hard-working family he's buying the fruit from. As he explains to Nick, "This ain't no lace-pants business. It takes tricks to get what you want in this game, and I know 'em."
- After loading up, the drivers head out in two trucks pointed at San Francisco with the hoodlums not far behind. Along the way, Nick practically breaks his neck in a botched tire change, but he doesn't really seem worried until he reaches his destination the next night. The sprawling fruit market, filmed on location, is a bewildering set of crowded storefronts, each more suspicious-looking than the last. Naturally, Nick wants to question Figlia, but he had no intention of getting his truck stuck in front of Figlia's store. Is it just me, or did I see one of Figlia's workers (Edwin Max) walk over to Nick's tire with an axe? Regardless, Nick is so tired that he can't keep his eyes open, and that's when Rica (Valentina Cortese) swoops in.
- From the warm welcome she gives Nick, the audience immediately infers that Rica is a prostitute even if Nick is a few steps behind. What we don't initially know is that she's accepted money from Figlia to keep Nick occupied while the crooked grocer unloads Nick's truck. But after Nick finally convinces Figlia to pay up, it looks as though the young man's luck has finally turned around. He even rashly invites his fiance (Barbara Lawrence) down to get married, bragging about all the money he's made. As the evening progresses, we begin to wonder if Nick's trip to San Francisco is going to end up any better than his father's. Eventually a tragedy does strike, but it's not the one I expected. Let's just say that this film upset more than a few apple carts in a very literal sense.
- Honestly, I'm having trouble deciding whether I was more impressed by the locations or acting featured in Thieves' Highway. The fruit market and its grim, hopeless surroundings certainly make for one of film noir's more memorable hells, made even more striking by the suggestion that this unholy apparatus delivers apples to your local grocer. On the other hand, Conte, Cobb, Mitchell, and Cortese are all so good in their roles that it's difficult to imagine the film without them. Cortese, in particular, is perfect in transforming the stereotypical "hooker with a heart of gold" into a believable character who simply finds herself trapped in an unfortunate set of circumstances. Perhaps most impressive is that Dassin's interest in crime dramas produced three very different outcomes: an outstanding heist film in Rififi, an excellent documentary-stye procedural with The Naked City, and now this. I'm going to make a point of seeing his other work soon.
- Based on a novel by A. I. Bezzerides.
