19. They Drive By Night
I wasn’t sure that I was going to like this movie -- the story of two brothers who are truckers didn’t sound like it would be interesting. Boy, was I wrong! They Drive By Night is a really entertaining movie, with some suspense and humor, and tells the tale of independent truckers in the days before semis ruled the road.
The two brothers, Paul (Humphrey Bogart) and Joe (George Raft) Fabrini are independent truckers. They are barely scraping by and owe quite a bit on their truck, but they are managing to still drive their truck. The brothers have to stop at a roadside café to replace their wheel and end up flirting with their waitress ("Nice chassis, eh Joe?" "Classy chassis."). The boys end up picking up a hitchhiker -- Cassie Hartley (Ann Sheridan), the waitress from the café and taking her into Los Angeles. But before they get into LA, the trucker in front of them falls asleep at the wheel and rolls off an embankment and catches fire! Paul is pretty traumatized by it, and Joe drops him off at his home. Joe takes Cassie into LA and rents a room for her for a week. He puts the moves on her, but ends up falling asleep in her bed.
The next day, Joe is looking for a load to haul and finds Ed Carlson (Alan Hale), an ex-trucker who has managed to start his own trucking company, just as Joe aspires to. Ed’s wife Lana (Ida Lupino) had a thing for Joe, and apparently still holds a torch for him. The Carlsons offer Joe a job, but he wants to keep trying at the independent trucking business until it fails. Ed helps out Joe by giving him info on a load of lemons that he can buy outright and then sell to the markets.
Paul is upset about buying the lemons, and the scene where Joe and the marketer are bargaining over the price is hilarious. The Fabrini brothers finally have some cash, and manage to pay off their truck and appear to be on their way to independent trucking! But while Paul is driving (by night!) he falls asleep and the truck goes off an embankment. Joe is thrown free of the truck, but Paul goes down with the truck and loses his arm.
In order to take care of Paul and his wife, Joe goes to work for Ed Carlson. But he doesn’t have to be a trucker any more -- Lana makes sure that he gets a job in the garage! Joe tries to keep Lana in line by calling her Mrs. Carlson all the time, but he still has to go to the Carlson’s anniversary party. Lana, of course, is upset that Joe wants to leave early, and becomes even more agitated when her husband continues to become more crass and drunk. She finally gets the idea to leave him in the garage with the motor engine running -- she breaks the beam that causes the automatic garage door to go down in a defiant gesture.
Lana makes her husband’s death out to be an accident, and everyone buys it, including the district attorney. She makes Joe her partner in the trucking business, claiming that she couldn’t run it herself. Lana expects Joe to marry her, and is really upset when Cassie shows up at the garage. She tells him: "I’m the one who made you into the man you are now -- you belong with me and you’re staying with me! ... You’re mine and I’m hanging on to you. I’ve committed murder for you! You made me murder Ed!"
Since Lana can’t have Joe, she goes to the district attorney and tells him that Joe made her murder Ed in order to get the trucking business. After the murder, Lana has a phobia of the automatic garage door openers, and can’t stand to go through any of the automatic doors. While testifying at Joe’s trial, she goes crazy and says that the doors made her do it! Naturally, Joe manages to go free and even stays with the trucking company.
I didn’t expect to like They Drive By Night at all, but it was really funny and fun. Bogart has a smaller role, but his sarcastic remarks are great. George Raft is a different kind of leading man -- he looks like he is wearing makeup or something -- maybe it’s his eyebrows? I love, love, love Alan Hale -- he is perfect as the lower-class man who's done good and has no idea how to class things up. Ida Lupino is spectacular as the bitchy Lana, and her breakdown is really convincing. I can see why this is a cult classic!
FILE UNDER: Classic Film ; 31 Films in 31 Days Challenge
 | George Raft, Ann Sheridan, and Humphrey Bogart chat in the roadside cafe. |
The two brothers, Paul (Humphrey Bogart) and Joe (George Raft) Fabrini are independent truckers. They are barely scraping by and owe quite a bit on their truck, but they are managing to still drive their truck. The brothers have to stop at a roadside café to replace their wheel and end up flirting with their waitress ("Nice chassis, eh Joe?" "Classy chassis."). The boys end up picking up a hitchhiker -- Cassie Hartley (Ann Sheridan), the waitress from the café and taking her into Los Angeles. But before they get into LA, the trucker in front of them falls asleep at the wheel and rolls off an embankment and catches fire! Paul is pretty traumatized by it, and Joe drops him off at his home. Joe takes Cassie into LA and rents a room for her for a week. He puts the moves on her, but ends up falling asleep in her bed.
| George Raft (notice the weird eyebrows!) and Ann Sheridan drive off. |
The next day, Joe is looking for a load to haul and finds Ed Carlson (Alan Hale), an ex-trucker who has managed to start his own trucking company, just as Joe aspires to. Ed’s wife Lana (Ida Lupino) had a thing for Joe, and apparently still holds a torch for him. The Carlsons offer Joe a job, but he wants to keep trying at the independent trucking business until it fails. Ed helps out Joe by giving him info on a load of lemons that he can buy outright and then sell to the markets.
Paul is upset about buying the lemons, and the scene where Joe and the marketer are bargaining over the price is hilarious. The Fabrini brothers finally have some cash, and manage to pay off their truck and appear to be on their way to independent trucking! But while Paul is driving (by night!) he falls asleep and the truck goes off an embankment. Joe is thrown free of the truck, but Paul goes down with the truck and loses his arm.
In order to take care of Paul and his wife, Joe goes to work for Ed Carlson. But he doesn’t have to be a trucker any more -- Lana makes sure that he gets a job in the garage! Joe tries to keep Lana in line by calling her Mrs. Carlson all the time, but he still has to go to the Carlson’s anniversary party. Lana, of course, is upset that Joe wants to leave early, and becomes even more agitated when her husband continues to become more crass and drunk. She finally gets the idea to leave him in the garage with the motor engine running -- she breaks the beam that causes the automatic garage door to go down in a defiant gesture.
Lana makes her husband’s death out to be an accident, and everyone buys it, including the district attorney. She makes Joe her partner in the trucking business, claiming that she couldn’t run it herself. Lana expects Joe to marry her, and is really upset when Cassie shows up at the garage. She tells him: "I’m the one who made you into the man you are now -- you belong with me and you’re staying with me! ... You’re mine and I’m hanging on to you. I’ve committed murder for you! You made me murder Ed!"
Since Lana can’t have Joe, she goes to the district attorney and tells him that Joe made her murder Ed in order to get the trucking business. After the murder, Lana has a phobia of the automatic garage door openers, and can’t stand to go through any of the automatic doors. While testifying at Joe’s trial, she goes crazy and says that the doors made her do it! Naturally, Joe manages to go free and even stays with the trucking company.
I didn’t expect to like They Drive By Night at all, but it was really funny and fun. Bogart has a smaller role, but his sarcastic remarks are great. George Raft is a different kind of leading man -- he looks like he is wearing makeup or something -- maybe it’s his eyebrows? I love, love, love Alan Hale -- he is perfect as the lower-class man who's done good and has no idea how to class things up. Ida Lupino is spectacular as the bitchy Lana, and her breakdown is really convincing. I can see why this is a cult classic!
FILE UNDER: Classic Film ; 31 Films in 31 Days Challenge
posted by Rebecca at 8:05 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home