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Download, Watch online High Sierra Movie.
| Genres: | CrimeThrillerRoma |
| Starring: | Arthur Kennedy, Elisabeth Risdon, Henry Hull, Humphrey Bogart, Henry Travers, Donald MacBride, Jerome Cowan |
| Director(s): | Raoul Walsh |
| Country: | USA |
| Year: | 1941 |
| IMDB Rating: | 7.6 |
Roy Mad Dog Earle is broken out of prison by an old associate who wants him to help with an upcoming robbery. When the robbery goes wrong and a man is shot and killed Earle is forced to go on the run, and with the police and an angry press hot on his tail he eventually takes refuge among the peaks of the Sierra Nevadas, where a tense siege ensues. But will the Police make him regret the attachments he formed with two women during the brief planning of the robbery.
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High Sierra (iPod) | Resolution: 480x368 px | Total Size: 326 Mb |
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High Sierra (DivX) | Resolution: 640x480 px | Total Size: 975 Mb |
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Movie Photos: We have taken some photos of "High Sierra". They represent actual movie quality.
Visitor Reviews: (20)
18 May 2012
The convergence of old ways and newly found self...
This review is from: High Sierra (Snap Case) (DVD) The callous Roy Earl (Humphrey Bogart), a skilled robber, is pardoned and released back into society from being locked up in a prison. Once outside Roy goes back to his old ways as an old friend is planning a new heist. However, age has caught up with Roy as he realizes that most of his friends have passed away and that most people in his trade are very young. This leads Roy to gently reaching out to a handicapped woman with whom he can empathize with and relate to, and helping her out of a battered situation. In addition, Roy forms a strong emotional bond with a dog, Pard, that seeks Roy's affectionate care. The question is if Roy can balance his old lifestyle with his newly discovered self as he is about to carry out a criminal plan. High Sierra is a terrific cinematic experience as it offers both suspense and human connections in a tragic story in which Bogart gives an outstanding performance.
rbrb 17 May 2012
Dames, Dirty Rats, Mad and Bad Dogs, this film has it all!
This is a great campy fun movie, which no one should take seriously,and which rollicks along as our hero bad guy, accompanied by his molland their trusted dog go off on various criminal exploits.Our lead is released early from gaol to continue his life of crime, butreally has a heart of gold when saving a disabled girl, so committing afew hideous crimes like robbery and murder, are well just incidental,right..... The true star of this movie is Pard the dog played by Zero. Hey whydidn't he get an Oscar?!This picture is well directed and totally convincing as an enjoyablesoap opera, and deserves at least:8/10
telegonus 15 May 2012
Mountain Greenery
W.R. Burnett's novel High Sierra is maybe his best book; it's certainly aclassic of its type, and very readable and moving even today. The movieversion of the book isn't quite as good, but it does something fewadaptations do: it captures the spirit of the original.The story is about a John Dillinger-like criminal, Roy Earle, just releasedfrom prison, and his planning of his last 'heist', as he moves from theMidwest to California. It's as much a character study as anything else, andhere the book is better, as Burnett seems to get inside the heart and soulof Roy Earle in ways that screenwriter John Huston and director Raoul Walshcan't. This isn't their fault. Burnett gives us Earle's inner life ininterior monologues, and movies simply can't do this. Nevertheless, we get afeeling for Earle, a lonely, extremely sentimental and romantic man,essentially a frontier type, or with more brains an artist, who cannot fitinto modern life. The reason is simple: he doesn't understand it. He isdriven by two things, strong emotions and extreme professionalism. Theproblem is that his profession is crime. Between these two extremes he isunsocialized, or rather doesn't understand the subtlety of contemporarylife. To put it in current parlance, he's not hip, which is to say he has nodetachment, no capacity for pulling back and reflecting, unless, that is, heis in love, and even then he gets it wrong by misunderstanding anattractive, crippled girl's reliance on him for love, and taking her countrygirl disposition for naivite (i.e. like him), which isn't true. This tragicaspect of Roy Earle is beautifully and perceptively described by Burnett,and while it's present in the film, it makes Roy seem obtuse, while thetruth is his emotions run deep, and are sincere. He wants to give up crimeand marry a small-town girl so that he can go back and get it right again.In the lead role Humphrey Bogart gives a major performance. Superficiallyhe's wrong for Roy Earle: too urban, flip, smart and clever. But he tradesin his natural big city persona for a moony, brooding romanticism, and itworks. He doesn't seem the least bit sophisticated, and in his quietermoments he comes off like a man who can kill the way other men write checksHe has a true girl-friend in Ida Lupino, but he doesn't realize that she'smore his type: life-weary, straightforward, deep and caring. He prefers theone he can't get, and this gets him in trouble, as his commitment to herputs him in a dreamy, dissociative state that is dangerous for a man in hisline of work. The story builds on little things, and the bucolic mountainand small-town setting of the film is terra incognita for Roy, and we sensethis even if he doesn't. He is, for all his professionalism, way out of hisleague, and is looking back to his idealized, romanticized early life, andlonging for an ideal girl that he can 'fix', rather than doing the rightthing and going off with Lupino and stating anew, which is his only chancefor happiness.Roy is a man who lives in two parallel worlds, the real, vicious one he mustcope with, and the fantasy one he longs for and sees in the crippled girl heso tenderly loves. There is no in-between for him, as his head is in theclouds much of the time. It is therefore fitting that the movie ends upliterally in the clouds, or so it seems, atop a mountain, as Roy shoots itout with reality one last time.
centurion12 15 May 2012
Humphry Bogart classic
If you like old black/white movies (1941), cops & robbers, or if youare a Humphry Bogart fan, then this is a great movie. The story moveswell and gets you absorbed quickly. Bogy's performance as a gangster isclassic. This film was made early in Bogy's career and helped establishhimself as a star. Also the 1940s locations are interesting to see. Ithought this movie was well done. The acting was good, also gooddirection, and photographed very good. An "updated" color version ofthis movie is "I Died A Thousand Times," starring Jack Palance. Thismovie is just as good as the original, and goes to show you can't messup a good story.
Alex da Silva 14 May 2012
Kill that dog
Humphrey Bogart (Roy Earle) is sprung from prison so that he can lead agang in a robbery at a hotel for the wealthy. He meets his gang - IdaLupino (Marie), Arthur Kennedy (Red), Alan Curtis (Babe) along with theinside man who works on reception at the hotel, Cornel Wilde (Mendoza)and heist mastermind Donald MacBride (Big Mac). However, on his way tomeet up with his new crime unit, he befriends a family headed by HenryTravers (Pa) and falls in love with the daughter Joan Leslie (Velma).He retains his connection with this family throughout the film as heplans his robbery and escape. Does he pull it off......? The film has a nice setting and the ending stands out as we watchBogart battle things out on the Sierra mountain range. There is astandout shot of a marksman looking down from a vantage point on theSierra Nevada - nice camera-work. There is also a car chase up themountain which is well executed and the stuff of nightmares as carstear round bends not knowing what is around the corner. The cast are OKwith Bogart as the standout character.Unfortunately, the film does not deliver on what should be aninteresting story. It spends far too much time tracking Bogart'sfriendship with Travers and his family and, in particular, hisperverted love for someone who is WAY too young for him - Joan Leslie -the daughter with a club foot. He pays for her defect to be cured andthinks he can swoop her away with him. What a perv. Lupino is a farmore suitable love interest for him but I can understand him notwanting anything to do with her because of her affection for a bloodydog called Pard. The writers have given Bogart a sensitive side bythinking "Hmmmm. He needs to be sensitive. Lets get him to love acripple and have a soft side for dogs. Yeah. That's a good idea." Well,it's not. He should have killed the dog in the first few scenes. Andthis is where the story gets stupid - he takes the dog with him to arobbery on Lupino's request. Aaaah! How sensitive of him! There is alot more of that irritating dog in the film - it's really naff. Given the cast, the film is weaker than the sum of it's parts and it isjust not gripping enough. Oh yeah....and Willie Best does his annoyingblack man thing in the guise of Algernon.
Roger Burke 14 May 2012
When you're on a high, the only way is down, babyÂ
This was the movie that established Humphrey Bogart as a star.As the trivia note above indicates, however, it was not certain at allthat he'd get the part; but it was only after this movie that JackWarner instructed the publicity department at Warners to turn Bogieinto a star... I guess that explains why Ida Lupino got top billingahead of Bogie  he wasn't quite there yet.The part of Roy Earle was made for him, no question: Bogie is Earle,Earle is Bogie. So the remake (I Died a Thousand Times, 1955) with JackPalance and Shelley Winters is good, but lacks the realism of thisearlier effort; besides, Palance overdid his effort, I thought.The story is disarmingly simple: old time gangster, Earle, gets out ofstir to do another heist with some dumb newcomers; things go wrong, asthey usually do; Earle is chased into the sierras by the cops; death ofjust another gangster. Finale.What sets it apart are, of course, Bogie's  and Lupino's -performances, the cracking good script and the great setting  which isgenuine, much of the movie being photographed on location. I just lovedthe old cars and the grinding of gears  lovely stuff...It's listed as film-noir, but I think that's incorrect: film-noir mustinvolved a femme fatale  a woman who deliberately brings the herodown, or makes things bad for him. While there are two women in Earle'sshort life  Lupino as Marie, and Joan Leslie as Velma, neither fillthat role of femme fatale. Some might argue that Velma finds Earle'sAchilles heel when he falls hard for her, but she rejects him. I don'tsee that as fitting the film noir genre at all.This is a thriller, pure and simple, but it does have overtones ofirony: Earle loves Velma, but she rejects him; Marie loves Earle, buthe rejects her  until the very end. And, ironically, it is Marie'spresence on the mountain slopes that draws Earle out of his cover andto his death.Interestingly, this story has its copiers, most particularly with TheGetaway (1972) when Doc McCoy (Steve McQueen) is sprung from stir to doanother heist using dumb newcomers  and things go wrong, of course.Both Earle and McCoy figured they were on their last jobs too. Ifyou've seen The Getaway, then you know McCoy gets away. No such luckfor Roy Earle.This is a must-see for Bogie fans, naturally. And for anybody who likesgreat gangster movies of the Classic Hollywood era.
13 May 2012
Life on the edge
This famous 1941 film not only cemented Humphrey Bogart's superstar status (after spending most of his earlier years playing only supporting heavy roles), but it also signaled the end of the long run of Warner's gangster movies since the early Thirties and the beginning of the studios' move to film noir. Unfortunately, without much of a knowledge of its revolutionary status today it does not play either as one of the better gangster films or one of the better noirs; the director, Raoul Walsh, does not seem fully in control of the material. The central plot involving a recently released convict (Bogart) and his small gang stationed up high in the Sierras to rob the safes of a luxury lodge is terrific, but all of this is intercut with kinds of bizarre other elements: a comic lodge employee (Willie Best), a monkey-faced dog with a curse, a screaming hotel guest wearing what looks like taffeta wings, and, worst of all, a subplot involving a poor family of Ohio farmers traveling westward whose lives keep intertwining with Bogart's. Bogart idealizes the disabled granddaughter in the family, Joan Leslie, as the very repository of all that is good and sweet in the world, and pays for her leg to be operated upon; once she's healed, he discovers she doesn't want to marry him but rather hook up with some sort of lounge lizard from back in Ohio. Neither the lounge lizard nor his pals seem all that bad; they're just really annoying, but Bogart takes their presence as a terrible betrayal, just as he does Leslie's desire to dance all over the place now that her leg is better. So instead he turns to the nervy gun moll in his gang, Marie (Ida Lupino, as intense and riveting as ever).All this plays as if it were too scrupulously adapted from a much longer and more comprehensive novel, which is exactly the case: the ever-faithful John Huston keeps far too much from the W. R. Burnett novel published the year before. (This film marked the first collaboration between Bogart and Huston.) What redeems everything is the great work by Lupino and, especially, Humphrey Bogart in the central role: much leaner than he has ever elsewhere seemed and able to bring all kinds of warm shading to his aging gangster, Bogart makes you genuinely like this dangerous murderer. The final section where Bogart is actually cornered by police for hours up in the craggy otherworldly high Sierras is genuinely thrilling, and the location shooting was extremely rare for the time.
13 May 2012
Touching Movie of an Outlaw and a Lady
High Sierra is a touching story of an outlaw who is somehow pardoned only to join in a another planned robbery. Ida Lupino is a woman who has somehow gotten together with two men he plans the heist with. Both women beaters, she ends up staying with Bogart. Since she is not a nice woman, Bogart also is drawn toward a young woman who seems nice but not as nice as he thought. The hesitant love story between Bogart and Lupino is very touching and the ending is a heartbreaker. Can't recommend the movie enough. Bogart's first starring role and a wonderful one.
andrabem 13 May 2012
We want the world and we want it NOW!
"High Sierra" is very interesting.Roy Earle (Humphrey Bogart) is released from prison and he goes to aplace, high in the mountains, where he meets the people with whom he'llplan a robbery against a high luxury hotel. During the film he'll knowtwo women and try to follow his dreams concerning peace andrespectability. His choices will reflect his ideals but disillusionwaits for him. The action is fast paced and a feeling of urgency isever-present, but sometimes at night when the stars shine dreams andpoetry are allowed. There's also a small dog, called Pard, that ismaybe a symbol for the caprices of fate. Like the one in " Le Quai deBrumes" (1938) he follows the main characters till the end.High Sierra has a neorealist feeling. The characters look like reallife people, the dialogues flow naturally, many scenes are filmedoutdoors, the camera work registers the action in strong and fastbrushes and there's sympathy for the downtrodden.The acting is excellent (especially Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino) anddeeply felt. According to IMDb, during the time of the silent moviesRaoul Walsh started working for Griffith as an assistant director,editor and actor in "Birth of a Nation" (1915). I think he has knownand was friends with people from all walks of life. This is reflectedin this film where the outcasts (those on the other side of the law)are portrayed with sympathy. But Raoul Walsh doesn't blame society orshows the police in a bad sight. He tells a story of struggle anddespair and Maries (Ida Lupino) words at the end of the film resumewhat hope is left for those that live outside of society's bonds.
ebiros2 12 May 2012
Simple - but a great movie
The movie is about an ex-con who gets recruited for a casino heist.He's been identified, and is on the run again.Humphrey Bogart puts in a good show. This is the first time he'scollaborated with John Huston, that spawned series of great movies withhim. The story is simple, but the movie has a mood all its own. Is thisthe magic of Bogart ? Since nobody else's movie has this mood, I'd haveto put the credit where it's due. If it wasn't for him, this moviewould have been just another gangster movie, but you feel specialsympathy for Humphrey Bogart's character.Ida Lupino was great in this movie too.A classic in every sense of the word.
bkoganbing 08 May 2012
'Mad Dog' Meets a Poetic Finish
Humphrey Bogart's screen name in High Sierra is Roy 'Mad Dog' Earle.But it's clear from the outset that if Bogart is anything he's notcrazy. Bogart may have been a wild guy in his youth, but he's now amiddle-aged man who is fully aware that he can't do anything else, butcontinue in a life crime. He's got the resume and the reputation forthat and nothing else. What else can he do, but accept an offer to crewchief a heist at an expensive resort hotel in Nevada.He can't pick the men he'd like, they're probably all dead or in thejoint. He gets some young punks assigned to him by Barton MacLane whois acting as a middleman for boss Donald MacBride out on the westcoast. Bogey gets Alan Curtis, Arthur Kennedy, and an informant at thehotel, Cornel Wilde. Curtis and Kennedy are getting their hormones inoverdrive over Ida Lupino.On the way west Bogey meets up with a near do well family headed byHenry Travers and he starts crushing out on teenager Joan Leslie. Theyrepresent to him a simpler time before he took up crime as a living. The first half of the film sets up the characters, the second part isthe robbery and it's aftermath. In that second half High Sierra movesat a really good clip. Not too many went out for popcorn when it wasshown in theaters back in the day.High Sierra was one of three films that George Raft turned down andwere given to Humphrey Bogart that established him as a leading man.The other two were The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca. Raft must havehad some agent back in the day.Of course Bogart is playing a gangster, but this one is a threedimensional character and a fine piece of work. It represented a bigadvance from some of the villains he played at Warner Brothers duringthe late Thirties.High Sierra was directed by Raoul Walsh and another Hollywood icondirector, John Huston, co-wrote the screenplay. There's a lot ofsimilarity with this and Huston's later classic, The Asphalt Jungle.High Sierra was remade twice, as a western with the miscast Joel McCreain Bogart's role and in the Fifties as I Died a Thousand Times withJack Palance. I daresay it could be made again quite easily for thisgeneration, it's story is timeless.
08 May 2012
Bogie near the peak of Super-Stardom!
"High Sierra" released in January of 1941,gives us Bogart after having climbed that acting mountain for many years,just in hairs reach of the peak of super stardom.A classy tale of a heist gone wrong with lots of action and good acting throughout.The story concerns one Roy Earle,a criminal who is sprung out of the pen by his old boss Big Mac(Don McBride).He has one last big job for him and wants him to take charge of a group of characters,none of which Roy really trusts.On the way out he meets up with a kindly family led by Pa(Henry Travers)and his granddaughter Velma(Joan Leslie).Roy falls for the granddaughter whom he later helps out by giving the funds necessary to correct her clubbed foot.But Roy's love in the end is unrequited and in the end chalks his good deed up to experience.He reaches a camp where the "gang" are holed up waiting for the job to begin.One of the two men Babe(Alan Curtis) has brought along a girlfriend by the name of Marie(Ida Lupino),whom he periodically roughs up,much to the chagrin of Roy.After one such incident Roy gets rough with Babe and puts him in his place.Roy has wanted Marie to leave but in the end recants and Marie starts to fall for him.Roy finally meets up with Big Mac who is in serious trouble,health wise.Big Mac gives Roy a letter to be opened if anything should happen to him.The day of the big job finally comes and Roy and company rob the safe of a very up-scale hotel.The front desk clerk Mendosa(Cornel Wilde) is their inside man who leaves the safe purposely unlocked.The job is taking a little longer than expected when a security guard making his rounds stumbles in on the heist and gets shot by Roy.While fleeing in seperate cars,Roy and Marie witness their three partners accidentally run off the road and seemingly killed.However Mendozza lives and eventually squeals on Earle.By this time Roy has reconnected to hand over the jewels that were heisted,only to find that Big Mac has died.As instructed in the envelope he goes to another fence who tells Roy to return for his cut when he hears from him.When he gets the word and tries to collect he is discovered and the chase is on.He ends up in the Sierra Mountains and in the end,with Marie watching,dies there.He is now "free",as Marie,teary-eyed but comforted that he's in a better place(her identity as Roy's moll now confirmed),is led away by the police.The screenplay was co-written by John Huston,the famous director to be of such super hits as "The African Queen","The Maltese Falcon" ,"The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" and so many more.The film was directed wonderfully by venerable director Raoul Walsh of "Sadie Thompson"(1928) fame and many other good pictures of the 20s and 30s.Bogie as mentioned was just near super stardom and after his next gig "The Maltese Falcon", would come "Casablanca" and the rest is history.Ida Lupino was a classy actress in these years and plied her trade skillfully.It wouldn't be until the late 40s that her star would rise to its' peak, but in the meantime she learned about directing and between that and acting would continue to work well into the 70s.Character actor Henry Travers("Ball of Fire",the angel in"It's a Wonderful Life",and so many more),is a welcome addition to the cast playing a very affable Pa.Also a welcome addition is Willie Best giving some comic relief as Algernon,the camp caretaker and keeper of a little dog by the name of Pard.Pard was in fact Zero,Bogie's OWN dog!Also here is a young 15 year old Joan Leslie in her first major movie role and the first time using that name(she was billed in bit parts at MGM using her real name of Joan Brodel!).Finally we see 25 year old Cornel Wilde,almost unrecognizable,at the start of his career in a bit part as the inside man at the hotel(Mendoza)who rats out Roy later in the picture.This DVD has been transferred very well and the print,while exhibiting some flaws in keeping with its' age and condition,is generally in pretty good shape.Extras here are slim with just the theatrical trailer and a featurette about the movie.Wonderfully acted and directed, with a good script with well fleshed out characters,"High Sierra" makes for very entertaining movie fare and has never failed to disappoint.A good addition for your DVD library.
07 May 2012
Bogie Goes From Bad To Good Guy
Here is the film that launched stardom for Humphrey Bogart and changed him from the perpetual villain to the "good guy."The movie doesn't feature a lot of action but it keeps your interest. You have two women in here: the hard-boiled Ida Lupino and the soft-and-sweet Joan Leslie. Both are entertaining to watch and both demonstrate a few surprises in the personalities of the characters they are playing. Bogart does the same: goes back and forth between tough guy and softie.Another key member of this unusual crime story/film noir is "Pard:" a little dog! Human supporting roles are supplied by some familiar and solid actors such as Arthur Kennedy, Alan Curtis, Henry Hull, Henry Travers, Barton MacLane and Cornel Wilde. There are so many different angles to this story, it's always interesting to see.
FilmSnobby 06 May 2012
A highly important movie.
*High Sierra* is almost excruciatingly important in the development ofcinema, laying to bed the "gangster picture" of the 1930's whilesimultaneously giving birth to American film noir. Oh, and it made HumphreyBogart a major star while it was at it. Therefore, I'm not entirely surethat your film collection, if you have one, can survive withoutit.Based on a pulpy novel, it chronicles the story of Roy Earle, sprung from alife sentence in prison so that he can knock over a casino along theCalifornia-Nevada border. It's easy to miss, but notice the first minute ofthis picture closely: it's of course the Governor -- bought off by amobster -- who gets Roy released from his life sentence, indicating that thecorruption has finely infested the top of the social order. This is theusual tough-minded, whistle-blowing gangster-picture stuff that Warner Bros.specialized in. But there's also something else at work here, perhapssomething new: one gets the sense that what happens to Roy in this moviehas been engineered from On High, in advance . . . in other words, he's inthe Jaws of Fate. And thus we're in the unforgiving world of FilmNoir.More than the opening scene, it's Bogart who almost single-handedly inventsfilm noir with his groundbreaking work in *High Sierra*. Not cocky likeCagney and Muni, not psychopathic like the early Edward G. Robinson, not assmooth as Raft, Bogart is a ruthless professional with a wide stripe ofsentimentality. His Roy never shirks from killing, but he doesn't get offon it. He's more a rebel than a gangster, a poetic soul deniedrespectability, a man longing for the innocence of his youth. Unfortunately, he thinks he finds in the personage of a transplanted Okiefarm-girl (Joan Leslie) a reasonable facsimile of that innocence. Competing for his affections is Ida Lupino, a sour "dime-a-dance girl" who's been up, down, and around the block a time or three. She's thebaggage that comes with the two new-generation hoods whom Bogart is assignedto babysit for the casino heist. Not until later in the picture does Bogartrecognize Lupino's better suitability to his own temperament and experience. (They share in common, among other things, suicidal impulses, a desire toescape a corrupted world.)Roy Earle was a new type of character -- the truly romantic criminal. Bogart would play variations on Earle throughout his career, though herarely exceeded his triumph here. And while I've given the actor much ofthe credit, some more credit must be extended to the screenwriter, JohnHuston. *High Sierra* was the beginning of a beautifulfriendship.Oh, and did I mention that the movie -- aside from its importance inAmerican film history, yadda yadda -- is quite simply a good time? Wittydialogue, great on-location direction by Raoul Walsh, a cute dog, and aclimactic car chase that wouldn't be equaled until 1968's *Bullitt*, arejust some of this movie's other virtues.
Robert J. Maxwell 05 May 2012
Craftsmanship
Everything that was good about the Warner Brothers' machine comestogether here. A gangster movie, "High Sierra" doesn't fit the templateof earlier ones like "Public Enemy", "Little Caesar" or "The PetrifiedForest." Roy Earle is a remarkably complicated character. In love witha shallow girl, he eventually comes to accept the affections of IdaLupino and, finally, the mongrel Pard, who proves his undoing. Bogartcould be pretty good as a comedic actor but you wouldn't know it fromhis performance here, which is the working out of a tragedy. The script is by John Huston and it shows. He was a good writer. Thatlittle lesson Earl teaches the youngsters about how a Thompsonsubmachine gun goes off (he taps his fingers three times on the table)is memorable. There are other good lines. Bogart and the young girlhave a folksy little exchange about how, if you watch the stars longenough, you can almost feel the earth turning beneath you. The Doc,Henry Hull, describes Earle as "rushing towards death." Okay, Dillingersaid it first, but it was Huston who put it in the script. Mediocre score but good photography. Skidding cars leave clouds of dustduring the final chase. (The road to Whitney Portals is now paved.) Andwithout intending to, the movie makes one nostalgic for the simplerworld of 1941. Not simply unpaved roads, but a different world allaround. When was the last time we saw a "small town" that was not abedroom community, part of urban sprawl?A good movie. Catch it if you can.
Bolesroor 04 May 2012
I Know Why It's Great
"High Sierra" is a movie that everyone sees and loves but no one seemsto understand why... at least I have yet to see anyone else speak towhat I feel is the heart of the picture. I've read all 57 reviewsposted on the IMDb and I can honestly say I've got a different take onwhat makes the movie such a classic.On the surface the movie seems like a fairly straightforward crimefilm- Humphrey Bogart is Roy Earle, a tough guy criminal trying to pullone last job. But in actuality it is about a man's failure to redeemhimself and his eventual acceptance of his own tragic destiny. To me,this is the quintessential Bogart film, as he SEEMS to be thehard-boiled heavy of the film, when in actuality it is life and societythat are much more cruel and unforgiving; Bogart is actually the victimhere.The tough-guy façade is something Roy Earle develops because of theharsh conditions around him, and in this way he represents many, maybeall American men, who are forced to provide a cold and leatheryexterior to shield themselves from the pain and heartbreak of everydaylife. The robbery plot line is a red herring on which a much deeperstory is hung. Roy's weakness here is the weakness of all men, and itis so obvious, so clunky, so perfectly plain that it transcends thetragic flaw and becomes a badge of honor, the face of every Americanman who has come before or since. His weakness is the desire to loveand be loved.Sure, he has the sharp and sultry Ida Lupino but what Bogey reallywants is Velma, the child, the virgin, the innocent, with whom he cantruly start anew and reinvent himself, achieving an immortality bybecoming her father/husband and raising his own daughter/lover. Sherepresents to him everything that is pure and innocent and good in thislife, everything he has lost out on. And yet what is brilliant aboutBogart's performance is that he knows full well that this fantasy willnever become real, yet he cannot help but go through the ritual: themeeting of Velma, the holding of her hand... it's as hardwired into thepsyche of every American male as breathing in and breathing out.Velma's revulsion at the thought of marrying Earle can be symbolic ofmany things: a wife unable to accept her veteran husband after hisreturn, the inability of the cosmos to forgive him for past sins, theirreversible loss of innocence, or the sad fact that for whateverreason Roy was just not destined for any of the good that life has tooffer... he is cursed. Who hasn't felt that way at one time or another?The movie has a wonderful feel to it... we all seem to know that Roy isheaded for emotional- if not literal- death, and the joy is in watchinghim play the fool, trying in vain to change his fortune. The secret of"High Sierra" is that we enjoy watching lemmings march to theirinevitable deaths... we get off on watching this tragedy unfold.Everyone loves to play God for a day, shaking our heads and laughing atthe futility of a man who thinks he can change his Fate. According tothis movie, that is impossible."High Sierra" is a slow-motion practical joke on its main character. Heenters the world- and the picture- with Original Sin and finds itimpossible to redeem himself or his name. The heart-pounding finale isas obvious as it is compelling... Bogart has reached the end of theline- emotionally, spiritually, romantically, and that his why RoyEarle's story is so memorable and relatable. He is backed up againstthe wall, and his weakness for love- for Velma, for Marie, for Pard-prove to be his undoing. A forsaken man in a cruel world... a classic.GRADE: A-
chaos-rampant 04 May 2012
No Country for Old Men
I believe a serious study should be made about how deceiving this filmis.- we're meant to root for a bank robber even as he plans one lastheist, in the process lamenting the film noir crook, while no reason isgiven why we should.- nostalgia for older, simpler times, presumably when his type couldfreely roam the open prairie, on the other hand no one forces his typeto hold-up banks.- there is a crippled young girl that Roy helps out, a very decent farmgirl, only to turn bitchy and petulant when her leg is fine, and ofcourse suddenly there is a loving boyfriend who wants to pay back Royfor the medical costs, if so why didn't he take care of that all thistime?- a heroic last stand against police and the modern world, high up inthe stark Sierras, on the other hand a cop is shot in passing and noone thinks twice about it.The problem here, as you may have gleaned, is not the amoral world,that is fine and expected from noir, even though the film comes at thestart of the cycle when there wasn't any solid genre as we know it now.I'm sure the film was conceived as a gritty crime flick, typical Warnerbros, the twist being that it will be told using codas from thewestern. The innovation is that those codas are about the passing ofthe West, something the western was not going to pick up until the late50's at least.The problem is the tear-jerking sentimentality applied on noircosmology; small human beings at the mercy of cruel gods, this isrendered as Roy being sprung from prison, given a new lease of life,but only to serve the heist.Now traditional western heroes had a mean streak in them but werebasically decent human beings, so if the film rhapsodized theirpassing, that was okay, they were the kind of man you'd like to be orcall a friend. Later in Italian westerns they were amoral scoundrelswho maybe did the right thing because it was on their way to money, butItalian westerns were never sentimental about their exploits.But you can't be emotional about the noir schmuck, you can't arrive atconclusions for us. My opinion is that one has to push hisunderstanding beyond the level of fates, beyond immediate chaos on thehuman level, that some of us are born bad and only rushing towardsdeath, and grasp mechanisms that control these things. The film graspslittle.On the other hand, you might want to see the classic finale, with ourhero surrounded by landscape that reflects him, harsh, barren, proud,while down below watches the audience, of course expecting violence andtragedy.
03 May 2012
Bogart and Lupino at their best
In HIGH SIERRA Humphrey Bogart plays professional criminal Roy Earle who is pardoned from prison because of the influence of a crime boss named Big Mac. Bogart is paid advance money to report to Big Mac in California. Mac is planning to use him to lead a small gang in pulling off a jewelry robbery at a swank resort hotel.En route to California Bogart helps a distressed family he meets at the scene of a minor traffic accident. He is attracted to the granddaughter who is played by Joan Leslie. She has a deformed foot which Bogart arranges to have fixed by a surgeon in California. When he arrives at the hideout he finds two cheap crooks and a dance hall girl waiting for him. One of the hotel employees is also involved in the robbery scheme.The suspense builds rapidly from this point on as we await the outcome of both the holdup and also the romances which are developing simultaneously between Bogart and the two women.Ida Lupino gives a stellar performance as the former dance hall girl whose love for Bogart isn't really appreciated until it may be too late.Bogart and Lupino are at their best in this film. A Strong supporting cast includes Arthur Kennedy, Alan Curtis, Henry Hull, Henry Travis, Jerome Cowan and Cornell Wilde. There is also a small dog in the cast who will win your admiration and break your heart. Raoul Walsh is known for his direction of many other fine movies including ROARING TWENTIES and THE STRAWBERRY BLONDE.
02 May 2012
Bogart always delivers, but this is nothing special
Humphrey Bogart became a legend as a tough guy: he talked fast, asked few questions, and stuck his neck out for nobody. His characters were usually only interested in selfish pursuits, but they usually had a soft spot for a beautiful woman. Bogart's character in High Sierra, an aging criminal named Roy Earle, falls right in line with that archetypal character, and the movie he's in is pretty good, to boot.Earle, just recently out of prison, is quickly hired to heist jewelry and cash from a hotel in Los Angeles. As he's driving to L.A. from Chicago, he runs into an old couple, Ma and Pa, and their granddaughter Velma (Joan Leslie), who is stricken with a clubbed foot, and immediately catches the attention of Earle. Wouldn't you know it? They are headed to Los Angeles as well. Roy, however, is staying at a resort outside of L.A. along with his two cohorts, who turn out to be a couple of smalltime twits, with the nicknames "Babe" (Alan Curtis) and "Red" (Arthur Kennedy). They've brought along with them a young woman named Marie (Ida Lupino), who becomes immediately infatuated with Earle.Roy doesn't return Marie's affections, however, as he is there to do a job and then get out. He's not much interested in crime anymore, and would like to retire to a farm in Indiana like the one he grew up at. Earle makes a couple of visits to L.A. with several things on his agenda: to scope out the hotel, to meet with the guy in charge, and to pay for an operation that will fix Velma's foot, and hopefully convince her to marry him. Well, things don't always go as planned, and the case is no different here, as Earle ends up running from the law, who are quickly on his tail, and looking to bring this famous criminal down very publicly.High Sierra, released in 1941, set in motion some staples of today's action genre, including car chases and fugitives on the run. However, the actual action in the film is minimal. There are some obviously ridiculous scenes by today's standards--including Bogart delivering a monologue in his sleep--and the whole film is fairly predictable, but that doesn't really make it any less enjoyable. In general, my rule is, if Humphrey Bogart's in it, it's probably worth seeing. With Bogart, you know exactly what you're going to get, and you know that he will deliver every time. High Sierra is no different.
Petri Pelkonen 02 May 2012
Free...
Roy Earle (Bogart) gets a pardon only to go back to the world ofcrimes.But tough guy finds two sides of himself when he meets thecrippled Velma (Joan Leslie) and Pa (Henry Travers).He falls for thegal and wants to help her walk properly.But there's Marie (Ida Lupino)who falls for him.Raoul Walsh is the director, John Huston andW.R.Burnett the writers of High Sierra (1941).This is a movie that madeHumphrey Bogart a star.He does a highly memorable role work as RoyEarle.Ida Lupino shows her talent as Marie.Joan Leslie is anotherwonderful female in this picture.Henry Travers is fantastic asalways.Willie Best and Pard the dog bring some comedy there.There aremany scenes to remember in this classic.The final scene leaves youspeechless.Movies used to be something else in the olden days.