They Live by Night is a 1948 American film noir notable for being the directorial debut of Nicholas Ray and starring Cathy O'Donnell and Farley Granger. Based on Edward Anderson's Depression-era novel Thieves Like Us, the film follows a young fugitive who falls in love with a woman and attempts to begin a life with her.

The film opened theatrically in London in August 1948 under the title The Twisted Road and was released in the United States by RKO Radio Pictures as They Live by Night in November 1949. Although the film received favorable reviews from film critics, it was a box-office failure, losing the studio $445,000 (equivalent to $ in ).

Although the film is widely considered as the prototype for the "couple on the run" genre and the forerunner to Bonnie and Clyde (1967), the story was first depicted in Fritz Lang's 1937 film You Only Live Once, starring Henry Fonda and Sylvia Sidney. Director Jim Jarmusch cites the film as one of the influences on no wave cinema and his work in general. Robert Altman directed another adaptation of the novel in 1974 using the original title of the novel, Thieves Like Us.

Plot

Arthur "Bowie" Bowers, a 23-year-old serving a prison sentence for a murder he committed at the age of 16, escapes from prison with two older bank robbers, Chicamaw and T-Dub. The men take shelter with Chicamaw's brother, who operates a service station, and niece Catherine "Keechie" Mobley, who works there. Hoping to also free his incarcerated brother Robert, T-Dub concocts a plan to rob a bank and use the funds to hire a lawyer to prove a wrongful conviction. Houseman, who had considerable authority as a producer, repeatedly submitted treatments created by novice director Nicholas Ray.

RKO saw no commercial value in the story, especially because Ray lacked experience as a director. In early 1947, producer Dore Schary became RKO's production chief, hoping to transform it into Hollywood's most adventurous studio. Schary read Ray's treatment and signed Ray to a studio contract.

Houseman hired Charles Schnee to write the screenplay, but Houseman did not want Schnee to alter Ray's treatment. Ray and Schnee worked together to adapt the treatment into a completed script, which was submitted to RKO in May 1947.

Casting

Houseman arranged for Farley Granger to test for RKO, and Ray was convinced that he had found Bowie. Granger suggested Cathy O'Donnell for the female lead part. Both Granger and O'Donnell were under contract to Samuel Goldwyn and had limited acting experience. Granger had appeared in just two films before his World War II service, while O'Donnell had just made the classic The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). Ray insisted on the casting of Granger and O'Donnell. Granger later said: "Ray and John Houseman were among the few people who fought for me in my career. They said no, we will not make the film without him. When Nick believed in you, he was very loyal." In his autobiography, Granger listed They Live by Night among his favorite films.

Many of the supporting cast and minor characters were played by friends of Houseman and Ray. RKO contract player Robert Mitchum wanted the part of Chicamaw, but as he was a rising star who had recently received an Oscar nomination, RKO deemed the role of a bank robber unfit for him. The role of Chicamaw went to Howard Da Silva, who had made an impression in Marc Blitzstein's musical The Cradle Will Rock (1937), produced by Houseman. Other minor roles were played by people whom Ray knew from the New York theater, including Marie Bryant from Beggar's Holiday as a nightclub singer, Curt Conway and Will Lee, who would later play Mr. Hooper on the children's television series Sesame Street.

Filming

Filming began on June 23, 1947, with the opening scene, a tracking shot of Bowie, T-Dub and Chickamaw escaping from prison in a stolen car. The action sequence was filmed from a helicopter, making They Live by Night the first major studio production to do so, predating James Wong Howe's celebrated final helicopter shot in Picnic by eight years. Four takes were required, and the second take was used in the final cut.

As Orson Welles had done in his directorial debut, Citizen Kane (1941), also made at RKO for Houseman, Ray experimented with sound and cinematography. Ray's biographer noted: "Only Welles similarly tried to define acoustic and even verbal textures as much as the visual." Renowned film editor Sherman Todd also urged Ray to experiment and defy convention. Exteriors were filmed both on location and at RKO's movie ranch in Encino, but Todd's editing blended the sequences well.

Filming completed on August 21, 1947. Despite an excellent preview, RKO was unsure about how to market the film and studio head Howard Hughes shelved it for two years before releasing it to a single theater in the UK to enthusiastic reviews. The film was finally released in the U.S. in November 1949 under the title They Live by Night rather than the source novel's title of Thieves Like Us. The title was determined by audience poll and was favored by Hughes.

Release

Box office

The film recorded an ultimate loss of $445,000 (equivalent to $ in ).

Critical response

In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther called They Live by Night a "commonplace little story" and wrote: "Although it—like others—is misguided in its sympathies for a youthful crook, this crime-and-compassion melodrama has the virtues of vigor and restraint ... 'They Live by Night' has the failing of waxing sentimental over crime, but it manages to generate interest with its crisp dramatic movement and clear-cut types."

Eddie Muller listed it as one of his Top 25 Noir Films: "Film noir's version of Romeo and Juliet, made with amazing conviction by Nicholas Ray. A smart, soulful film full of evocative details, including a wonderfully intricate soundtrack."

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 96% of 26 critics' reviews are positive. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 82 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Home media

Warner Home Video released the film on DVD on July 31, 2007, while the film was issued on Blu-ray and DVD by the Criterion Collection in August 2017, respectively.

References

  • Collection of reviews on the film at Indiewire
  • 2002 Article on film at Senses of Cinema
  • They Live by Night: Dream Journey an essay by Bernard Eisenschitz at the Criterion Collection