High Sierra (1941)

Big Mac: "I've been dealing with such a lot of screwballs lately. Young twerps, soda-jerkers and jitterbugs. Why, it's a relief just to talk to a guy like you."

By Raoul Walsh
With Ida Lupino, Humphrey Bogart and Joan Leslie

High Sierra was one of the similar movies to Key Largo (1948) on IMDb. Naturally, I wanted to see it given it also featured Humphrey Bogart.

High Sierra is the story of Roy Earle, a gangster who, though just released from prison, already has a new heist waiting for him. He moves to the West, in the Sierra mountains to little cabins where two small time gangsters are waiting for him to start things up. One of them brought a dame with him, Marie, and Roy is not so happy about it as he knows there'll be troubles--yet, he can't bring himself to simply throw her on her way. The four of them, along with a stray dog named Pard, decide to rob a hotel during the highly sought out tourist season.

Surprisingly enough for a crime movie, the heist is not the highest point of the movie (which only comes at a later time). The running away and being most wanted is actually what really drives the movie. Speaking of driving, some of the car chases are quite interesting, although they are obviously played in a faster frame rate than they were filmed in, giving them this funny old fashion speedthrough kind of look. They are quite thrilling. The character of Roy Earle is also complex, as he is definitely a tough gangster but falls for a young lady, who, surprisingly enough doesn't fall for him in return and the gangster has to deal with romantic rejection--which I found good and original.

With its elements of crime, drama, romance as well as film-noir, this movie is quite polymorphous. It prevents him from excelling in any domain but provides a good through and through feature. One can argue that the story is predictable, but the fate of a gangster running away from the police can only go two ways.

I liked: The mountains. The car chases. The parallels between a young woman running from an abusive home, looking for freedom and a gangster in prison looking for the same thing.

I disliked: Eclectic, but lacked depth. Heading in a direction with no real twist or cliffhanger.

76/100
Could be considered proto-Bonnie and Clyde, the romance while being on the run. Bogart is really convincing as a softhearted tough gangster.