The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

In director John Huston's classic film noirish, crime caper-heist thriller adapted from a novel by W. R. Burnett.

• legendary mastermind, aging, ex-convict criminal Erwin "Doc" Riedenschneider (Sam Jaffe) came out of retirement (prison after a seven year stint) for one last jewel robbery with an assemblage of underworld characters - he meticulously explained his proposed robbery - a heist to steal jewels worth more than $500,000
• the film realistically depicted all the semi-professional criminals and their motivations in the crime - the three, two-bit hired crooks: "box man" (safecracker) Louie Ciavelli (Anthony Caruso), a getaway driver - hunchbacked diner owner Gus Minissi (James Whitmore), and a tough, strong-armed "hooligan" drifter named Dix Handley (Sterling Hayden) from a Kentucky horse-farm, with his sympathetic girlfriend Doll Conovan (Jean Hagen)
• corrupt and sleazy lawyer and financier Alonzo Emmerich (Louis Calhern) would fence the stolen goods to support his expensive habits (e.g., an affair with seductive mistress); he maintained a blonde, voluptuous mistress Angela Phinlay (Marilyn Monroe in a minor but memorable cameo role) - to his distaste, she called him "Uncle Lon" and he called her "some sweet kid"

Emmerich's Mistress or "Niece" Angela Phinlay (Marilyn Monroe)

• the actual jewel robbery was clinically-delineated with details of the tense heist (the hammering through a brick wall, the nitro bottle with home-made "soup", the alarm system, etc. )
• the successful heist unraveled quickly and everything fell apart when an alarm accidentally sounded and the safecracker was mortally wounded by an armed guard's stray bullet
• a double-cross was also planned by "the big fixer" Emmerich who had hired his own armed shady private detective Bob Brannom (Brad Dexter); his scheme was to steal the goods and escape to Europe. Emmerich double-crossed both Dix and "Doc" when he delayed payment for the jewels and suggested taking possession of the jewels from "Doc" - at gunpoint; Dix saw the proposed sabotage of the fencing operation and shot Brannom, but was also mortally wounded

Emmerich with Brannom (Brad Dexter): The Double-Crossing of "Doc" and Dix

• afterwards, Emmerich revealed his corruption to his wife May (Dorothy Tree), who feared his many associations with "awful people...downright criminals" - he replied to her: "Oh, there's nothing's so different about them. After all, crime is only a left-handed form of human endeavor"
• Emmerich's alibi (through Angela) was revealed to be a lie; when threatened with arrest by the police, Emmerich retreated to a side room to write an apology-suicide note to his wife May, but then he tore up the note into pieces, reached for a gun in the desk drawer, and committed suicide (the gun-shot was heard off-screen)
• during his escape Doc was apprehended by police after he stopped at a roadside diner during his getaway; he was doomed when he obsessively (and voyeuristically) leered at a young girl named Jeannie (Helene Stanley), then gave her a bunch of coins to put in the jukebox ("Play me a tune") and watched her dance to the music - his delayed departure (he believed he had "plenty of time") led to his arrest - two policemen watched him from outside through venetian blinds
• in the film's final press conference, Police Commissioner Hardy (John McIntire) delivered a moralizing speech to reporters about rampant crime - illustrated by four radio speakers (lined up in a row) that broadcast crime reports: "...But suppose we had no police force, good or bad. Suppose we had (he flipped off all four radios) - just silence. Nobody to listen, nobody to answer. The battle's finished. The jungle wins. The predatory beasts take over. Think about it..."

Dix's Death in Kentucky Horse Pasture

• in the final scene, a bleeding and dying Dix Handley (who had fled) stumbled from his car into Hickory Wood Farm (his father's Kentucky horse farm lost during the Depression, and his own childhood home) - he staggered, collapsed and expired in a sunny horse pasture amidst four grazing and nuzzling colts he had dreamed of owning