The Asphalt Jungle

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) | Release Date: May 12, 1950

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

85	METASCORE Universal acclaim based on 15 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

100

Paul Arendt

Shot with an eye for the grimy beauty of the underworld and utterly merciless to its characters, The Asphalt Jungle is a biting, bitter espresso of a movie. Read full review

100

EmpireDavid Parkinson

A tight plot that's enriched by wonderfully crafted characters that each have their own key weaknesses. Read full review

100

Michael Wilmington

One of the great film noirs and a quintessential heist movie, a classic of American hard-boiled storytelling that, though endlessly copied, hasn't been bettered. [27 May 2005, p.C6]

100

Philip French

The Asphalt Jungle is the greatest, most influential heist movie, and has a superb performance from Sam Jaffe as the middle-aged German-born criminal mastermind behind a million-dollar jewel robbery in an unidentified American city. [12 Feb 2006, p.17]

100

TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)

Rosson's moody photography and Rozsa's moving score further enhance this film noir masterpiece. Read full review

Crosby Day

The Asphalt Jungle is considered to be director John Huston's most brilliant and realistic crime drama. [10 May 1998, p.67]

Clayton Dillard

Blood and trauma make an irresistible mix in John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle. Read full review

Ted Mahar

John Huston's classic film noir, adapted from W.R. Burnett's novel, is a forerunner of dozens of heist movies, few of which surpass it. [26 Feb 1999]

Scott Tobias

The Asphalt Jungle would be considered a heist picture if the mood didn't dictate otherwise. The standard "honor among thieves" theme applies, but dishonor gives the film its special noir flavor. Read full review

The GuardianAndrew Pulver

An early masterclass in the art of the caper movie, John Huston's 1950 thriller stands up wonderfully well, even if we've got used to far more convoluted scheming by movie robbers in the intervening period Read full review

Bosley Crowther

Mr. Huston has filmed a straight crime story about as cleverly and graphically as it could be filmed. Read full review

Wally Hammond

Exciting and tautly directed – the lengthy robbery scenes are exemplary – it’s moody to the dying frame, emphasised by Harold Rosson’s lighting of trash-filled back-alleys and half-lit clip joints and Miklós Rozsa’s haunting theme music. Read full review

Dave Kehr

One of the first big caper films, this 1950 feature contributed much to the essence of the genre in its meticulous observation of planning and execution. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

Ironic realism is striven for and achieved in the writing, production and direction. An audience will quite easily pull for the crooks in their execution of the million-dollar jewelry theft around which the plot is built. Read full review

Pauline Kael

A competent (often overrated) thriller by John Huston about a group of crooks who plan a jewel robbery and how their characters determine the results.