Night and the City

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Night and the City

Released Jun 9, 1950

1h 35m

Crime

Drama

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Popcornmeter

86%

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22 Reviews

90%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

Londoner Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark) is a second-rate con man looking for an angle. After years of putting up with Harry's schemes, his girlfriend, Mary (Gene Tierney), becomes fed up when he taps her for yet another loan. His latest ploy, promoting an aging Greek wrestler, goes awry when the wrestler dies and everyone points the finger at Harry. Hiding out in a riverfront barge, Harry sees his grand ambitions spiral into a nightmare of fear and desperation as the underworld closes in.

Variety Staff

Variety

Jules Dassin, in his direction, manages extraordinarily interesting backgrounds, realistically filmed to create a feeling both of suspense and mounting menace.

Apr 15, 2008

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Bosley Crowther

New York Times

A pointless, trashy yarn.

Rated: 2/5

Jan 28, 2006

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Tom Milne

Time Out

Inclined to go over the top, it all too clearly contains the seeds of Dassin's later -- and disastrous -- pretensions.

Jan 26, 2006

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David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

...an exceptional effort from a first-class filmmaker.

Rated: 3.5/4

Jul 1, 2024

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Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

Richard Widmark plays one of cinema’s great heels in... one of the greatest film noirs set in a foreign capital.

Aug 19, 2023

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Kimberly Pierce

Ticklish Business

Dassin and his cinematographer Max Greene easily guide the tone of Night and the City with an unseen hand. The visual power of these images casts a heaviness over the narrative which wouldnt be present without these very specific stylistic choices.

Rated: 4.5/5

May 1, 2022

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acsdoug D

Terrific film, reminded me of a Dostoevsky novel. You just know whatever Richard Widmark does (and he's excellent) he's ultimately doomed, but you still want to see how it happens.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

07/17/24

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helder f

A story about a self-involved man and his gimmicks to get rich. Great performances, and photography. Script a bit too melodramatic, a mixture of neo noir and action movie, which at times feels too disingenuous. Disingenuous in the sense that it attempts to create an emotion more than to tell a compelling story. The fact that his wife or partner appears first early in the movie, then disappears only to appear again in the very last scenes is an odd choice.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

04/22/24

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Steve D

Hard to care what happens to anyone.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

04/03/24

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Blu B

All Time Classic. The cinematography is amazing with incredible use of lights and shadows with stellar camerawork and a memorable setting of seedy underground London. Widmark is amazing in this and really carries the entire film along with an excellent supporting cast. This is perfectly aced also with a franticness kicking in the last 15-20 minutes. The music is really good also. The only is the editing is really well done but there is SOOO many sides involved in this hustle job by Harry (I think 6 parties total) it is genuinely hard to understand who is double crossing who and who is being setup. However a testament to how well made this is despite not understanding everything in the weeds the big picture still makes sense and you know Harry is screwed and this won't end well. Everyone should give this a try.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/13/24

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Dick C

It tells one who never changes...

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/05/24

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Audience Member

Acting and cinematography top notch. Story ok but hard to care about narcissist grifter. Great photography make all worthwhile, almost.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

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Jules Dassin

Director

Richard Widmark

Harry Fabian

Gene Tierney

Mary Bristol

Googie Withers

Helen Nosseross

Stanislaus Zbyszko

Gregorius

Austin Dempster

Writer

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Synopsis

Londoner Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark) is a second-rate con man looking for an angle. After years of putting up with Harry's schemes, his girlfriend, Mary (Gene Tierney), becomes fed up when he taps her for yet another loan. His latest ploy, promoting an aging Greek wrestler, goes awry when the wrestler dies and everyone points the finger at Harry. Hiding out in a riverfront barge, Harry sees his grand ambitions spiral into a nightmare of fear and desperation as the underworld closes in.

Director: Jules Dassin
Producer: Samuel G. Engel
Screenwriter: Austin Dempster, Jo Eisinger, Gerald Kersh
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: Twentieth Century Fox
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 9, 1950, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 25, 2016
Runtime: 1h 35m
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: 35mm