The Concrete Jungle

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paul d @PaulusLoZebra 11/06/2020 The Criminal, aka The Concrete Jungle, is a tense, mesmerizing British crime drama from Joseph Losey in 1960. It has a very gritty, genuine feel. The excellent cinematography is lean and economic, with the camera capturing lots of details and transmitting tremendous emotion. The movie does fall down a bit on several counts, with the slightly overwrought acting and a rather contrived and hurried ending that doesn't match the quality of the first three quarters of the movie. See more 02/13/2010 This is really fucking good. The directorial decisions by Josephy Losey is really what makes this film stand out. The riot prison scene is fantastic with some great cinematography. Stanley Baker does a good job in this role, but this is really Losey's film. The ending of this movie may just be one of my favoirtes of all time. See more 01/11/2010 If this film had laughs, it'd be like an Ealing comedy. I mean that in a good way. Stanley Baker is rather ruddy awesome, and the direction's lovely. Story's fairly average, however, but that direction and the performances make it worth watching. See more 08/25/2009 i like stanley baker and this is a showcase for him as a tough loner who is outmaneuvered by a criminal gang. most of it takes place in prison where he is quite at ease as a top dog. then he's released and pulls a robbery with some associates and everything starts to come apart. losey throws u in the midst and at times it's hard to get your bearings but stay with it for the great final scene See more 08/18/2009 Only the second movie of Joseph Losey that I've seen and now I can honestly say I want to see more movies from him. This one surely isn't as good as 'The Servant' but I didn't expect it to be. The story seems standard but the way it is shot certainly is not. It has a fast pace and the 97 minutes are over before you know it. There's a bit of humor in it as well, from the 'knick knack paddy whack' at the beginning to the scene with the piano tuner. A rather dark picture is painted from the prison life, where guards and prisoners would rat on anybody for the right price. In that aspect, Patrick Magee was great as the sarcastic 'Barrows' who had seen it all before. Stanley Baker was more than average in the leading role, and so was Margit Saad as 'Suzanne'. In the first 45 minutes there isn't a whole lot of action but when the violence is shown, it's rough and not romanticized at all. 3,5* See more 08/15/2009 With its vision of the British prison system as a Hellish melting pot of all persuasions - Irish, Australian, Italians, West Indians, the mentally disturbed - and where the guards don't only turn a blind eye to vicious beatings but even facilitate them, this is a gritty Joseph Losey directed film full of memorable moments and features a great lead performance by Stanley Baker. The supporting cast is impressive, offering a virtual who's who of perfectly cast 60s British character actors. See more Read all reviews

The Concrete Jungle

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