High Sierra
Encyclopedia
High Sierra is an early heist film
and film noir
written by W.R. Burnett and John Huston
from the novel by Burnett. The movie features Ida Lupino
and Humphrey Bogart
and was directed by Raoul Walsh
on location at Whitney Portal, halfway up Mount Whitney
.
The screenplay was co-written by Bogart's friend and drinking partner, John Huston
, adapted from the novel by William R. Burnett
(also known for, among others, Little Caesar
and Scarface
). The film cemented a strong personal and professional connection between Bogart and Huston. The film is also notable as the breakthrough in Bogart's career, transforming him from supporting player to leading man, and his success in High Sierra would lead to his being cast in many of his iconic roles.
The film was noted for its extensive location shooting, especially in the climactic final scenes, as the authorities pursue Bogart's character, gangster "Mad Dog" Roy Earle, from Lone Pine
up to the foot of the mountain.
), is planning a robbery at a California resort casino. He wants an experienced Roy Earle (Humphrey Bogart
), just released from an eastern prison by a governor's pardon, to lead the heist and to take charge of the operation.
Roy drives across the country to a camp in the mountains to meet up with the three men who will assist him in the heist: Louis Mendoza (Cornel Wilde
), who works in the resort, plus Red (Arthur Kennedy
) and Babe (Alan Curtis
), who are already living at the camp. Babe has brought along a young woman, Marie (Ida Lupino
). Roy wants to send Marie back to Los Angeles, but after some argument she convinces Roy to let her stay. Roy also is adopted by a small dog called Pard.
Marie falls in love with Roy as he plans and executes the robbery, but he does not reciprocate. On the drive up to the mountains, Roy met the family of Velma (Joan Leslie
), a young woman with a deformed foot who walks with a limp. Roy pays for corrective surgery to allow Velma to walk normally. While she is recovering, Roy asks Velma to marry him, but she refuses, explaining that she is engaged to a man from back home. When Velma's fiancé arrives, Roy turns to Marie, and they become lovers.
The heist goes wrong when they are interrupted by a security guard. Mendoza, Red and Babe are involved in a car accident; Red and Babe die. Mendoza talks to the police.
While Roy and Marie leave town, a dragnet
is put out for him, identifying him to the public as "Mad Dog Roy Earle." The two fugitives separate in order to allow Marie time to escape. Roy is pursued until he climbs one of the Sierra mountains, where he holes up overnight.
Shortly after sunrise, Roy trades shots with the police. He hears Pard barking, runs out calling Marie's name and is shot dead from behind by a sharpshooter
.
was originally intended to play the Bogart part. However, Bogart, who at the time took a great interest in playing the role of Roy Earle, managed to talk Raft out of accepting the role, who subsequently turned it down.
Bogart had to persuade director Walsh to hire him for the role since Walsh envisioned Bogart as a supporting player rather than a leading man.
Bogart's character's dog, "Pard," was erroneously believed by some to be canine actor "Terry" ("Toto" from The Wizard of Oz
). In fact, it is Bogart's then-pet, Zero, that appears in High Sierra as "Pard". In the final scene, Buster Wiles, a stunt performer
, plays Roy's corpse. His hand is filled with biscuits to encourage Pard to lick Roy's hand.
Many key shots of the movie were made on location in the Sierra Nevada. In a climactic scene, Bogart's character slid 90 feet (27.4 m) down a mountainside to his just reward. His stunt double, Wiles, bounced a few times going down the mountain and wanted another take to do better. "Forget it," said Raoul Walsh. "It's good enough for the 25-cent customers."
liked the acting in the picture, and wrote, "As gangster pictures go, this one has everything—speed, excitement, suspense and that ennobling suggestion of futility which makes for irony and pity. Mr. Bogart plays the leading role with a perfection of hard-boiled vitality, and Ida Lupino, Arthur Kennedy, Alan Curtis and a newcomer named Joan Leslie handle lesser roles effectively. Especially, is Miss Lupino impressive as the adoring moll. As gangster pictures go—if they do— it's a perfect epilogue. Count on the old guard and Warners: they die but never surrender."
Time
magazine reviewed the film when released as having "less of realistic savagery than of the quaint, nostalgic atmosphere of costume drama." The reviewer noted, "What makes High Sierra something more than a Grade B
melodrama is its sensitive delineation of Gangster Earle's character. Superbly played by Actor Bogart, Earle is a complex human being, a farmer boy who turned mobster, a gunman with a string of murders on his record who still is shocked when newsmen call him "Mad-Dog" Earle. He is kind to the mongrel dog (Zero) that travels with him, befriends a taxi dancer
(Ida Lupino) who becomes his moll
, goes out of his way to help a crippled girl (Joan Leslie). All Roy Earle wants is freedom. He finds it for good on a lonely peak in the mountains."
It was also adapted as a radio play on two broadcasts of The Screen Guild Theater
, first on January 4, 1942 with Humphrey Bogart and Claire Trevor
, the second on April 17, 1944 with Bogart and Ida Lupino.
Heist film
A heist film is a film that has an intricate plot woven around a group of people trying to steal something. Versions with dominant or prominent comic elements are often called caper movies. They could be described as the analogues of caper stories in film history...
and film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
written by W.R. Burnett and John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
from the novel by Burnett. The movie features Ida Lupino
Ida Lupino
Ida Lupino was an English-born film actress and director, and a pioneer among women filmmakers. In her 48-year career, she appeared in 59 films and directed seven others, mostly in the United States. She appeared in serial television programmes 58 times and directed 50 other episodes...
and Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
and was directed by Raoul Walsh
Raoul Walsh
Raoul Walsh was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the brother of silent screen actor George Walsh...
on location at Whitney Portal, halfway up Mount Whitney
Mount Whitney
Mount Whitney is the highest summit in the contiguous United States with an elevation of . It is on the boundary between California's Inyo and Tulare counties, west-northwest of the lowest point in North America at Badwater in Death Valley National Park...
.
The screenplay was co-written by Bogart's friend and drinking partner, John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
, adapted from the novel by William R. Burnett
William R. Burnett
William Riley Burnett , often credited as W. R. Burnett, was an American novelist and screenwriter. He is best known for the crime novel, Little Caesar, whose film adaptation is considered the first of the classic American gangster movies.Burnett was born in Springfield, Ohio, U.S...
(also known for, among others, Little Caesar
Little Caesar (film)
Little Caesar is a 1931 Warner Bros. Pre-Code crime film. It tells the story of a hoodlum who ascends the ranks of organized crime until he reaches its upper echelons. Directed by Mervyn LeRoy, the film stars Edward G. Robinson and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.. The story was adapted by Francis Edward...
and Scarface
Scarface (1932 film)
Scarface is a 1932 American gangster film starring Paul Muni and George Raft, produced by Howard Hughes, directed by Howard Hawks and Richard Rosson, and written by Ben Hecht based on the 1929 novel of the same name by Armitage Trail...
). The film cemented a strong personal and professional connection between Bogart and Huston. The film is also notable as the breakthrough in Bogart's career, transforming him from supporting player to leading man, and his success in High Sierra would lead to his being cast in many of his iconic roles.
The film was noted for its extensive location shooting, especially in the climactic final scenes, as the authorities pursue Bogart's character, gangster "Mad Dog" Roy Earle, from Lone Pine
Lone Pine, California
Lone Pine is a census-designated place in Inyo County, California, United States. Lone Pine is located south-southeast of Independence, at an elevation of 3727 feet . The population was 2,035 at the 2010 census, up from 1,655 at the 2000 census. The town is located in the Owens Valley, near the...
up to the foot of the mountain.
Plot
An aged gangster, Big Mac (Donald MacBrideDonald MacBride
Donald MacBride was an American character actor on stage, in films and on TV who launched his career as a teenage singer in vaudeville and went on to be an actor on Broadway. He appeared in nearly 140 films between 1914 and 1955...
), is planning a robbery at a California resort casino. He wants an experienced Roy Earle (Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
), just released from an eastern prison by a governor's pardon, to lead the heist and to take charge of the operation.
Roy drives across the country to a camp in the mountains to meet up with the three men who will assist him in the heist: Louis Mendoza (Cornel Wilde
Cornel Wilde
Cornel Wilde was an American actor and film director.-Early life:Kornél Lajos Weisz was born in 1912 in Prievidza, Hungary , although his year and place of birth are usually and inaccurately given as 1915 in New York City...
), who works in the resort, plus Red (Arthur Kennedy
Arthur Kennedy (actor)
Arthur Kennedy was an American stage and film actor known for his versatility in supporting film roles and his ability to create "an exceptional honesty and naturalness on stage" especially in the original casts of Arthur Miller plays on Broadway.- Early life and education :Kennedy was born John...
) and Babe (Alan Curtis
Alan Curtis (American actor)
Alan Curtis was an American film actor appearing in over 50 films.Born Harry Ueberroth in Chicago, Illinois, he began his career as a model before becoming an actor, appearing in local newspaper ads. His looks did not go unnoticed in Hollywood...
), who are already living at the camp. Babe has brought along a young woman, Marie (Ida Lupino
Ida Lupino
Ida Lupino was an English-born film actress and director, and a pioneer among women filmmakers. In her 48-year career, she appeared in 59 films and directed seven others, mostly in the United States. She appeared in serial television programmes 58 times and directed 50 other episodes...
). Roy wants to send Marie back to Los Angeles, but after some argument she convinces Roy to let her stay. Roy also is adopted by a small dog called Pard.
Marie falls in love with Roy as he plans and executes the robbery, but he does not reciprocate. On the drive up to the mountains, Roy met the family of Velma (Joan Leslie
Joan Leslie
Joan Leslie is a retired American film and television actress.-Early life:Leslie was born Joan Agnes Theresa Sadie Brodel in Detroit, Michigan, and raised Roman Catholic. She began performing as a singer at the age of nine as part of a vaudeville act with her two sisters; Betty and Mae Brodel...
), a young woman with a deformed foot who walks with a limp. Roy pays for corrective surgery to allow Velma to walk normally. While she is recovering, Roy asks Velma to marry him, but she refuses, explaining that she is engaged to a man from back home. When Velma's fiancé arrives, Roy turns to Marie, and they become lovers.
The heist goes wrong when they are interrupted by a security guard. Mendoza, Red and Babe are involved in a car accident; Red and Babe die. Mendoza talks to the police.
While Roy and Marie leave town, a dragnet
Dragnet (policing)
A dragnet is any system of coordinated measures for apprehending criminals or suspects; including road barricades and traffic stops, widespread DNA tests, and general increased police alertness. The term derives from a fishing technique of dragging a fishing net across the sea bottom, or through a...
is put out for him, identifying him to the public as "Mad Dog Roy Earle." The two fugitives separate in order to allow Marie time to escape. Roy is pursued until he climbs one of the Sierra mountains, where he holes up overnight.
Shortly after sunrise, Roy trades shots with the police. He hears Pard barking, runs out calling Marie's name and is shot dead from behind by a sharpshooter
Marksman
A marksman is a person who is skilled in precision, or a sharpshooter shooting, using projectile weapons, such as with a rifle but most commonly with a sniper rifle, to shoot at long range targets...
.
Cast
- Ida LupinoIda LupinoIda Lupino was an English-born film actress and director, and a pioneer among women filmmakers. In her 48-year career, she appeared in 59 films and directed seven others, mostly in the United States. She appeared in serial television programmes 58 times and directed 50 other episodes...
as Marie - Humphrey BogartHumphrey BogartHumphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
as Roy Earle - Alan CurtisAlan Curtis (American actor)Alan Curtis was an American film actor appearing in over 50 films.Born Harry Ueberroth in Chicago, Illinois, he began his career as a model before becoming an actor, appearing in local newspaper ads. His looks did not go unnoticed in Hollywood...
as Babe - Arthur KennedyArthur Kennedy (actor)Arthur Kennedy was an American stage and film actor known for his versatility in supporting film roles and his ability to create "an exceptional honesty and naturalness on stage" especially in the original casts of Arthur Miller plays on Broadway.- Early life and education :Kennedy was born John...
as Red - Joan LeslieJoan LeslieJoan Leslie is a retired American film and television actress.-Early life:Leslie was born Joan Agnes Theresa Sadie Brodel in Detroit, Michigan, and raised Roman Catholic. She began performing as a singer at the age of nine as part of a vaudeville act with her two sisters; Betty and Mae Brodel...
as Velma - Henry HullHenry HullHenry Watterson Hull was an American character actor with a unique voice, most noted for playing the lead in Universal Pictures's Werewolf of London .-Life and career:Hull was born in Louisville, Kentucky...
as Doc Banton - Henry TraversHenry TraversHenry Travers was an English actor. His most memorable role was that of the angel, Clarence, in the 1946 motion picture It's A Wonderful Life.-Early life:...
as Pa - Jerome CowanJerome CowanJerome Palmer Cowan was an American film and television actor. At eighteen he joined a travelling stock company, shortly afterwards enlisting in the navy in World War I. After the war he returned to the stage and became a vaudeville headliner, then gained success on the New York stage...
as Healy - Minna GombellMinna GombellMinna Gombell was an American film actress of the 1930s and 1940s.She had a very successful stage career from 1912 before being signed by Fox film company in the late twenties. Her first film was Doctor's Wives in which she played under the name of Nancy Gardner, a name given to her by Fox...
as Mrs. Baughmam - Barton MacLaneBarton MacLaneBarton MacLane was an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter. Although he has appeared in many classic films from the 1930s through the 1960s, he was known for his role as Gen...
as Jake Kranmer - Elisabeth RisdonElisabeth RisdonElisabeth Risdon was an English film actress. She appeared in over 140 films between 1913 and 1952. An attractive beauty in her youth she usually played in society parts...
as Ma - Cornel WildeCornel WildeCornel Wilde was an American actor and film director.-Early life:Kornél Lajos Weisz was born in 1912 in Prievidza, Hungary , although his year and place of birth are usually and inaccurately given as 1915 in New York City...
as Louis Mendoza - Donald MacBrideDonald MacBrideDonald MacBride was an American character actor on stage, in films and on TV who launched his career as a teenage singer in vaudeville and went on to be an actor on Broadway. He appeared in nearly 140 films between 1914 and 1955...
as Big Mac - Paul HarveyPaul Harvey (actor)Paul Harvey was an American actor who appeared in at least 177 films.-Selected filmography:*They Shall Have Music *Behind the News *Moonlight Masquerade *Spellbound...
as Mr. Baughmam - Isabel JewellIsabel JewellIsabel Jewell was an American actress most active in the 1930s and early 1940s.-Early life and career:...
as Blonde - Willie BestWillie BestWilliam "Willie" Best sometimes known as Sleep n' Eat was an American television and film actor....
as Algernon - Spencer ChartersSpencer ChartersSpencer Charters was an American film actor. He appeared in over 220 films between 1920 and 1943.He was born in Duncannon, Pennsylvania, and died in Hollywood, California by suicide, from a mix of sleeping pills and carbon monoxide poisoning.His first stage work soon after leaving school was a...
as Ed - George MeekerGeorge MeekerGeorge Meeker was an American character movie and Broadway actor who became more of a legend off-camera than on. Meeker made several movies such as Crime Inc. , and Thief in the Dark and played an uncredited part in All Through the Night .Meeker has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.-External...
as Pfiffer
Production
Actor George RaftGeorge Raft
George Raft was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s...
was originally intended to play the Bogart part. However, Bogart, who at the time took a great interest in playing the role of Roy Earle, managed to talk Raft out of accepting the role, who subsequently turned it down.
Bogart had to persuade director Walsh to hire him for the role since Walsh envisioned Bogart as a supporting player rather than a leading man.
Bogart's character's dog, "Pard," was erroneously believed by some to be canine actor "Terry" ("Toto" from The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
). In fact, it is Bogart's then-pet, Zero, that appears in High Sierra as "Pard". In the final scene, Buster Wiles, a stunt performer
Stunt performer
A stuntman, or daredevil is someone who performs dangerous stunts, often as a career.These stunts are sometimes rigged so that they look dangerous while still having safety mechanisms, but often they are as dangerous as they appear to be...
, plays Roy's corpse. His hand is filled with biscuits to encourage Pard to lick Roy's hand.
Many key shots of the movie were made on location in the Sierra Nevada. In a climactic scene, Bogart's character slid 90 feet (27.4 m) down a mountainside to his just reward. His stunt double, Wiles, bounced a few times going down the mountain and wanted another take to do better. "Forget it," said Raoul Walsh. "It's good enough for the 25-cent customers."
Critical reception
Critic Bosley CrowtherBosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were unnecessarily mean...
liked the acting in the picture, and wrote, "As gangster pictures go, this one has everything—speed, excitement, suspense and that ennobling suggestion of futility which makes for irony and pity. Mr. Bogart plays the leading role with a perfection of hard-boiled vitality, and Ida Lupino, Arthur Kennedy, Alan Curtis and a newcomer named Joan Leslie handle lesser roles effectively. Especially, is Miss Lupino impressive as the adoring moll. As gangster pictures go—if they do— it's a perfect epilogue. Count on the old guard and Warners: they die but never surrender."
Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine reviewed the film when released as having "less of realistic savagery than of the quaint, nostalgic atmosphere of costume drama." The reviewer noted, "What makes High Sierra something more than a Grade B
B movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
melodrama is its sensitive delineation of Gangster Earle's character. Superbly played by Actor Bogart, Earle is a complex human being, a farmer boy who turned mobster, a gunman with a string of murders on his record who still is shocked when newsmen call him "Mad-Dog" Earle. He is kind to the mongrel dog (Zero) that travels with him, befriends a taxi dancer
Taxi dancer
A taxi dancer, or taxi for short , is a paid dance partner in a partner dance. For official purposes in the US, their occupation was referred to as "dancer", when they worked in taxi-dance halls that had all the necessary business permits...
(Ida Lupino) who becomes his moll
Gun moll
Gun moll is a term that refers to the female companion of a male professional criminal. In some contexts, gun moll more specifically suggests that the woman handles a firearm....
, goes out of his way to help a crippled girl (Joan Leslie). All Roy Earle wants is freedom. He finds it for good on a lonely peak in the mountains."
Adaptations
The film was remade twice:- As the 19491949 in filmThe year 1949 in film involved some significant events.-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:*Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello...
western Colorado TerritoryColorado Territory (film)Colorado Territory is a 1949 western film, a remake of the 1941 High Sierra. Both films were directed by Raoul Walsh. It was the first film premiered at a drive-in theater...
starring Joel McCreaJoel McCreaJoel Albert McCrea was an American actor whose career spanned 50 years and appearances in over 90 films.-Early life:...
and Virginia MayoVirginia MayoVirginia Mayo was an American film actress.After a short career in vaudeville, Mayo progressed to films and during the 1940s established herself as a supporting player in such films as The Best Years of Our Lives and White Heat .Mayo remained an A-list actress into the mid-'50s, but then went...
, also directed by Raoul Walsh. - In 19551955 in filmThe year 1955 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* November 3 - The musical Guys and Dolls, starring Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra, debuts.* June 27 - The last ever Republic serial, King of the Carnival, is released....
as I Died a Thousand TimesI Died a Thousand TimesI Died a Thousand Times is a color film noir directed by Stuart Heisler. The drama features Jack Palance as paroled bank robber Roy Earle, with Shelley Winters, Lee Marvin, Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez, and Lon Chaney, Jr....
starring Jack PalanceJack PalanceJack Palance , was an American actor. During half a century of film and television appearances, Palance was nominated for three Academy Awards, all as Best Actor in a Supporting Role, winning in 1991 for his role in City Slickers.-Early life:Palance, one of five children, was born Volodymyr...
and Shelley WintersShelley WintersShelley Winters was an American actress who appeared in dozens of films, as well as on stage and television; her career spanned over 50 years until her death in 2006...
, and directed by Stuart Heisler.
It was also adapted as a radio play on two broadcasts of The Screen Guild Theater
The Screen Guild Theater
The Screen Guild Theater was a popular radio anthology series during the Golden Age of Radio, broadcast from 1939 until 1952, with leading Hollywood actors performing in adaptations of popular motion pictures such as Going My Way and The Postman Always Rings Twice.The show had a long run, lasting...
, first on January 4, 1942 with Humphrey Bogart and Claire Trevor
Claire Trevor
Claire Trevor was an Academy Award-winning American actress. She was nicknamed the "Queen of Film Noir" because of her many appearances in "bad girl” roles in film noir and other black-and-white thrillers...
, the second on April 17, 1944 with Bogart and Ida Lupino.
External links
- High Sierra at Film Reference
- High Sierra trailer at You Tube