Jules Dassin's "Thieves' Highway" is a curious noir picture because all the usual elements are forged and in place for a tough, tightly-paced picture and yet it gives us more than the expected. The noir trappings are there but we also get lost in the lonely world of truckers, golden apples, waterfronts, Italian prostitutes and in the minutiae of dangerous truck driving, the money at stake, who's robbing whom to make a buck and so on. In 2022, in a proposed world of driverless truckers, there is much here that almost makes it a docudrama of the rough terrain of truckers.
The fabulous Richard Conte is perfectly cast as Nick Garcos, a man who returns to his family in Fresno bearing gifts. Everything seems idyllic until he discovers his father (Morris Carnovsky), a former trucker, was bilked of wages during a bad accident where he lost his legs. The bilking was done courtesy of the corrupt Mike Figlia (Lee J. Cobb, a punchy and vibrant performance), who runs a produce market in San Francisco. Nick wants the money owed to his father so while partnering with the dubious truck jockey, Ed Prentiss (Millard Mitchell) who bought Nick's father's truck, a bargain is struck and the two hit the road with the shipment of apples to deliver to Figlia. None of this will be accomplished so easily.
It is clear from the plot that this could've been fairly standard, clockwork noir with the tension being whether Nick can get the money owed from Figlia or die trying. Being that this is a Jules Dassin flick and based on the A. I. Bezzerides' proletarian novel "Thieves' Market," the film is also far more invested in the relationships between the truckers, Figlia's manipulative ways that involve violence and the machinations of charging people whatever price floats in his head, and Nick trying to be righteous and realizing this world is amoral at best. But there is also the curious Italian prostitute Rica (Valentina Cortesa) who seems intent on manipulating any man to befit Figlia's corrupt ways but she may also be duplicitous. Curiously Dassin and writer Bezzerides keep us guessing as to her motives - is she money hungry or will she do right by Nick? Does she have to do right by him since men lunge themselves at her all the time. An early funny scene shows her at the cafe with a cigarette asking for a light and several men offer at the same time - an old joke that only shows she's capable of summoning and stealing a man's heart through his wallet, or their lighters.
I don't buy the happy ending of "Thieves' Highway" nor does it feel warranted (a surprise coming from Dassin who later on created one of his darker noir endings in "Night and the City"). Still I was pulled in by the cast and especially Richard Conte's proletariat-led idealism - he is jovial in the beginning and slowly such joy dissipates till he has some sort of implied rebirth. The idealism is etched on his face, and you can feel it - he is somehow the perfect postwar worker type that you might ever see during this era. Valentina Cortesa is excellent in her low-key performance, never pushing for any extremes yet we are never too sure of her intentions (Nick refers to her as chipped glass, a great line). The low-keyedness is also evident with Millard Mitchell as Ed and we discover through him that, hey, we all have to make ends meet somehow on these treacherous roads. Speaking of treacherous, there are two thrilling truck scenes, one involving a deadly crash, that have to be seen to be believed - Dassin was quick on the trigger when it came to making these scenes realistic and snappy. Tension-filled in every frame and often sprinkled with a touch of empathy towards characters you least expect to get any, "Thieves' Highway" is, dare I say it, truly evocative proletarian noir. Try saying that three times.
