Rating: 4/5
There's no sacrifice too great for a chance at immortality
Dixon Steele is a washed-up screenwriter working in a city that sells popcorn and repeats — he joins the actors of yesteryear on the barstool as opportunities flutter across them. But Steele won’t do any work that his heart isn’t in
When a book adaptation comes his way — “all you gotta do is follow the book” — he invites Mildred, the coat-girl at the restaurant who read it, over to his place so she can tell him what it’s about. More than once, Laurel Grey, his neighbor from across the way, crosses their paths, taking Steele’s attention from Mildred and the story. Ultimately, Mildred’s description leaves him empty once more, so he pays her and sends her on her way
The next day, detective and former army pal Brub Nicholai ushers him downtown to provide an alibi — Mildred is dead, and he’s the last to see her. Steele asks for Grey to corroborate his story. Though strangers at the onset, the two quickly fall in love. But as the murder investigation lingers, so too does Laurel’s suspicions that Steele is not innocent
The film is difficult — Bogart’s Dixon Steele is lonely in his violence, lonely as a writer who can’t find a passion project, and lonely as a man without love — we carry sympathy for him, not because we are rooting for him but because we are hoping that this will be what changes him and makes him the person he wants to be: kind, loving, creative. In the end, he gets one of them
Gloria Grahame gives so much vitality to Laurel Gray — guarded yet romantic, flighty yet persistent — for better or worse, she could be the one who can put up with Steele’s violent tendencies
As a contemporary audience member, it’s impossible to root for Dixon and Laurel — everything inside us yearns for Laurel to escape and find someone better, less violent, more decisive at managing that misplaced drive
But love is cruel in how it chooses for us our romantic interests. And this isn’t a morality play — it’s the story of two people the world has hurt too many times
Stray Thoughts
- It’s wild how many speaking roles go uncredited here! Ruth Gillett, who plays Martha, provides crucial plot points
- We need to go back to launching music careers from movie performances