A landmark in the history of crime movies and the progenitor of all heist films that followed. John Huston had provided the script for Raoul Walsh's 1940 film version of author W.R. Burnett's outlaw saga High Sierra and, ten years later, he snapped up Burnett's latest crime novel to direct himself. The film had an immediate and lasting impact on crime movies and literature. It subverted the Production Code by making its criminals working professionals with whom audiences empathized. Vivid and note-perfect.