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List Price: $19.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 56884
Released: October 3, 2006 |
| Our Price: $9.95 |
| Used Price: $8.65 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino star in this tragic study of an American gangster whose hard-boiled persona finds itself at war with his compassionate side - a side that ultimately will be his downfall.
Description of High Sierra (Keepcase):
This 1941 melodrama is memorable for both its strong central performances and their intimations of how the previous decade's crime dramas would evolve into film noir--no accident, given the solid direction of veteran Raoul Walsh and the hand of screenwriter John Huston, who teamed with the author of its novelistic source, W.R. Burnett (Little Caesar). In the central character of Roy "Mad Dog" Earle, a fictional peer to John Dillinger, Humphrey Bogart finds a defining role that anticipates the underlying fatalism and moral ambiguity visible in the career-making roles soon to follow, including Sam Spade in Huston's directorial debut, The Maltese Falcon.
Earle suggests a prescient variation on the enraged sociopaths that were fixtures of the gangster melodramas that shaped Bogart's early screen image. Pardoned from a long prison stretch, the weary robber is clearly more eager to savor his new freedom than immediately swing back into action. But his early release has been engineered by a mobster who wants Earle to pull off a high-stakes burglary, setting in motion a plot that is a prototype for doomed-heist capers--a small, yet potent subgenre that would later include Huston's The Asphalt Jungle and Stanley Kubrick's The Killing.
What gives High Sierra its power, however, isn't the crime itself but Earle's collision with the younger, brasher confederates picked to help him, and the hard-edged but vulnerable taxi dancer they're competing for, played forcefully by Ida Lupino, who actually received top billing. Her attraction to the reluctant Earle is complicated by a convoluted subplot designed to showcase then starlet Joan Leslie, but the movie finally moves into its most gripping moments when the wounded Earle, pursued by police, flees ever higher toward the mountains. His final, suicidal showdown would become a cliché of sorts in lesser films, but here it provides a wrenching climax sealed by Lupino's vivid final scene. --Sam Sutherland
High Sierra (Keepcase) Reviews:
"CLASSIC CRIME DRAMA" 
2008-11-21 - Roy Earle is released from prison and is preparing for his final heist. Screenplay by,W.R.Bernett&
John Houston. Directer;Raoul Walch. Lupino&bogart with a great cast. I call this movie;Sympathy
for the criminal film. (You're brought into their world.) This is a well crafted movie from the
40's.
The most subtle scene is,Bogart at the cigaret counter.
Check my review of;"I died a 1000 times."(remake.)
Extra's:Interviews,which includes Joan Leslie. Trailers,etc.
The film that made a star out of Bogart...and his dog, too!
2008-07-06 - "High Sierra" is an important film in many ways. It was the bridge between 1930's gangster movies and 1940's film noir. It was the first instance of the romantic, sympathetic criminal. It was also the pivotal movie of Bogart's career. It was the first time the studio's publicity department promoted him as a "star" and the last time he didn't receive top billing in a film. He deserved the attention he received for pulling off the character of Roy "Mad Dog" Earle; he was able to make this Dillinger-with-a-heart-of-gold believable.
The film benefits from a lot of top drawer talent; directed by Raoul Walsh from a screen play adaptation by John Houston. Bogart and Ida Lupino were reunited from their previous successful teaming in "They Drive by Night." The strong supporting cast includes Joan Leslie as the girl Bogart wanted to marry, and Cornel Wilde as the "inside man" on the planned heist. Even the dog is wonderful! (The role of "Pard" is played by Bogart's own pet mutt, Zero.)
Walsh fought for and won the right to film on location at Mount Whitney. We're used to location shooting now, but if you watch many films contemporary to "High Sierra" you can't help but notice the artificial "filmed" background screens.
Warner Brothers does their usual nice job with the DVD package. The print has been cleaned up significantly; the video is very good quality and the sound is crisp and clean.
Special features include an original trailer for "High Sierra" and an interesting documentary about Bogart's career and the making of this film. Already somewhat familiar with Bogart's biography the narrative didn't have any big surprises, but there are a couple of amazing photos of Bogart in his early 20's. One shot of him at about age 22 in a top hat and tails, sporting an ear to ear grin, doesn't bear any resemblance to the Bogart we all know and love.
"High Sierra" is a significant film that belongs in any serious film buff's collection.
Highly recommended!
One of Bogarts best.
2008-01-07 - I had seen this movie on TV enough, that I decided to go ahead and buy this DVD. It's a wonderful addition to my movie collection.
The DVD is beautiful, very nice transfer. Movie itself is wonderful, full of intrigue and the last few minutes of the movie are wonderful.
All the preformances are spectacular. This is one of Bogart's best movies, Dark Passage is another wonderful Bogart film. Ida Lupino, Arthur Kennedy add to the richness of the picture. I recommend buying this DVD.
High Sierra
2007-06-22 - Though the forties saw a waning in gangster pictures, early on Bogart was given a juicy breakout role in Walsh's "High Sierra", as a killer with a compassionate side. Bogart's "Mad Dog" Earle is more Dillinger than Capone, more sympathetic and human, but when threatened, still a scary individual. Young Lupino stands out as Earle's loyal protector who can't win his love. Co-written by a young John Huston, "High Sierra" is a solid, flavorful entry for "Bogie-as-bad-guy" fans, boasting a slam-bang finish.
A Nice Transition from Gangster to Noir 
2007-06-10 - Firstly, I think Koehler's review is largely spot on in its criticism of this movie. The blatant racism made me cringe several times (thankfully, though, the filmmakers had enough taste not to use a white man in black paint), the sleep-talking scene does seem like a cop-out, and the dog is too explicitly a vehicle for fate. On top of that, I'll add that some key moves in the end are hard to understand--why did Earl give all the money to Marie? Why did he subsequently rob a store without filling up with gas first (presumably the reason for the robbery in the first place)? This movie is by no means perfect.
But it does have, I think, a good bit of substance to outweigh all these relatively minor detriments. The innovation of a complex gangster, for instance, is very enjoyable and already sets the tone for the "decent fellow forced into corrupt ways" nature of film noirs that was right around the corner. There is quite a bit of similarity in this respect between High Sierra and, say, Criss Cross, The Urban Jungle, or Out of the Past, where the main characters also are fundamentally decent and are trying to get back on the straight path by pulling off one final dirty deed.
To my pleasant surprise, the female lead here is even better than in most classic noirs. Not only is she in my opinion much prettier and a better actress than most, but her character is actually more realistic. In a genre that typically features one-dimensional femme fatales whose job is only to lure the male protagonist into further corruption (think Out of the Past or Criss Cross), Marie shows more than a single impulse, and what's more important, even genuine affection for Earle. She's not in it just for the money like so many of the female characters.
Lastly, there is a somewhat campy allegory involved here with the use of the mountains and the theme of busting out of jail to freedom. It's as subtle as a hammer in the way the director brings it up, since the characters talk about it a number of times (and Marie even brings up quite bluntly at the very end), but it adds a very pleasant element to the ending and makes it feel much more fulfilling. The tragic ending is still here, and the protagonist couldn't escape his fate/past, yet there is still a feeling of restored balance that most noirs lack (those who have seen the ending of The Asphalt Jungle will know what I mean).
The disc itself has little beyond the movie--just the theatrical trailer and a 10-minute documentary on how High Sierra figures into the cinematographic scene. The latter, however, is aptly done and is very informative.
This movie is on the brink of getting five stars from me, but some things simply fall short. An excellent way to spend the night nonetheless.
