They Live by Night

The story of two young fugitives. Bowie is one of three men who escape from prison. He is twenty-three and has had no life outside the years inside. He is hurt during the escape and meets Keechie at the house where they hide. The two leave together. Bowie's plan is simple: he needs money for a lawyer to clear his name, and he will get that money by robbery. That loop is what the film describes. Every crime he commits to get away tightens a situation he cannot get away from. At the centre is the relationship between them. Motel rooms, bus stations and night journeys; neither of them knows how to live an ordinary life and both are trying to learn. The film opens with a caption: these two do not belong to the world they are in. Nicholas Ray's first film. The source is Edward Anderson's novel. Farley Granger plays Bowie and Cathy O'Donnell plays Keechie. After completion the studio held it for a long time and released it in Britain first. One of the starting points of its genre for anyone who likes noir and stories of lovers on the run. For a viewer hoping for a happy ending, the film refuses it from the start.