Film Noir “Thieves’ Highway” from Bezzerides novel

Richard Conte, Lee J. Cobb

Last week, I posted a piece about A. I. Bezzerides’ hard-boiled 1949 novel of independent truckers, Thieves’ Market.

The same year the book was published, 20th Century Fox released a film version of the story re-titled, “Thieves’ Highway.”

Bezzerides, in an interview, said the studio did not want to offend the city of San Francisco by using the original title.

The producers made other changes as well, the biggest of which was making Nick Garcos a hero rather than the nasty anti-hero of Bezzerides’ book.

In the film, he no longer steals from his mother to set himself up in the trucking business, but becomes an independent hauler partly as an act of vengeance to right a wrong done against his father.

With the revisions to the character, the studio cast one of its up and coming players, Richard Conte, in the role. Conte was a good – if underrated – actor. He later slipped into supporting roles, perhaps because his stoic demeanor fell out of style with the influx of emotionally charged Method actors arriving in Hollywood.

Lee J. Cobb, a gruff stage actor (he played Willy Loman in the original Broadway production of “Death of a Salesman”), was cast as the crooked produce buyer who attempts to hijack Nick’s load. Cobb was great in this kind of part. He also played the union boss in “On the Waterfront.”

Millard Mitchell, a character actor who usually played sheriffs and generals, was cast against type as Nick’s unscrupulous and untrustworthy partner, and he does a great job.

Valentina Cortese played a hooker with the heart of gold who is hired to distract Nick while the buyer commandeers his load.

Jules Dassin directed the picture in an almost documentary style. Dassin at that time was known for making tough, hard-boiled films like “The Naked City” and “Brute Force.” Later, after being blacklisted, he directed the heist film “Rififi” in France, and the comedy-heist film “Topkapi” in Greece and Turkey.

Bezzerides may not have minded the changes the studio demanded of his book since he has the solo credit for writing the screenplay. Besides, “Thieves’ Highway” was a lot closer to the book than the Warner Bros. production of his 1938 novel about truckers, Long Haul, re-titled, “They Drive by Night.” But that is a story for another post.

Thieves’ Market by A.I. Bezzerides

The harshest, ugliest book read last year was Thieves’ Market by A. I. Bezzerides.

This 1949 novel is about independent truckers and the many scams and rip offs that they pull, and that get pulled on them.

Nick Garcos, a young man with a miserable job, a miserable girlfriend and a miserable widowed mother, steals the insurance money the old lady got when his father died and buys a truck so he can be his own boss as an independent produce hauler.

He teams up with a hardened trucker and together they buy two truckloads of apples from a farmer. When his partner tries to cheat the grower, Nick steps in and pays the man.

The two truckers head north to San Francisco to sell their combined loads at the produce market.

Along the way, there are mishaps with the old trucks and Nick arrives in town first. While waiting for his partner to arrive and negotiate a deal for the apples, a tough, crooked buyer sizes up Nick as easy prey. He pays a local hooker to distract Nick so the buyer can hijack his load.

Bezzerides knew his subject either from experience in his youth or from a great deal of research. Thieves’ Market feels like the real deal from the plot to the characters to the dialogue.

As he did in his earlier novel about the tough life of truckers, Long Haul (1938), Bezzerides writes in scenes that are vivid and alive. He makes the reader feel every bump in the road.

An unforgettable section is when Nick, on a lonely, dark stretch of highway, blows a tire. Not sure how far behind his partner is, Nick decides to change the flat himself. While under the truck, the jack slips and the truck comes down pinning Nick into the soft dirt. Unable to move and having difficulty breathing, he watches as the few vehicles on the road pass by without slowing down while he is stuck and dying.

Albert Isaac “Buzz” Bezzerides, (1908-2007) wrote three novels. Both trucking stories were bought by Hollywood and produced as movies. Bezzerides spent most of his career writing film and TV scripts.

Thieves’ Market is well worth the time to find and read.