MovieChat Forums > The Asphalt Jungle (1950) Discussion > What city?

What city?

posted 10 years ago by richsass
7 replies | jump to latest

What city does the asphalt jungle appear to be? I thought it could have been upper Midwest.

What are you gonna do? Kill me? Every body Dies. John Garfield (Body and Soul)

[–] DorianGray502 10 years ago

It is Cincinnati, Ohio though there is no identification except when the main character Dix is referred to as being from Boone County, Kentucky which happens to be across the Ohio River. The contrast is particularly jarring in the end when a dying Dix drives to his family farm which is so ideally beautiful and is actually around Lexington, Kentucky, many miles from Boone County, Kentucky.

[–] liscarkat-2 10 years ago

The opening shots are in Cincinnati, and some later shots are in Los Angeles. The L.A. city hall is visible.

[–] poetcomic1 10 years ago

So it takes place in Cincinnangeles.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jonny87 10 years ago

It is unnamed / fictional midwestern city somewhere near Cleveland (as Doc asks a taxi driver to drive him to Cleveland). Cincinnati is strongly suggested.

[–] hammer4 10 years ago

The City is depicted as being in the Midwest, but WEST of Chicago (Cincinnati is of course east). When Cobby is talking to Doc about personnel for the heist he refers to Ciavelli as "The best box man west of Chicago".

Also, late in the film when Dix is preparing to drive to his family's former farm in Boone County, Kentucky he mentions that it's about a ten hour drive. Boone County is immediately south of Cincinnati, just past the Ohio River.

As in so many Hollywood films of this era the City exists in "never-never land".

[–] LateNightCable 9 years ago

It's "Anytown USA", so pick a city. Definitely a large, industrial mid-western city. If I had to pick a real place, Pittsburgh works for me. It's appropriately gritty and working-class. Far enough from Boone County to take ten hours to drive there in an old forties coupe, pre-interstate system. And close enough to Cleveland to be just a "long way to Cleveland" for a cabbie. The skyline then even looked similar.

I think of Doc's remark about Louis Ciavelli being the "best box man west of Chicago" as simply a casual statement, and not necessarily a reference to their current location.

I personally love movies with very ambiguous locations,
they're very easy to escape to and make what you want of them.

"I like rich people. I like the way they live. I like they way I live when I'm with them."