MovieChat Forums > The Asphalt Jungle (1950) Discussion > Doc ... does he make it! (Spoilers!)

Doc ... does he make it! (Spoilers!)

posted 11 years ago by Anorensic
5 replies | jump to latest

I don't quite get the Doc's arrest, he walks past the two cops busy on the telephone, gets into the cab and convinces the driver to drive him out of town (where most of the police blockades etc are). The cab driver tells him that they may have to stop for gas but Doc once again convinces him, "we will stop once we are out of the town...". So when we see the rest stop scene with the dancing girl, are they outside the town or still inside? Those two cops looking in through the window where did they come from?
I think if the cops didn't stop his cab before he got out of town, there's not much chance he could have been arrested later, the two cops just seem to come out of nowhere and not even sure of his identity when they arrest him. What happened to the stolen diamonds, did they recover them!

And was the Dix character supposed to be so reckless/stupid. First he pulls in the watchman and slugs him, when there was absolutely no need to pull off that stunt, which causes the accidental shooting of his partner. He could still have been the only one to escape the cops alive had he listened and gotten his bullet wound looked at by a doctor while they were hiding out.

The film tries too hard unrealistically to get the message across to viewers, the good guys always win and bad guys always lose.

[–] Bob_Brooker 11 years ago

... the two cops just seem to come out of nowhere and not even sure of his identity when they arrest him.

Remember the Hays Code. Doc needed to get caught. The focus is not on the cops appearing deus-ex-machina, but the tragedy of Doc's downfall. Had he only left 5 minutes earlier rather than indulge his penchant for the young dancer, he'd have gone free.

And is the Dix character supposed to be so reckless/stupid. First he pulls in the watchman and slugs him, when there was absolutely no need to pull off that stunt, which causes the accidental shooting of his partner.

You might want to rewatch this scene. Dix doesn't pull the policeman in, latter was about to enter and they just did what they had to do to silence him.

He could still have been the only one to escape the cops alive had he listened and gotten his bullet wound looked at by a doctor while they were hiding out.

He should have sought help from a back-alley doctor but Dix said he distrusted doctors. So that's how the drama unfolded. Movies live off stupid character decisions. I can see how this might be too much to take in, though.

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Last movie watched: The Asphalt Jungle (8/10)

[–] hobnob53 11 years ago

And if I may add one thing to Bob_Brooker's excellent reply:

What happened to the stolen diamonds, did they recover them!

Yes, which is what sealed Doc's arrest. When the cops go to frisk him outside the café, he tosses his overcoat, into the lining of which he's sewn the stolen jewels, to the cab driver. After frisking him and finding nothing, one cop says they'll radio headquarters for a description. The other one demands to see the coat, pats it down, and as he does so we hear the jewels clatter inside. He says, "We don't need a description," because he knows they've found the jewels and the man who stole them.

Also, this movie is more than simply, good guys win/bad guys lose. That's true, but we also get to see both the bad and good guys more completely, as three-dimensional human beings. The "bad" guys aren't all bad: one is a family man, one is tough but has an intense loyalty, even Dix has his generous side, a poor kid who just had a lot of bad breaks.

And the "good" guys are hardly all good. One detective is corrupt, others are a bit slow, and the Commissioner comes across as a morally superior fanatic who sees everything in black and white...as we see at his press conference, when he says they'll get the last of the robbers (Dix), and describes him as "the most dangerous one of all", "a hooligan, without human feeling or human mercy", which while true in some respects we also know is hardly a full and fair characterization, as we see once more at the subsequent fade-out, when Dix dies amid his beloved horses.

[–] Bob_Brooker 11 years ago

I did it again, see under Grey and Grey Morality

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/TheAsphaltJungle

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Last movie watched: The Asphalt Jungle (8/10)

[–] hobnob53 11 years ago

Yeah, what he said over on the "Marilyn Monroe" board!

[–] KingCobra686 10 years ago

Doc certainly wont be getting back out on parole any time soon, considering that all this went down during the week after he got out of 7 years in jail.

Its pretty obvious that he was planning this the whole time he was in jail and had no intention of trying to go straight.