They Live By Night (1948)

In director Nicholas Ray's debut film - this bleak film noir classic - it was an adaptation (by Ray and Charles Schnee) of Edward Anderson's Depression-era, 1937 Bonnie and Clyde-inspiring novel Thieves Like Us (later remade by Robert Altman as a crime drama with the original title in 1974, with Keith Carradine and Shelley Duvall in the lead roles). Its alternate title was "Your Red Wagon" or "The Twisted Road" (in the UK). There were many similarities in this melodramatic film noir about young lovers on the run to Ray's later film of teenage rebellion, Rebel Without a Cause (1955).

One of the film's publicity posters presented the quote: "Cops or No Cops I'm Going Through!" - "HOT ROD teen-agers...living on the razor-sharp edge of danger...stumbling into crime, tumbling into love...too mixed up to know what they're doing."

Ray's film was made in 1948, but was released almost two years later in 1949 (November), due to a change in the ownership of RKO by Howard Hughes. Although the RKO picture was a crime thriller (without a typical noir character, a femme fatale) about Depression-era bank robbery, it was more representative of an emotionally-told, melodramatic love story of a naive couple on the road as fugitives. It was atypical of most film noirs that took place in city environs. The amour fou plot was also a central theme in Fritz Lang's You Only Live Once (1937), Joseph Lewis' Gun Crazy (1949/50) and Terrence Malick's Badlands (1973).

The fatalistic story told about a newly-married, naive and innocent couple's ill-fated and doomed relationship from the start, whose short-lived romance and marital life were sidetracked by the temptations of being drawn back into a criminal lifestyle. They both naively and foolishly believed that somewhere down the line, they would be able to settle down and live a normal life, and the authorities would leave them alone. However, betrayal and deceit tragically spoiled the dreams of the outcast, misfit youthful pair:

• in the film's opening before the title screen (similar to a film's trailer), two lovers kissed, as the screen's subtitles stated: ("This boy... and this girl... were never properly introduced to the world we live in.... To tell their story..."), followed by the film's title screen; it was an instant summary of the film's story
• the first sequence followed (with a daring helicopter aerial shot) as an open convertible raced down a country dirt road in rural Texas in the 1940s, and into a field, with three males in the front seat, and one in the back seat; the group consisted of the owner of the car (R.T. Waters, a farmer) who was taken prisoner and beaten unconscious, a young state prison farm escapee (in the back seat), and two older and hardened criminals - all escapees were serving life sentences [Note: Throughout the film, the characters are only referred to by their colorful nicknames]:
  • Henry "T-Dub" Mansfield (Jay C. Flippen), square-jawed
  • Chickamaw "One-Eye" Mobley (Howard Da Silva), a cigar-chomping individual sensitive about his one milky glass eye, also hot-headed
  • Arthur "Bowie" Bowers (Farley Granger), a younger, naive 23 year-old convict for the last 7 years

Arthur "Bowie" Bowers (Farley Granger)

Henry "T-Dub" Mansfield (Jay C. Flippen)

Elmo Chickamaw "One-Eye" Mobley (Howard Da Silva)

• the threesome sought shelter in the rural farm of Chickamaw's older brother Mobley (Will Wright) about 15 miles further on foot; Bowie - suffering from a sprained ankle - was left back to hide behind a billboard sign (advertising Cosmos Nifties - "The Ideal Playsuit") - providing the first of many imprisoning images - this time, the sign's wooden slats captured Bowie, while his middle-aged pals went ahead to retrieve a cache of "dough...stashed away"
• Bowie was picked up later in the evening in an old truck driven by Mobley's tomboyish daughter Catherine (nicknamed "Keechie") (Cathy O'Donnell), dressed in masculine soiled overalls; he was driven back to meet up with the others at a cabin behind Mobley's gas service station
• during conversation, it was revealed that "Keechie's" mom "ran off with a fella and now they're running a Medicine Show"; Keechie was abandoned and then raised by her alcoholic father, and was presumably the only responsible member of her family

Mobley (Will Wright) - An Elderly Alcoholic

Catherine "Keechie" Mobley (Cathy O'Donnell), Tomboyish Daughter

• Mobley was handed $1,500 in cash by T-Dub to leave and purchase a second-hand car for their next bank heist; he was instructed to meet up with Mattie Mansfield: "Tell Mattie the first big dough goes to get her man out of jail"; T-Dub's motive to rob a bank was to raise more cash to free his brother Robert Mansfield (Mattie's husband) from prison
• they read about their own recent prison escape in the newspaper - it raised "more heat" about their whereabouts: ("Prison farm break. The escape of three lifers was announced today by Warden E. Gaylord of the state prison farm. The fugitives, who kidnapped a farmer on their flight..."); T-Dub bragged about their reputation as veteran bank robbers, calling themselves "The Three Mosquitos"
• upon Mobley's return later that night with Mattie Mansfield (Helen Craig), Robert's wife, the old drunken man crashed his car inside his garage and punctured an oil barrel while flattening the car's front left tire - obviously he was not sober and had been drinking; he complained when confronted: "I had a tough time"; as Bowie changed the tire with Keechie and adopted a tough-guy demeanor to impress her, he revealed that his mother had run off with the man who had murdered her husband with a gun during a pool hall dispute; the two began to bond over their shared dysfunctional families with parental neglect and abuse; however, Keechie was upset by Bowie's choice of partners: "Fine company you're running with...Where do you think you'll get with them?"
• Bowie described his quixotic dream of how he might eventually want to settle down and live a normal domestic life (owning a service station), but she didn't quite believe him and condemned his current lifestyle: "You wanna live your life fast. You don't know what you want"; Bowie was hoping that his wrongful conviction (without due process - he went from arrest to conviction in a single day) for manslaughter when he was just 16 years old might eventually be overturned by the Supreme Court; he briefly described how he was the only one charged with the robbery of a safe (and the killing of a man) with other fellas in a traveling carnival; his ultimate goal was to raise money in order to hire a lawyer in Tulsa, OK to defend his innocence
• Keechie had a premonition that Bowie (dubbed "jailbait" by Mattie) was headed for a troubling dead-end with his criminal 'family' counterparts: "You think you're quite a man, don't you?...Fine way to get squared around, teamin' with them. Stealin' money and robbin' banks. You'll get in so deep tryin' to get squared, they'll have enough on ya to keep you in prison for two lifetimes"; Mattie sensed Keechie's personal interest in Bowie and warned her: "Maybe you'll be lucky. Maybe they won't send him back to prison. Maybe he'll get himself killed first"
• during the set-up and planning for the Zelton National Bank heist (in the town of Zelton west of Ft. Worth, TX seen on a dark-black map), Bowie told his partners he would always be their getaway car driver; Mattie had rented a house for the gang to use as their HQs in Gusherton, TX, and she had also arranged for both cars (a second one was stationed in Cedars, TX), but she was at odds with T-Dub whom she called "a one-eyed lush," while she regarded Bowie as "jailbait"

The Zelton Bank Robbery Getaway

• the sequence of the Zelton bank robbery began with a stationary camera placed in the back seat of the thieves' car; at 11:40 AM as usual, the bank's president Mr. Hagenheimer (Harry Harvey) entered his locked office from the street when he was accosted by T-Dub and Chickamaw; the friendly and inquisitive Jeweler (Will Lee), with an office (Zelton Jewelers) across the street, came up to Bowie's getaway car to make an untimely inquiry about Bowie's purchase of a watch (labeled "For Her") the previous day (as Bowie was casing the bank); Bowie pushed him down onto the sidewalk, raced to the bank, and picked up his buddies
• the three bank robbers rode in the escape car to nearby Cedars, TX, set the car on fire, and took off in a second relay car parked there for their escape; T-Dub was dropped off at the house in Gusherton, TX; Chickamaw and Bowie went shopping for a new set of clothes (Chickamaw: "You gotta look and act like other people"), and then at a car lot, Chickamaw purchased a new vehicle for himself; on the drive back at night while Chickamaw tailgated Bowie and caused him to drive recklessly, Bowie plowed into another car - after the crash, the screen turned black; he suffered serious head and back injuries, and as Chickamaw pulled the unconscious Bowie into his car, he panicked when a suspicious police officer arrived on the scene - and lethally shot the officer in the abdomen
• Chickamaw drove the injured Bowie back to the farm to be cared for by Keechie, and then joined up with T-Dub at the Gusherton house; the desperate old man Mobley used the money Chickamaw had given Keechie (to help with Bowie's care) to buy himself liquor
• Bowie asked Keechie: "Who's your fella, Keechie?...Other girls have fellas. I was just asking"; in her expressionless, blankly-delivered answer, she revealed how removed, isolated, inexperienced and sheltered she was from traditional dating and femininity: "I don't know what other girls have"; she gave him the same answer ("I don't know what most girls like") when he tempted her with going away and spending money: "Did you ever wanna leave this town, Keechie? I've got a lot of money now. Most girls like to go places"; she told him that she would be kind to a dog, too: "I'd do this for a dog"
• she was pleased with his gift of a watch, a symbol of time passing by quickly for the two of them (although neither of them knew the actual time to set it by); he had bought it for her from the Zelton jeweler; forthright, she inquired about his continual questions to her about being single: "You trying to say I should have a fella and that fella ought to be you? Is that it?"
• he was hopeful that his share of the bank robbery money would allow him to get a Tulsa lawyer to "square him" away with the law, but his hopes were dashed when a newspaper reported that his fingerprints on his gun were found in his smashed-up car; Keechie advised him to leave the next day: ("You can't stay here"), before her drunken father went to town and shot his mouth off; she naively asked him - with her back turned to him: "I'll go with you, if you want?"; his initial response was: "What do you wanna do that for?"
• on the run to find peace for themselves, the two were passengers on a Greyhound bus bound for out of town; on the crowded bus, Bowie had to rock a crying young boy next to him - prompting Keechie to smile; the bus pulled over for a 10-minute rest stop in the Fairfield, TX bus station's coffee-shop in front of a blinking "MARRIAGES PERFORMED - ANY HOUR DAY or NIGHT" neon sign across the street; the disgruntled Waitress (Lynn Whitney) at the diner counter complained: "There's Hawkins' Class B wedding. Organ music and everything. Twenty bucks....The way people pop in and out of there, one, two, three, quick. You'd think they were getting dog licenses"; Bowie realized he was a bad influence on Keechie: "I don't wanna get you in trouble, Keechie. I tell you, I'm just a black sheep. There's no getting away from it...Don't you see what you got yourself mixed up with?"
• although both were shy about each other's growing feelings for each other, Bowie impulsively asked for Keechie's hand in marriage: ("Would you marry me?"); she quietly answered: "If you want me to"; the two hurriedly got off the bus as it began to pull away, and tentatively crossed the street to enter the chapel's front gate (with two large marble cupids with bows and arrows); Bowie asked: "What time is it?" - and she responded after looking at her watch: "10 minutes to 12"
• the couple walked to the chapel's front door before entering, where they were greeted by the disreputable wedding minister Hawkins (Ian Wolfe); Bowie chose the bargain-cheap $20 wedding (with a $5 surcharge for the purchase of a wedding ring); they signed the register with the real given Christian names Arthur and Catherine [Note: Both were often names given to royalty.]; after the brief sham of a ceremony, Hawkins leveled with them: "I'm giving folks what they want. My way of thinking, folks ought to have what they want, long as they can pay for it"; he bargained with them to sell his neighbor James' convertible for $2,700 (with his additional cut of $500), plus he suggested Mexico for their honeymoon, but Keechie piped up with hope: "We know where we're going"

From the POV Inside the Marriage Chapel Window - as Keechie and Bowie Approached

Stark and Brief Cheap Wedding Ceremony

Happy and Innocent Honeymooners on the Road

• at the Lambert Inn, a remote, high-altitude mountain resort, Bowie and Keechie rented a very rustic cabin in the woods from the amiable proprietor Lambert (Byron Foulger) with a young son named Alvin (Teddy Infuhr); Bowie claimed they were the "just married" Vines couple, and he was a ballplayer; Bowie paid $35/week cash in advance; Keechie recalled staying there during her childhood: ("It seemed like such a nice place"); optimistic and dreaming about their future together, Bowie promised Keechie a better life as they play-acted being young adults: "Soon as the heat cools, I'll take you to all the fine places. We'll have a real honeymoon. I'll buy you everything you want...It's all for you. Just tell me what you want"; they kissed - happy and innocently in love
• in the next scene, old man Mobley was being questioned about Bowie and his daughter, and spiteful that Bowie had run off with Keechie: "That boy belongs in the electric chair"
• Keechie delivered common-sense advice about loyalty to Bowie when he asked about what she would do if he ever had to leave her and they wouldn't see each other again - and she remarkably compared herself to a dog: "A woman only loves once. I guess a woman is sort of like a dog. A bad dog will take things from anybody. But you just take a good dog. His master dies, he won't take food from anybody. He'll bite anybody that tries to pet him"
• at Christmastime, Chickamaw arrived to visit the couple in their cabin (decorated and "nice and cozy"), and was impressed by how they had "shacked up"; he was miffed for being snubbed because Bowie had ironically been widely reported as the leader of the robbery gang: "Bowie the Kid, the Zelton Bandit"
• Chickamaw suggested another bank job since he was broke (from gambling): "Hey, ready to get back to work? No time like the present. Between them aces and kings I didn't draw, and the Denver queens I did draw, I got no money left"; and his partner T-Dub had failed in getting Mattie's husband out of jail, after buying them a "tourist camp" in McMasters; Chickamaw was "just itching," with T-Dub (in Gusherton), to rob another bank in Cedars; when asked to participate, Bowie wanted out, since he still had most of his Zelton bank money; he even offered to share half of it with his two partners, but Chickamaw refused, noting that Bowie was essential for the 3-man job: "It takes three to pull a trick, and you're number three, even if the papers do say you're number one"
• as Bowie repeated his refusal: ("Count me out!...Cut it out, Chickamaw!"), the Christmas tree decoration near Chickamaw's hand smashed; he blamed Keechie for swaying Bowie's mind and threatened: "You better get rid of her," and then broke a second Christmas bauble, before leaving for a half hour
• Keechie returned from picking up a stack of X-mas packages, when she noticed Chickamaw's smoldering cigar in the ashtray; she was upset that Bowie's ex-con partners wanted to draw him back into a life of crime; she hugged Bowie: "I thought maybe we'd be lucky, they wouldn't find us. After a while, we'd go and live like other people"; fearing for Keechie's safety, Bowie thought he'd do one last job: "They helped me get free. Now they need me," but Keechie was worried that he might be killed: "I don't wanna pick up a newspaper and read the Zelton Bandit's killed"; she urged him to promise - if he met with them - that he would refuse to rob the bank; before he left, she gave him her present early - a wristwatch - that he set to the time on her watch: ("It's 10 minutes to 12") [Note: "10 minutes to 12" was the same time on her watch when they were married. Had her watch figuratively stopped running?]
• back in Gusherton, Bowie forcefully told T-Dub: "You can just mark me absent!", but the two ex-cons asserted he had to be loyal to them, and continue to function as a "business" investment: "You're an investment, and you're gonna pay off"; T-Dub repeatedly slapped Bowie into submission ("You hear me!")
• in the next sequence after a daring but botched bank robbery in Cedars, the camera was again positioned in the back seat of the getaway car driven by Bowie, seated next to Chickamaw; they listened to the radio report about the Zelton Bandits - again claiming that the gang's leader was Bowie 'The Kid' Bowers: "(radio voiceover)...In a desperate attempt to reach the getaway car, the eldest of the trio, Henry 'T-Dub' Mansfield was shot and killed. It is believed that at least one other was wounded"; Chickamaw again felt slighted: "All the newspapers print about is you. You and that two-bit girl of yours. Ha. Makes me look like a penny in a slot machine"
• from the backseat, the jealously-angry Chickamaw grabbed a tire-iron/crowbar and narrowly missed smashing Bowie's head from behind; instead, the crowbar shattered the driver's side window; at gunpoint, Bowie ordered his partner out of the car; as Chickamaw lit up a cigar, he vowed he was better off without Bowie: "I don't need you. I can crack any bank in this country alone. I'm better off alone. And I always was"
• by the time Bowie returned to the cabin (to the sound of a montage of traditional Chrismas carols), Keechie told him a pipe had burst and flooded their place; Keechie informed Bowie that she knew about T-Dub's fate, and that she also heard over the radio that Chickamaw, who was desperate for a drink, was killed the previous night breaking into a liquor store (just after he had been thrown out of Bowie's car); she was superstitious: "They say it runs in threes," and she was spiteful that Bowie hadn't listened to her: "You sure didn't think about me when you were gone. Don't you touch me. It was me or them and you took them, didn't you?"
• then she surprised Bowie with news that she was pregnant after a visit to the doctor, and he felt burdened and worried: "Well, that's just fine. That's all I need"; she coldly answered: "You don't see me knitting anything, do you?" - absent in her retort was future hope and joy

Keechie's Surprise Announcement That She Was Pregnant

On the Run Again: Keechie: "I'm good for you"

Keechie: "I'm gonna have our baby"

• suspecting that they were about to be reported to the authorities by the plumber Rudy (Guy Beach), they quickly fled and drove off from the cabin; Keechie assured Bowie that she wanted to remain with him: "You wouldn't have let me go, would you? You'd have made me stay, wouldn't you? I'm good for you. I do help you a whole lot, don't I? Bowie, no matter what, do you want me with you?" - he answered affirmatively ("If you want to") and she echoed him: "I want to"; again on the run, he thought of fleeing toward the big-city to avoid detection; Keechie was determined to have the baby: "I'm gonna have our baby. No matter what, I'm gonna have it"; Bowie added how they were living a cruel existence on the edge: "That's right. He'll just have to take his chances, same as us" - they slept by day, and traveled at night to avoid suspicion; they headed east toward the Mississippi River
• unwisely wishing to be like normal people, the couple dropped their cautiousness, and decided to spend some time in the public; they took a walk in a park wearing dress-up clothes (a gray flannel suit for her, and a formal double-breasted suit for him); at a nightclub, while having dinner and watching couples dance, they listened to the club's sultry black performer (Marie Bryant) sing: "Your Red Wagon" - one of the film's alternate titles, whose main goal was to grab cash tips from her extended fingers
• Bowie suggested that they escape to Mexico: ("The more I think of Mexico, the more I like it....You and me, honey, with what we got salted away, we could live down there like real people"); their magical evening was derailed when a drunken patron crashed into their table
• as Bowie was leaving and purchasing cigarettes in the men's room, he was recognized as "Bowie the Kid" by a local gangster, who wrestled Bowie's .45 gun away from him and asked: "What are your plans, Bowers?"; he threatened and ordered him to leave town immediately: ("We don't want a lot of trigger-happy hillbillies around here. This is a nice cool town. Business is good. We don't want it heated up. You're hot")
• while in flight on the road again, Keechie showed symptoms of a pregnancy-related sickness or illness; Bowie headed for a motel that he knew about, owned by T-Dub's sister-in-law Mattie; they pulled into the Prairie Plaza Motel where Mattie was reluctant to allow them to stay: ("I got no room") - for personal reasons ("I want you to get off this place and leave me alone. I don't like you, I don't like her, and I don't like the both of you together"); Bowie pressured her into letting them stay, claiming she was a thief just like him: "You listen to me. You're a thief just like me. And you ain't gonna go yellow on us. Keechie's gonna stay here. And if you or anybody else don't like it, it's just too bad"; Mattie directed them to the far-end cabin on the left

Bowie Pressuring a Reluctant Mattie To Let Them Stay at Her Motel

• meanwhile, in a probationary hearing for the release of her imprisoned husband Robert Mansfield (Frank Marlowe), the embittered Mattie argued that she had agreed that in exchange for being an informant against Bowie, her husband would be immediately paroled and released - "as soon as information required for the apprehension of Bowie Bowers is proven true and results in his capture or death"; she ratted on Bowie's location - in Cabin 8 at her Motel; her own husband appeared disgusted with her decision; to console her, she was told by one of the officers that they were grateful to her: "You've saved a lot of people a lot of grief"; afterwards, the embittered Mattie appeared unsure about ratting out Bowie: ("I don't think that's gonna help me sleep nights")
• while Bowie was tending to Keechie's illness, in a tender moment, she confided in him: "Do you know some people don't have anybody of their own? We're lucky...And I'll always be around, no matter what happens. I'll always be your little old girl...I like us together. I like us so much"
• Bowie decided to visit the minister who married them, Hawkins, to help them get to Mexico in the next few days: ("He can fix anything if there's money in it for him"); Bowie felt that they would be safe there: "And nobody can touch us"; he also prophetically stated that Keechie was blameless: "The only wrong you ever did was to marry me. Say it didn't work, the only one to get rolled over is me"
• during his visit with Hawkins, the minister uncharacteristically became brutally forthright and honest, and told Bowie that he couldn't take his money or help him: "But I can't take this money of yours. No, sir. In a way, I'm a thief just the same as you are. But I won't sell you hope when there ain't any"; Bowie asked: "No chance?" and was told: "None at all"; he asked again: "No place for her and me?", and heard back: "I don’t know of any, son"; it was a devastating blow for Bowie to hear
• in the film's downbeat and tragic finale, Bowie returned to the motel, having decided to leave Keechie to pursue a new life for them (possibly in Mexico or elsewhere) before returning for her; he informed the traitorous Mattie in the motel office that he was leaving on his own - because he couldn't guarantee that Keechie (and her unborn child) would survive with him; once he was safely settled, he explained that he would let Keechie know: ("I just figured people like us ought to help each other. I want you to do one more thing. I'm not gonna see her again. Got no chance together, not a single one. I'm just a black sheep, and there's no getting around it. Without me, she'll make out fine. She's got money in the cabin, and here's some more. You take it, Mattie. You make sure the doctor keeps coming to see her. I'll write to you. I'll let you know when and where she can come to me")
• the duplicitous Mattie (who couldn't look Bowie straight in the eye, since she had betrayed him to the police) convinced him to see Keechie just once more for a final goodbye: ("You ought to see her again. You won't wake her. Don't you think she'll be glad to know you came back and saw her just one last time?") - knowing that a trap had been set up for him at the cabin; although Bowie was uncertain, he was persuaded and agreed with the idea; he asked for a piece of paper: ("There's something I never told her") and hastily scribbled out a goodbye note

Bowie Explaining to Mattie His Plan to Save Keechie

Mattie: "You ought to see her again"

Bowie Hastily Scribbling a Farewell Note to Keechie

• he slowly walked to the cabin at the far end of the driveway, where Keechie was sleeping inside, not knowing that he was walking straight into a massive ambush; he momentarily glimpsed her sleeping in bed through the window, when a spotlight blinded him and he was surrounded as police yelled out: "Freeze it, Bowers!"; when he turned and was provoked to draw his gun in self-defense, he was gunned down outside the room

Keechie (tenderly whispered after reading the letter: "I love you")

• kneeling next to Bowie's dead body, Keechie rolled him over and took the crumpled note from his limp hand and read it outloud as the film came to a melancholic close: ("Little old girl. I'm gonna miss you but I gotta do it this way. I'll send for both of you when I can. No matter how long it takes. I've gotta see that kid. He's lucky. He'll have you to keep him squared around. I love you, Bowie"); she then turned and tenderly mouthed or whispered the words as the screen slowly darkened: ("I love you")