Thieves' Highway (1949) (Blu-ray + DVD)

Thieves Highway was made during a remarkable run of noir pictures that confirmed its director, Jules Dassin, as one of the genre s major forces. Following on from Brute Force and The Naked City, with Night and the City and Rififi soon to follow, it more than deserves its place in such hallowed company.

Returning from the war to discover his father has been crippled in an altercation with a brutish mob-connected kingpin, Nick Garcos puts aside thoughts of settling down and instead focuses them on revenge. He buys an old army surplus truck and hits the road a 36-hour non-stop to San Francisco and, he hopes, a little justice...

Starring Richard Conte as Garcos and Lee J. Cobb as the object of his hate-filled intentions, Thieves Highway is as tough as film noir gets. Adapting his own novel, A.I. Bezzerides (who would later bring Kiss Me Deadly to the big screen) created a slice of pure pulp poetry.

Special Edition Contents:

• New 4K digital restoration by Twentieth Century Fox
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
• Uncompressed Mono 1.0 PCM Audio Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• The Long Haul of A.I. Bezzerides, a 55-minute documentary portrait of Thieves Highway author and screenwriter, featuring contributions from Bezzerides, director Jules Dassin and writers George P. Pelecanos (The Wire), Mickey Spillane (Kiss Me Deadly) and Barry Gifford (Lost Highway)
• The Fruits of Labour, a new video essay about the genesis, production, reception and politics of Thieves Highway by Frank Krutnik, author of In a Lonely Street: Film Noir, Genre, Masculinity
• Selected scene and character commentaries by Frank Krutnik
• Theatrical trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
• Collector s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Alastair Phillips (co-author of 100 Film Noirs), illustrated with original production stills