This is the kind of movie that makes movie buffs movie buffs. On the surface the story is routine (I'm tempted to say hackneyed), the psychology shallow, the acting variable, and the meaning, such as it can be said to have one, borderline moronic. Yet it works like a charm, and is a minor classic of its kind. This is a tough movie to categorize. Not that one has to. It's a long haul trucker movie. But is that a genre? It has comedy and romance but is neither a comedy nor a romance; and it has tragedy but is not a tragedy. Near the end it turns into a murder story, though I wouldn't call it a crime picture. Director Raoul Walsh had a flair for subverting genres anyway, and made basically Raoul Walsh pictures, whatever the putative genre, and this one's about as Raoul Walsh as you can get.
It's the story of two brothers, played by George Raft and Humphrey Bogart, who are wildcat truckers who don't want to work for anyone else. They'd like to own their own rig but can't afford one, and are in debt up to their ears half the time. As the story progresses, Bogart loses in arm in an accident, and the boys have to go work for the boorish if amiable Alan Hale, whose wife, Ida Lupino, has eyes for Raft. Ann Sheridan is also on hand, as the hash-slinging good girl Raft really belongs with. Nothing special here, no great drama, and certainly no surprises. What drives the film, literally, is its optimism, especially as it relates to "little guys" Raft and Bogart. Without being too emphatic about it the movie is like a cheerleader for these two from start to finish.
The dialogue is salty and well-delivered by all, even the usually tedious Raft, while the background stuff,--the diners, rented rooms and garages--is beautifully detailed and always believable. Director Walsh was made for Warner Brothers, the studio that produced the film. He had a feeling for regular people, informal surroundings, the hustle and bustle of working life. Nor was he the least bit pretentious. The studio's famous liberalism didn't seem to rub off on him. He remained a populist with an anarchic streak, and was never an ideologue, hence this movie's depiction of blue collar life rings truer than most, as we know that these little guys want to be big shots (as most little guys do), and that they mean it when they say they want to give everyone a fair shake. We know in our guts that if these two ever make it to the big time they'll be awfully nice guys to work for. It's not easy for a movie to convince a viewer of such things,--it's not easy for a movie to be convincing at all, but this one is. Thanks to Raoul Walsh, with a little help from his fine cast.
