Themes: Love Triangles, Sibling Relationships, Infidelity
Main Cast: George Raft, Ann Sheridan, Humphrey Bogart, Ida Lupino, Gale Page
Release Year: 1940
Country: US
Run Time: 94 minutes
Plot
They just don't make 'em like They Drive By Night anymore. This slam-bang Warner Bros. attraction stars George Raft and Humphrey Bogart as Joe and Paul Fabrini, owners of a small but scrappy trucking firm. The film deftly combines comedy with thrills for the first half-hour or so, as the Fabrini boys battle crooked distributors and unscrupulous rivals while establishing their transport company. Things take a potentially tragic turn when the overworked Paul Fabrini falls asleep at the wheel and cracks up, losing an arm in the accident. He's pretty bitter for a while, but, with the help of his loving wife, Pearl (Gale Page), Paul eventually snaps out of his self-pity and goes to work as a dispatcher for the Fabrinis' company. Meanwhile, Joe's on-and-off romance with wisecracking waitress Cassie Hartley (Ann Sheridan) is threatened by the presence of seductive Lana Carlsen (Ida Lupino), the wife of glad-handing trucking executive Ed Carlsen (Alan Hale). At this point, the film metamorphoses into a remake of the 1935 Paul Muni-Bette Davis vehicle Bordertown. Desperately in love with Joe, Lana murders her husband, making it look like an accident, then offers Joe half-interest in Carlsen's organization. Joe accepts the offer, but spurns Lana's romantic overtures, whereupon the scheming vixen accuses Joe of plotting Carlsen's murder. Thus, the stage is set for a spectacular courtroom finale, completely dominated by a demented Lana, whose "mad scene" rivals those of Ophelia and Lucia di Lammermoor. In addition to the full-blooded performances by the stars and the virile direction by Raoul Walsh, They Drive By Night benefits immeasurably from the nonstop brilliant dialogue by Jerry Wald and Richard Macaulay -- especially in an early lunch-counter scene between Ann Sheridan and George Raft, generously seasoned with hilarious double- and single-entendres. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Humphrey Bogart has very little to do in They Drive by Night, except feeling sorry for himself. Instead, the film belongs squarely to George Raft, who, for once didn't turn down a great role. (He passed on, among others, The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca.) But what good fortune that both worked for Warner Bros., that most blue-collar oriented of all the Hollywood studios. More than anything, They Drive by Night is a working-class movie -- working-class chic, perhaps, what with Ann Sheridan in full Hollywood war paint despite playing a roadhouse waitress -- and embodies all the hopes and aspirations of what they used to call the "working stiff." Raft doesn't necessarily want to become a millionaire like his friend, Alan Hale, and certainly want nothing to do with the latter's grasping wife, never mind what she is willing to do for him. All he wishes for is a little business of his own, to punch his own time clock and do an honest day's work without answering to anyone. And when he finally achieves that goal -- through the circuitous road route the screenwriters have mapped out for him -- he is just what you knew he would be: the most democratic of bosses. Imagine what they would have done with such a plot and such a character over at posh, other-worldly MGM. Ida Lupino, meanwhile, overacts her hysteria in the climactic courtroom scene but the great Warner stock company is out in force to make sure that They Drive by Night is the slam-bang action-drama that its press book promised. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
John Hughes - Art Director, Mark Hellinger - Associate Producer, Milo Anderson - Costume Designer, Raoul Walsh - Director, Tom Richards - Editor, Oliver S. Garretson - Editor, Adolph Deutsch - Composer (Music Score), Adolph Deutsch - Musical Direction/Supervision, Leo F. Forbstein - Musical Direction/Supervision, Perc Westmore - Makeup, Arthur Edeson - Cinematographer, Hal B. Wallis - Producer, John Holden - Special Effects, Edwin DuPar - Special Effects, James Gibbon - Special Effects, Byron Haskin - Special Effects, H.F. Koenekamp - Special Effects, Oliver S. Garretson - Sound/Sound Designer, Richard Macaulay - Screenwriter, Jerry Wald - Screenwriter, A.I. Bezzerides - Book Author
Joe (George Raft) and Paul Fabrini (Humphrey Bogart) are Wildcat or, independent truck drivers who have their own small one truck business. The Fabrini boys constantly battle distributors, rivals and loan collectors, while trying to make a success of their transport company. Overworked Paul falls asleep at the wheel causing an accident that costs him his right arm. Meanwhile Joe is romancing a local waitress Cassie (Ann Sheridan), but is being seduced by Lana Carlsen (Ida Lupino), the wife of trucking executive Ed Carlsen (Alan Hale). Lana, now in love with Joe, murders her husband and makes it look like an accident. She then offers Joe one half interest as a partner in Carlsen's organization. Initially bitter, Paul eventually gets over his self pity and returns to work after Joe is made partner of the company, now as a dispatcher for the Fabrinis' company. Joe accepts but turns away from Lana's sexual advances and says he plans to marry Cassie. This enrages Lana who then accuses Joe of plotting Carlsen's murder. However, eventually, the tide turns when Lana becomes hysterical on the witness stand and breaks down and confesses everything. The case is dismissed because the only witness (Lana) is insane and Joe reunites with Cassie. Many of the plot elements were reworked by Warner from an earlier movie, Bordertown
The film was based on the novel The Long Haul which was later reprinted under the title They Drive by Night to take advantage of the film version's fame.
