Humphrey Bogart Was Never Darker or Realer Than He Was in This Gripping, Painful Noir Classic

Humphrey Bogart has been enshrined in film history as the ultimate cool guy, the unflappable hero who carries old wounds that his pride won't allow him to admit. He forever defined the tragic hero with films like Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon, men with dubious morals who find themselves on the right side of conflicts despite the devils on their shoulders. The irony is that, for as much as Bogart scorched the screen as men with stolid convictions that wouldn't bend, he was even better playing brittle men who crumble under the mounting weight of their insecurities and neuroses. Seeing him sweat under pressure in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre or The Caine Mutiny is where Bogie really shined, all his reserved machismo melting into frantic desperation. He had a hidden knack for creating uncomfortable portrayals of fragile masculinity, never more disturbing than in one of Nicholas Ray's most tragic films,In a Lonely Place.