Overview
A gripping tale of love and desperation unfolds as a young man seeks redemption and freedom.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Moderate
- melancholic
- wistful
- tense
- classic movie night
- late night noir viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly regard Nicholas Ray's restrained, emotionally committed film noir as a highly evocative and compassionate crime romance, despite some sentimentality toward its criminals.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Bowie and Keechie form an intimate bond while his prison history, fugitive status, and ties to bank robbers obstruct their hope for an ordinary life.
Bowie is wrongly convicted, imprisoned since adolescence, and drawn into robberies as a means of financing an attempt to clear his name.
The film's black-and-white presentation and film noir atmosphere frame fugitives, hideouts, and flight as emotionally oppressive spaces.
Bowie tries to separate from Chickamaw and T-Dub, but their shared prison escape and planned heists continually threaten his future with Keechie.
Films like They Live by Night, and why
Gun Crazy
romantic film noir centered on doomed lovers pursued by law enforcement and criminal circumstances
Bonnie and Clyde
tragic crime romance pairing youthful fugitives with noir fatalism and social marginalization
The Night of the Hunter
poetic black-and-white noir combining criminal alienation, doomed intimacy, and expressive visual style
Dementia 13
crime melodrama about lovers fleeing social and legal pressures in a stylized noir world
Movie Details
- Director
- Nicholas Ray
- Release Date
- 1949-11-01
- Runtime
- 96 min
- Rating
- 6.8 / 10 (191)
Cast
- Cathy O'Donnell
- Farley Granger
- Howard Da Silva
- Jay C. Flippen
- Helen Craig
- Will Wright
- William Phipps
- Ian Wolfe
- Harry Harvey
- Marie Bryant
Common questions
- What is They Live by Night about?
- A wrongly convicted young fugitive falls into bank robbery while pursuing a fragile, doomed romance with the one person who imagines freedom alongside him.
- What is They Live by Night like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of They Live by Night as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is They Live by Night violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in They Live by Night as moderate.
- What did critics think of They Live by Night?
- Critics broadly regard Nicholas Ray's restrained, emotionally committed film noir as a highly evocative and compassionate crime romance, despite some sentimentality toward its criminals.
- Which films are like They Live by Night?
- Films with a similar feel include Gun Crazy, Bonnie and Clyde, The Night of the Hunter, and Dementia 13.
- How long is They Live by Night?
- They Live by Night runs 96 minutes.
