While the building-the-crew scenes and tense moments during the crime are all recognizable as modern heist-movie hallmarks, one thing that stands out is just how dense this movie is.ĭirector John Huston, who also wrote the script with Ben Maddow, manages to create a complete criminal underworld in this unnamed town in just under two hours. The Asphalt Jungle is arguably the first heist film, at least in the way we think of it today. A crime movie classic, The Asphalt Jungle follows a petty criminal named Dix Handley who’s hired onto a crew to complete a $500,000 jewel heist that quickly goes wrong.
