A Criterion Bluray of Nicholas Ray‘s They Live By Night pops on 6.13. Based on Edward Anderson‘s Depression era novel “Thieves Like Us“, this 1948 classic launched the “kids on the run” sub-genre. Its influence was felt by Joseph H. Lewis‘s Gun Crazy (’50), Arthur Penn and Warren Beatty‘s Bonnie and Clyde (’67), Terrence Malick‘s Badlands (’73) and certainly in Robert Altman‘s Thieves Like Us (’74), which was also based on Anderson’s book. It was also Ray’s debut feature (shot in early ’47, released in August ’48). He soon gained respect as a strong, passionate helmer and his career chugged along for another 14 or 15 years, but drugs and alcohol gradually interfered more and more. Ray finally screwed the pooch when he collapsed on the set of 55 Days at Peking (’63).
