Night and the City

Night and the City (Criterion #274). 1950 20th Century Fox.
Starring: Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney, Googie Withers, Hugh Marlowe, Francis L. Sullivan
Director: Jules Dassin
Buy Night and the City at Amazon.

Harry Fabian (Widmark) is an American hustler who dreams of the good life, but he's never attained that success he craves so much. While in London, his girlfriend Mary (Tierney) catches him trying to steal 300 pounds, and asks him to find a job, as long as it's done in the daylight. Harry and Mary also work for the owner of the Silver Fox Club (Sullivan), and his wife Helen (Withers). Helen wants to leave her husband and start her own club, and she recognizes that she'll need Harry's talents to pull it off.

Harry has other plans, though: he plans to take control of the professional wrestling circuit from a local promoter and underworld boss Kristo (Herbert Lom). Unlike his other schemes, Harry is absolutely confident that this one could bring him the wealth and fame he desires so badly. Things go horribly awry when Fabian's partner, the retired wrestling legend Gregorius (Stanislaus Zbyszko), and father to Kristo, dies following an impromptu match with Harry's newest "box office draw", The Strangler (Mike Mazurki).

Recommended.