Night and the City

Second-rate con man Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark) makes a living by luring wealthy tourists into his boss’s seedy London nightclub, where they are fleeced. Fabian dreams of “a life of luxury” and hopes to strike it rich with the help of a famous wrestler. But in a world of shifting alliances, dependencies, and corruption, there is no such thing as easy money—and Fabian must pay a terrible price for his ambition. After several relatively successful Hollywood productions, Dassin fell victim to the anti-communist hysteria of the McCarthy era. He was warned that he was on the verge of being blacklisted and advised to go to England. He shot the noir NIGHT AND THE CITY in London, making a dark parable on the political conditions of the time.