High Sierra is the movie that gave HumphreyBogart his first starring role. It was his last one as a bad guy, until he played Fred C. Dobbs in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
Bogart plays Roy Earle, a convict paroled from prison, by his boss, so he can help some criminals, rob a resort in California. Along the way, he meets Pa, played by Henry Travers, who gives a good performance, and Velma, his granddaughter, played by Joan Leslie. Roy Earle falls for Velma, who is crippled by a club foot. He pays a shady doctor, that he knows, to do surgery on her foot. Earle goes onto California to plan the resort heist, with his gang. There he meets Marie, played by Ida Lupino, who develops an attraction for him. Earle and his gang carry out the heist, but a guard tries to stop them. Earle shoots and kills the guard. The gang leaves in separate cars, and two of the gang panic and take the wrong road, and are killed in a fiery crash. Bogart then goes to see his boss, Doc Blanton, played by Henry Hull, who is going to buy the stolen jewels from him. Unfortunately, he dies from an illness, but Bogart is approached by the man’s assistant, who says they can sell them, and split the profits. Bogart says no, and they have an argument, and Bogart shoots him dead. Roy Earle leaves but makes a stop to see Velma. He hopes that she will be grateful, and return his love. Instead she shuns him, and shows off her older fiancé. Earle leaves a bitter and hurt man. He decides that Marie is the one for him, and gives her a ring. The authorities put the pieces together and come after Earle. He is involved in a car chase, ending in an accident, disabling the vehicle. He takes off on foot and ends up in the mountains. The police ask Marie to call out to him and surrender. She refuses.The police cant get to him, and a sniper gets a position in the mountains, and kills him.
Humphrey Bogart is good as Roy Earle. He is essentially playing the gangster type made famous a decade before by James Cagney in The Public Enemy and Edward G. Robinson in Little Caesar. The chief difference is that his Roy Earle character has a soft spot. He beats up the thug that hits Marie and he also pays for the operation, that corrects Velma’s club foot. Bogart shows his hurt and pain after Velma rejects him. He becomes upset after Velma’s fiancé touches him. He shoves him, but doesn’t do any harm to him. He just walks out, with Marie, dejected. Bogart’s character is upset by his depiction in the press as Mad Dog Earle. Bogart still plays a criminal in High Sierra, but this role made him a star, and after this, he was cast in legendary roles like Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon and Rick Blaine in Casablanca.
Raoul Walsh directed High Sierra, and gets a fine performance from Bogart, as well as the two young actresses, Ida Lupino and Joan Leslie. There is a scene in the beginning, that shows Roy Earle, walking in the park, and enjoying the fresh air, which he hasn’t done in several years. This scene sets the tone for the movie. Roy Earle would like to spend the rest of his life, as a free man. He can’t though, because of circumstances. There is also a newspaper that blows Earle’s way. It has the headline that says he was released, but also declares that people aren’t happy about it. There is also a good car chase, before the climactic mountain standoff. There is also a scene with a reporter describing the standoff, in an odd play by play fashion. This was one of several good films directed by Raoul Walsh. He would do another famous gangster movie with James Cagney, White Heat.
High Sierra remains one of many good films starring Humphrey Bogart. It is not only a movie to be seen by Bogart fans, but anyone who wants to see a gangster film that stands out for its character development.