They Live by Night (1949) on Netflix
Arthur "Bowie" Bowers, 23, breaks out of prison with Chicamaw and T-Dub, two older robbers. They hide out at a service station run by Chicamaw's brother, where his niece Keechie works.
- Watch on NetflixThis title is not on Netflix right now. Please check back later for updates.
- Watch on NordVPN
- Netflix4.3/5
- IMDb7.4/1010,541 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes96%
Trailer
Plot summary
Arthur "Bowie" Bowers is 23 and serving a sentence for a murder he committed at 16 when he breaks out of prison with Chicamaw and T-Dub, two older robbers. The men take shelter at a service station belonging to Chicamaw's brother, where his niece Catherine "Keechie" Mobley works. T-Dub wants to rob a bank to pay a lawyer for his jailed brother. The holdup comes off, but Bowie crashes the car afterward, and Chicamaw leaves the injured Bowie in Keechie's care while he goes to rejoin T-Dub. Shy and without much experience of the world, Bowie and Keechie come to care for each other, while newspapers name Bowie the robbery's ringleader.
Cast
Show all 14 cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about They Live by Night (1949)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The opening prison-escape scene was shot from a helicopter, making They Live by Night the first major studio production filmed that way, eight years before James Wong Howe's celebrated finale helicopter shot in Picnic. Four takes were filmed and the second was used in the final cut.
- RKO contract player Robert Mitchum wanted the part of the bank robber Chickamaw, but the studio, seeing him as a rising star with a recent Oscar nomination, deemed the role unfit for him. It went to Howard Da Silva instead.
- Despite an excellent preview, RKO did not know how to market the film and studio head Howard Hughes shelved it for two years, finally releasing it in the U.S. in November 1949 as They Live by Night rather than the novel's title Thieves Like Us.
- Farley Granger, who had appeared in only two films before his World War II service, suggested Cathy O'Donnell for the female lead, and Nicholas Ray insisted on casting both, though they were under contract to Samuel Goldwyn Studios and had limited experience.
- Director Jim Jarmusch counts Nicholas Ray's They Live by Night among the influences on no wave cinema and on his own work.
