They Live By Night

Friday, October 18 - Sunday, October 20, 2019

35mm Print!

Legendary director Nicholas Ray began his career with this lyrical film noir, the first in a series of existential genre films overflowing with sympathy for America’s outcasts and underdogs. When the wide-eyed fugitive Bowie (Farley Granger), having broken out of prison with some bank robbers, meets the innocent Keechie (Cathy O’Donnell), each recognizes something in the other that no one else ever has. The young lovers envision a new, decent life together, but as they flee the cops and contend with Bowie’s fellow outlaws, who aren’t about to let him go straight, they realize there’s nowhere left to run. Ray brought an outsider’s sensibility honed in the theater to this debut, using revolutionary camera techniques and naturalistic performances to craft a profoundly romantic crime drama that paved the way for decades of lovers-on-the-run thrillers to come. – Criterion Collection

Screening as part of our Autumn 2019 series, Weekend Classics: May All Your Christmases Be Noir.

• Country USA
• Year 1948
• Running Time 95 minutes
• Distributor Warner Brothers
• Director Nicholas Ray
• Writer Edward Anderson (novel), Charles Schnee (screenplay), Nicholas Ray (adaptation)
• Editor Sherman Todd
• Cinematographer George E. Diskant
• Cast Cathy O'Donnell, Farley Granger, Howard Da Silva
• Accessibility Assistive Listening, T-Coil

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.