They Live by Night
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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They Live by Night is a film noir released in 1949. The film was directed by Nicholas Ray (his first feature film) and starred Farley Granger as 'Bowie' Bowers and Cathy O'Donnell as 'Keechie' Mobley. The movie is the prototype for the 'couple on the run' genre, generally seen as the forerunner to the movie Bonnie and Clyde.
The movie was based on Edward Anderson's Depression-era novel Thieves Like Us. Another movie based on that book was released in 1974, Robert Altman's Thieves Like Us. Actor Byron Foulger appears uncredited as the owner of the cabin where the two try to hide out.
Plot
Arthur "Bowie" Bowers, a 23-year-old serving a prison sentence for a murder he allegedly helped perpetrate at age 16, escapes from prison with two older bank robbers, Chicamaw and T-Dub. The three take shelter with Chicamaw's brother, who operates a service station, and niece, Catherine "Keechie" Mobley, who works there. Hoping to also free his incarcerated brother Richard, Chicamaw concocts a plan to rob a bank and use the funds to hire a lawyer to prove a wrongful conviction.
The robbery goes fairly smoothly. However, along the way, Chicamaw causes Bowie to crash their car, and then kills a police officer who arrives at the scene. Chicamaw leaves an injured Bowie in the care of Keechie and joins T-Dub in another town. The sheepish Keechie swiftly grows fond of Bowie, who is also shy. The two bond over their lack of experience in the world and soon develop a romance. Meanwhile, the press reports heavily on Bowie, wrongly pinning him as the ringleader of the robbery. Bowie and Keechie decide to go on the run together, and travel by bus through several towns. Late one night, they come across a chapel that performs marriages for a small sum of money. Bowie asks Keechie to marry him, to which she agrees. Hawkins, the local justice of the peace, performs the ceremony and sells the couple a convertible car.
The couple travel to a remote mountain resort where Keechie once stayed during her childhood, and rent a cabin there, dreaming about being able to live openly together. At Christmastime, Chicamaw arrives at the resort, having tracked the couple there; he has gambled away his money and wants Bowie to help him and T-Dub commit another robbery. Bowie reluctantly agrees, though Keechie, fearing Bowie will not make it out alive, gives him his Christmas gift early: a wristwatch. The three men commit another robbery, but T-Dub is murdered during it. Bowie and Chicamaw flee the scene by car. While driving, Bowie learns from a drunken Chicamaw that he is jealous of all the press attention Bowie and Keechie have received. Bowie eventually forces Chicamaw out of the car at gunpoint.
When Bowie returns to the resort, he learns from Keechie that Chicamaw was killed in a liquor store robbery. In radio broadcasts, Bowie is again described as the ringleader of the robbery. In a heated conversation, Keechie reveals she is pregnant. The couple depart the resort and head east, traveling mainly at night so as not to be seen. Relenting on their secrecy, they decide to spend a leisurely time in public, visiting a park, and then a nightclub. In the club, Bowie is recognized by a gangster, causing the couple to flee again. Bowie suggests they escape to Mexico, to which Keechie agrees.
En route, Keechie grows ill, and the couple seek refuge at a motel owned by Mattie, T-Dub's sister-in-law. Mattie reluctantly allows them to stay. Bowie visits Hawkins, hoping he can help him and Keechie cross the border, while Mattie makes a deal with police that she will turn over Bowie in exchange for Richard's release. When Hawkins tells Bowie he is unable to help him, a bereft Bowie returns to the motel and informs Mattie he is going to leave by himself to ensure the safety of Keechie and their unborn child. Mattie encourages Bowie to say a final goodbye to Keechie. He agrees, and writes a farewell letter to bring to her. As he is about to enter the cabin, police unexpectedly descend on the scene, provoking Bowie to draw a gun. The police to shoot him to death. Keechie, kneeling over Bowie's dead body, reads the farewell letter he wrote for her.
