The Lawbreakers

The Lawbreakers (1961)

The story of a scheme to double-cross the syndicate and steal its money, and of a police commissioner '​s efforts to investigate homicides that take place as the scheme unfolds while also fighting corruption in the city government and police department.

Date of release
1961-08-15
TMDB
6.4 / 10 (5)
Runtime
1h 19m
Genres
Drama, Crime
Director
Joseph M. Newman

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Based on: The Asphalt Jungle

The Lawbreakers is a 1961 American neo-noir crime drama film directed by Joseph M. Newman. Made in a film noir style, the crime drama is based on the pilot episode of the 1961 television series The Asphalt Jungle and stars an ensemble cast including Jack Warden, Vera Miles, Robert Douglas, and Arch Johnson.

Background and production

In the spring and summer of 1961, ABC broadcast a television series in the United States entitled The Asphalt Jungle. Produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television in a film noir style, it was a gritty, hard-boiled police drama starring Jack Warden, Arch Johnson, and William Smith (billed as "Bill Smith") as detectives in the police force of an unnamed city in the Midwestern United States specializing in investigating the activities of organized cri…

MGM Television filmed The Asphalt Jungle's pilot episode, "The Lady and the Lawyer", in 1960. ABC aired it as the series' second episode on April 9, 1961. Unlike other episodes of The Asphalt Jungle, it did not include Smith or his Sergeant Danny Keller character as the third featured detective alongside Gower and Honochek, instead featuring Douglas Odney as Sergeant Frank Orte, although it used the series' standard opening credits that included…

Duke Ellington wrote the theme music for The Asphalt Jungle television series, and it was used in "The Lady and the Lawyer"; music by Johnny Mandel replaced it in The Lawbreakers. Otherwise, production credits for The Lawbreakers were the same as those for "The Lady and the Lawyer".

Intended from the outset for theatrical release in Europe rather than the United States, The Lawbreakers is considerably more violent and risqué than domestic American films of the era and far more so than any episode of The Asphalt Jungle television series.

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