Cinematheque: Nicholas Ray

In perhaps his most intense performance, Bogart plays Dix, a troubled, neurotic screenwriter who is implicated in the murder of a hat-check girl. Laurel (the fabulous Gloria Grahame, director Ray's then-wife), Dix's aspiring actress neighbor, provides him with an alibi and the two embark on a tempestuous romance that is constantly threatened by Dix's violent temper. Ray's powerful drama is both an indictment of Hollywood and a deeply personal look at human relationships.