They Live By Night

35mm Presentation. In the dusty backroads of the Deep South, Nicholas Ray’s impassioned American myth unfolds a tale of innocence as star-crossed lovers head for the open road, away from the long arm of the law. Escaping from the penitentiary, three fugitives—Farley Granger’s doe-eyed Bowie among them—make passage to a safe house where the diffident Keechie (Cathy O’Donnell) resides. After a bank job goes awry, Bowie and Keechie elope under the cover of night. Ray’s masterful direction imbues the film with a poetic naturalism, one brought to life by the sensitive performances of its young leads whose roadside journey forms an evocation of their tender-hearted dreams. With a lyrical romanticism eclipsed only by its forlorn tragedy, They Live By Night finds a love held true, even in the sobering elucidations of daybreak.

Dir. Nicholas Ray, 1948, 96 min., 35mm, b&w. With Cathy O’Donnell, Farley Granger, Howard Da Silva. 

Part of Shiguéhiko Hasumi: Another History of the Movie in America and Japan
Oct 9—18, 2025

© Park Circus/Warner Bros

Film programs are generously supported by Anime NYC, ORIX Corporation USA, and Yen Press. Endowment support is provided by the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Endowment Fund and The John and Miyoko Davey Endowment Fund. Additional season support is provided by Jono Abrams and Elizabeth Linn, Ayumi Arafune, Darin Arita and Kanako Arita, Mike Audet, Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Catanzaro, The Globus Family, George P. Hirose, Akiko Koide and Shohei Koide, David Toberisky, Joseph Rajaratnam and Dharshini Iolanthe Sivakumaran, Japan Society Film Council, and other Film supporters.

Transportation assistance is provided by Japan Airlines, the official Japanese airline sponsor of Japan Society Film Program. Housing assistance is provided by the Prince Kitano New York, the official hotel sponsor of Japan Society Film Program.

Japan Society arts and culture programs are supported by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Japan Society’s 120th anniversary initiatives and related programs are generously supported by Champion Sponsor, MUFG Bank, Ltd.; Advocate Sponsor, Mizuho Americas; and Friend Sponsor, Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas).