Nicholas Ray, the director of They Live by Night, would go on to make the consummate 1950’s film about disaffected youth, Rebel Without a Cause, with another sensitive young pup named James Dean, whose own tragically brief filmography would overshadow that of Granger. I wrote previously about that film, about his heartbreaking performance and the disappointing trajectory his career would take in only a few years. It was only Granger’s third film, his first with top billing, and he is revelatory here. My opinion of actor Farley Granger changed forever last year when our film noir class watched 1948’s They Live by Night(aka Thieves Like Us).
