Jules Dassin's Thieves' Highway is no The Wages of Fear, but that's no indictment against Dassin or the film itself. We just have a high bar for films about truck drivers after discovering Clouzot's classic early in Lost in Criterion.

Instead, 1949's Thieves' Highway is an American postwar film about a returning soldier suddenly disillusioned with the corruption he encounters at home. In that way it feels like Kurosawa's postwar works like Stray Dog. It's also, perhaps, a critique of unchecked capitalism, so no wonder it got Dassin blacklisted.

Listen to this week's Lost in Criterion episode Thieves' Highway via iTunes or LostInCriterion.com, and while you're at it, like us on Facebook or support us on Patreon.