The Hairy Ape

1944
Approved
1h 32m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

William Bendix and Susan Hayward in The Hairy Ape (1944)

During the 1940s, social class conflict is depicted when a spoiled socialite, traveling on a freighter, calls the ship's head stoker a hairy ape, provoking him into stalking the rich woman o... Read allDuring the 1940s, social class conflict is depicted when a spoiled socialite, traveling on a freighter, calls the ship's head stoker a hairy ape, provoking him into stalking the rich woman once ashore in New York.During the 1940s, social class conflict is depicted when a spoiled socialite, traveling on a freighter, calls the ship's head stoker a hairy ape, provoking him into stalking the rich woman once ashore in New York.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.1/10

492

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 1 nomination total

Photos30

+ 24

Top cast40

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William Bendix

Hank Smith

Susan Hayward

Mildred Douglas

John Loder

Tony Lazar

Dorothy Comingore

Helen Parker

Roman Bohnen

Paddy

Tom Fadden

Long

Alan Napier

MacDougald, Chief Engineer

Charles Cane

Gantry

Charles La Torre

Portuguese Proprietor

Rafael Alcayde

Aldo the Baron
(uncredited)

Dick Baldwin

Third Engineer
(uncredited)

Phil Bloom

Minor Role
(uncredited)

Egon Brecher

Refugee Violinist
(uncredited)

John Cason

Bar Patron-Brawler
(uncredited)

Gino Corrado

Nightclub Patron
(uncredited)

Ray Corrigan

Goliath the Gorilla
(uncredited)

John Daheim

Saloon Brawler
(uncredited)

Rod De Medici

Minor Role
(uncredited)

Director
- Alfred Santell
Writers
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The failure of the original copyright holder to renew the film's copyright resulted in it falling into public domain, meaning that virtually anyone could duplicate and sell a VHS/DVD copy of the film. Therefore, many of the versions of this film available on the market are either severely (and usually badly) edited and/or of extremely poor quality, having been duped from second- or third-generation (or more) copies of the film.

Quotes
Hank Smith: Dames, huh? That's a lot of tripe. They'll double cross you for a nickel or even nothing. Treat 'em rough - that's me, the whole bunch of 'em. They don't belong. They don't amount to nothing. Who makes the old tub go? It's us guys. Me! Me! I make her go.

Connections
Referenced in Rental Reviews: Schlock... The Ultimate B-Movie!!! John Landis' First Film (2020)

User reviews18

Review

Featured review

Only Die-Hard Bendix Fans Need Apply!

Only the most ardent fans of the man best known to the nostalgia-minded as the title character in the radio/TV sitcom THE LIFE OF RILEY have any business viewing this weak Eugene O'Neill adaptation. The impact of its contemplative dialogue is drastically lessened by static characters and a frustratingly implausible ending. For example, are we to believe that Bendix can get away with breaking into Susan Hayward's apartment tote her around in his arms while leering perversely at her and dump her on the sofa with the close-up clearly showing she will doubtlessly be traumatized for life by this experience and then have the film end with him yucking it up with his fellow coal stokers? This damaging flaw could have easily been replaced by a complete plot rearrangement in which Bendix softens Hayward's callous snobbishness through a comically developed friendship/romance with her. Instead all we get are 90 minutes of Bendix grunting and leering in one of the most unsatisfying and disturbingly sexist pictures to come out of the Second World War.