The Asphalt Jungle is a 1950 American heist film noir directed by John Huston, from a screenplay co-written with Ben Maddow. It stars Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore, Sam Jaffe, John McIntire and Marilyn Monroe in one of her earliest roles. Based on the 1949 novel by W. R. Burnett, it tells the story of a jewel robbery in a Midwestern city.