The Night of the Hunter · reception & legacy

1955 · Charles Laughton

How The Night of the Hunter has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

A critical and commercial flop in 1955 — audiences didn't know what to make of it — it's now routinely ranked among the greatest American films ever made, a rehabilitation so total it's become the textbook flop-to-classic story.

What's debated

Fans perennially debate whether the gentler, fairy-tale final stretch is a tonal misstep or exactly the point of the whole film.

Its footprint

Robert Mitchum's LOVE and HATE knuckle tattoos are one of cinema's most referenced images — homaged and parodied everywhere from Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing to The Simpsons.

Where it stands

A stone-cold canon staple and cinephile rite of passage — the 'you must have seen this' entry for anyone getting serious about classic Hollywood.

★ Did you know? It was Charles Laughton's only film as director — its failure on release stung him so badly he never directed again, and he died before its reputation was restored.

Named by the director

Influences Charles Laughton has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

D.W. Griffith — Laughton screened Griffith's silent films while preparing, saying he wanted to recapture the simplicity and directness of that early silent style.