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.

Produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the film was released on May 12, 1950. It was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, and Huston won a National Board of Review Award for his direction. At the 1950 Venice Film Festival, Huston was nominated for the Golden Lion and Sam Jaffe won the Best Actor Award.

Retrospective reviews of the film have been highly positive, with several critics describing it as one of the most influential works in the crime film genre, and one of Huston's best films. The film spawned a television series of the same name that aired on ABC in 1961.

In 2008, The Asphalt Jungle was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

When criminal mastermind Erwin "Doc" Riedenschneider is released from prison, he visits a bookie named Cobby in an unnamed Midwestern river city. Doc needs $50,000 to hire three men—a safecracker, a driver and a hooligan—to commit a huge jewel robbery. Cobby arranges a meeting between Doc and Alonzo Emmerich, a high-society lawyer and known fixer. Doc tells Emmerich that the theft will yield half a million dollars or more. Emmerich agrees to front the money and find a fence. After they leave, Emmerich finds his young girlfriend Angela asleep on the couch. Private detective Bob Brannom visits Emmerich to collect some debts, but Emmerich is broke and convinces Brannom to help him double-cross the others, proposing a scheme for him to abscond with the gems.

Doc secures Louie Ciavelli as the safecracker. Ciavelli only trusts Gus Minissi, a hunchbacked diner owner, to be the getaway driver. Last hired is Dix Handley, who tells Doll Conovan, who is in love with him, of his dream to buy the horse farm that his family had lost after a terrible year. To access the jewelry store, Ciavelli hammers through a brick wall, deactivates an alarm to admit Doc and Dix, and uses nitroglycerine to open the safe. However, the explosion triggers several burglar alarms, and Dix slugs a security guard. The guard drops his revolver, which fires, striking Ciavelli in the abdomen. The men escape and a police manhunt begins.

Ciavelli insists that Gus take him home. Ciavelli's wife Maria wants him taken to the hospital, but Gus sends for a trusted but illicit doctor. Doc and Dix arrive at Emmerich's place, but are aware of Emmerich's attempt to stall them. Realizing this, Brannom draws a gun but is killed by Dix, who receives a flesh wound in his side. Doc scolds Emmerich for his foolish plan and tells him to offer the money to the jeweler's insurance company for 25% of its value to avoid suspicion.

Emmerich dumps Brannom's body in the river. The police find the list of debtors on Emmerich's letterhead on the corpse. When they question him, Emmerich claims that he spent the night with his mistress, Angela Phinlay. Corrupt police lieutenant Ditrich—on Cobby's payroll and fearing scrutiny by Police Commissioner Hardy—vainly attempts to save himself from ensnarement by beating Cobby into a confession. Commissioner Hardy arrests Emmerich at Angela's home and threatens her with jail for providing Emmerich with an alibi. When the police allow Emmerich to leave the room to phone his wife, he shoots himself dead.