I think the problem is that Fabian is supposed to somehow be likable and disreputable all at the same time, and the point is oversold at the beginning when we have to endure some handwringing hand-holding by a more flaccid-than-usual Hugh Marlowe to somehow "contextualize" all of that. The long-suffering Mary (Gene Tierney) ultimately becomes rather insufferable in a role that--particularly in the US version--becomes increasingly irrelevant to the main action; finally, Fabian's "remorse" at the end is overwrought (and is not helped by Widmark's overacting at that point). As Colin notes, the UK version modulates some of that, leaving us with a better path to such a conclusion, and adds more context to the Mary-Harry relationship that provides a more credible sense of why she was never quite able to "quit" Fabian.

Apparently Dassin liked the American cut, which I suppose says something about his predilections as a director--tendencies that seemed to get exacerbated over time as he allowed himself to marinate in his years of enforced vagabondage. Losey managed to mostly escape the strong undercurrent of self-pity that tends to manifest in much of Dassin's post-US career. (Losey is bitter, but never self-pitying...)

It turns out that there's a third version of the film, ten minutes longer than the British version, sitting in the Academy Film Archive's vaults. That would be something to see--and both Eddie and kinky crime author Christa Faust did get to see it some years ago (during my tenure as NC e-zine editor, but a full essay from either of them about it didn't surface then, however--and hasn't since).

The film is elevated considerably by the bravura camerawork of Mutz Greenbaum, with angles and setups that far surpass anything else in Dassin's oeuvre--less overtly showy than the types of "trick shots" he'd become enamored with in his time at Fox. The rotten marriage of Withers and Sullivan is by far the best thing in NIGHT & THE CITY, animating all of Fabian's gambits--a main plot strong enough to survive the original decision to "humanize" Harry (since an American protagonist shouldn't/couldn't be lowered to the level of a "spiv" as is the case in the source novel). And the wrestling component ties together the strange confluence of the criminal element as it desperately (and rather pathetically) seeks some kind of respectable cover for its essential depravity (perfectly embodied by Herbert Lom).