In High Sierra (1941), Humphrey Bogart played Roy Earle, a gangster released from prison who plans one last robbery in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Directed by Raoul Walsh, the film follows Roy as he takes in a young woman, falls for a farm girl, and is pursued by police to a final stand on a mountain.
Bogart gave Roy a weary, sympathetic quality, a criminal who wanted a better life but could not escape his past. The role was his first starring part and it made him a leading man, after years of supporting roles.
High Sierra remains a signature Bogart role because Roy Earle was a gangster with a heart, and because Bogart played him with the tenderness that would define his later heroes.