No Sudden Move draws heavily from the socio-historical setting of 1950s Detroit. Here are the film's real-life inspirations, explained.

While the heist arc in Steven Soderbergh’s No Sudden Move is not based on a true story per se, the crime noir-thriller has been greatly influenced by the socio-cultural underpinnings of mid-1950s Detroit. Soderbergh has always had a penchant for creating narratives around heists, as evidenced in the Ocean's trilogy, along with the spectacular Out of Sight and Logan Lucky. As capitalism, power structures, and real historical context play a seminal role in all Soderberghian narratives, it is interesting to note how No Sudden Move amalgamates fiction and reality to create a compelling, layered storyline.

Soderbergh presents Detroit as a microcosm for what was happening in the country as a whole, the key underlying themes in No Sudden Move being undercurrents of racial tension exacerbated by the construction of the I-375 highway which destroyed a Black neighborhood in Detroit. This situates the events of the film dead center amid massive socio-political shifts, with Goynes (Don Cheadle) often caught in between the crossfires of casual racism and overt discrimination. Screenwriter Ed Solomon carried out extensive research into the racial history of ‘50s Detroit in order to be able to craft a narrative faithful to reality, which manifests in the portrayal of the practice of redlining and the razing of Black communities under the guise of infrastructural development.

Apart from this, class plays a seminal role in shaping character motivations, reflected in the central characters of Goynes and Russo (Benicio Del Toro). Being petty criminals with dreams of making it big, the two men find themselves working together to unveil a massive conspiracy pertaining to the automobile industry in Detroit. This inevitably unravels an interconnected web of covert intentions and power, wherein Goynes and Russo are nothing but pawns for mob bosses, capitalists, and gangsters. Upward social mobility has always been a mirage for the disenfranchised, as it ties in directly with the issues of social discrimination, segregation, unequal opportunities, and invisibility. The thirst to climb upwards and reap the harvests of powerful men evokes the theme of the Renaissance Overreacher - Goynes pays dearly for his ambitions, singed by various gangs, especially that of Watkins (Bill Duke), who he had stolen an important logbook from years ago.

Apart from underlining instances of racist housing practices leading to the socio-economic erasure of entire Black communities, No Sudden Move’s central plot unravels the conspiracy surrounding the automobile industry at the time. The film’s MacGuffin, the stolen documents, is a part of a major cover-up by the Big Four, namely GM, Chrysler, Ford, and American Motors, who, in the film, intend to stop the blueprints from seeing the light of day. Containing detailed plans of a catalytic converter that would allow cars to emit less pollution into the atmosphere, the documents travel through the different strata of society, with powerful men like Mike Lowen (Matt Damon) pulling no stops so as to further their profits and capitalist agenda. Soderbergh also hints at how men like Lowen do not mind leaving a trail of bodies while on their quest for power, an act devoid of empathy or remorse.

Moreover, both Solomon and Soderbergh manage to find the perfect balance between historical accuracy and fictional hyperbole, allowing the narrative of No Sudden Move to resonate and bloom in compelling ways. Cars are an important part of the film’s visual language, which faithfully reflects the automobile boom in 1950s Detroit, which had become the fourth-largest city in America at the time with more than 296,000 jobs in manufacturing. While the role of the Big Four might have been exaggerated in the film for dramatic purposes, the text near the ending sheds light on how the federal government sued them for the conspiracy in question. While some might argue that it was simply a cost-saving measure, the massive socio-political and environmental ramifications of this ploy cannot be ignored. No Sudden Move fictionalizes this instance by showcasing how it affected people like Russo and Goynes, along with the various middlemen and covert players in the process.

NEXT: No Sudden Move Ending Explained