There has probably never been a movie from a major director quite like Ace in the Hole. It is a movie of almost unrelenting bleakness and cynicism, lightened only slightly at its outermost margins. It also not only stands up well more than 50 years later, it has a freshness and relevance that comes from an almost uncannily eerie spot on prediction about the future of the role of media in our culture. Wilder notably responded to the initial negative reaction to the film by noting that he did not think he made in cynical enough. In a time of wall-to-wall media coverage of the parentage of Anna Nicole Smith's baby, breathless television commentary on the suit Kobe Bryant wore to a hearing on his rape case or a prosecutor's hairstyle, crowds of gawkers outside of a mine disaster, Ace in the Hole plays with a more harshly realistic light now than it probably did on its initial release.
Kirk Douglas gives a tremendous, fearless performance as Chuck Tatum, a newspaper reporter who has fallen off the face of the journalistic globe and who smells the chance to regain his fortune when he stumbles on the story of Leo Minosa, trapped in an old Indian cliff dwelling. Tatum immediately recognizes that he can remake his name on Leo's story, if he can stretch the coverage out long enough. With the connivance of the fame-hungry local sheriff (despicably well played by Ray Teal), Tatum deliberately delays the rescue in order to maximize the story.
I have never seen Douglas give a performance quite like this, or in a role like this. In fact, there may not be another role like this in that era. Tatum is almost uncompromisingly nasty and self-serving to everyone; his boss, his coworker, Leo's slatternly wife, and Leo himself. Douglas the movie star disappears completely in this film. It is a masterful performance; any clue that we are watching Kirk Douglas acting would tear the film down.
Also wonderful is Jan Sterling as Leo's femme fatale (literally) wife, whose reaction, at first, is that Leo's predicament gives her a head start on leaving him. Later, Tatum convinces her that she can make scads of money of her husband, which she does with tremendous malice - the price to visit the cliff dwelling goes from free to one dollar quite rapidly. Sterling brings a great balance of sexiness and ruthlessness to her role.
But the goat of this movie is not just two or three heartless people, it is all of us. As in Frank Cady (Sam Drucker in Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction) who, with his wife, is proudly and fiercely the first of the throng that encamps at the cliff dwelling, and who is not above using his status for his own personal gain; he turns an interview into an advertisement for his insurance business. Leo's predicament draws a huge crowd, including a literal carnival, and other people who are looking to cash in on Leo, most notably a country band hawking the sheet music to their song, "We're Coming Leo." Wilder handles all of this material with his usual straightforward aplomb. Wilder is not one for shots that call attention to themselves, and the unpretentious nature of his direction serves the starkness of the story well. Likewise the script is full of the bitter wit and great lines that grace any Wilder film.
But the film has one major failure, and that is the end. Tatum, it turns out, at least belatedly has a heart and isn't the most cynical person in the film, and we get an unnecessary and unlikely attempted murder, a stabbing, comeuppance for the bad guy - all of which seems tacked on and diminishes the film. To me the real end of the movie comes a few minutes earlier, when Tatum announces that Leo had died, and the carnival closes down, the crowds leave and even as the dust begins to settle, we see a long shot of the solitary figure of Leo's lame father, slowly hobbling back to the mountain that still holds the body of his son. That is an unforgettable shot. That ending, with Tatum essentially unredeemed and alive, would serve the movie much better.
Still, this bitter, cynical and well-made movie is a great gem, and a fine addition to Wilder's brilliant oeuvre
Kirk Douglas gives a tremendous, fearless performance as Chuck Tatum, a newspaper reporter who has fallen off the face of the journalistic globe and who smells the chance to regain his fortune when he stumbles on the story of Leo Minosa, trapped in an old Indian cliff dwelling. Tatum immediately recognizes that he can remake his name on Leo's story, if he can stretch the coverage out long enough. With the connivance of the fame-hungry local sheriff (despicably well played by Ray Teal), Tatum deliberately delays the rescue in order to maximize the story.
I have never seen Douglas give a performance quite like this, or in a role like this. In fact, there may not be another role like this in that era. Tatum is almost uncompromisingly nasty and self-serving to everyone; his boss, his coworker, Leo's slatternly wife, and Leo himself. Douglas the movie star disappears completely in this film. It is a masterful performance; any clue that we are watching Kirk Douglas acting would tear the film down.
Also wonderful is Jan Sterling as Leo's femme fatale (literally) wife, whose reaction, at first, is that Leo's predicament gives her a head start on leaving him. Later, Tatum convinces her that she can make scads of money of her husband, which she does with tremendous malice - the price to visit the cliff dwelling goes from free to one dollar quite rapidly. Sterling brings a great balance of sexiness and ruthlessness to her role.
But the goat of this movie is not just two or three heartless people, it is all of us. As in Frank Cady (Sam Drucker in Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction) who, with his wife, is proudly and fiercely the first of the throng that encamps at the cliff dwelling, and who is not above using his status for his own personal gain; he turns an interview into an advertisement for his insurance business. Leo's predicament draws a huge crowd, including a literal carnival, and other people who are looking to cash in on Leo, most notably a country band hawking the sheet music to their song, "We're Coming Leo." Wilder handles all of this material with his usual straightforward aplomb. Wilder is not one for shots that call attention to themselves, and the unpretentious nature of his direction serves the starkness of the story well. Likewise the script is full of the bitter wit and great lines that grace any Wilder film.
But the film has one major failure, and that is the end. Tatum, it turns out, at least belatedly has a heart and isn't the most cynical person in the film, and we get an unnecessary and unlikely attempted murder, a stabbing, comeuppance for the bad guy - all of which seems tacked on and diminishes the film. To me the real end of the movie comes a few minutes earlier, when Tatum announces that Leo had died, and the carnival closes down, the crowds leave and even as the dust begins to settle, we see a long shot of the solitary figure of Leo's lame father, slowly hobbling back to the mountain that still holds the body of his son. That is an unforgettable shot. That ending, with Tatum essentially unredeemed and alive, would serve the movie much better.
Still, this bitter, cynical and well-made movie is a great gem, and a fine addition to Wilder's brilliant oeuvre