In this thread, I will briefly note films from the past I particularly admire (I'd rather forget mediocre movies and those that are merely "worth a look"). Most but not all of them are films I'm watching for the first time in 2007. Some are rather obscure but others are well-known and popular (movies I should have seen by now). Any type of response regarding any of these titles is highly appreciated.
ACE IN THE HOLE aka The Big Carnival (1951)
"Fuck them all! It's the best picture I ever made." (Billy Wilder)
The fact that Ace in the Hole was directed by the man who had made Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend and Sunset Boulevard was inconsequential to American filmgoers. It was perhaps Billy Wilder's biggest box office flop. "The question is whether you have the right to get people into the theatre, and they expect a cocktail and they get a shot of acid. People don't want to hear that they stink", said Wilder in retrospect. In Ace in the Hole, a cynical reporter (Kirk Douglas) delays the rescue of a man trapped in a mine shaft to create a media frenzy. Wilder reserves his most searing contempt for the growing crowd, a microcosm of America, that gathers around the cave; a bunch of thrill-seekers, voyeurs, entrepreneurs, and opportunists who feed off the disaster. Douglas and Jan Sterling, as the bitter and conspiring wife of the victim, are outstanding. Ace in the Hole is a masterpiece. It has never been released on video.
Bookmarks