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Ace in the Hole | Video On Demand

Starring: Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling, Robert Arthur, Porter Hall, Frank Cady
Directed By: Billy Wilder

1 New starting at:

$9.99

Binding:

Video On Demand

Run Time:

112 minutes

Studio:

Paramount

Release Date:

August 26, 2009

Genre:

Classics

Synopsis:

The cynical, unethical and unscrupulous journalist Charles 'Chuck' Tatum arrives in a small New Mexico newspaper asking for a chance. He was fired from famous newspapers because of drinking problem, lying and even for having an affair with the wife of one of his bosses. His real intention is to use the small newspaper as a platform to a bigger one. After one year without a bang news and totally bored, Chuck travels with a younger reporter to make the coverage of a matter about rattlesnakes. When they arrive in an isolated gas station, he is informed that a man called Leo Minosa is trapped alive in an old Indian mine in a nearby place called Mountain of the Seven Vultures. Chuck manipulates the local corrupt sheriff, the engineer responsible for the rescue operation and Leo's wife Lorraine Minosa, and a rescue that could be made using a simple and common process in twelve hours, lasts six days using a sophisticated drilling system and creating a circus in the previously desert place. Everybody profits with the accident except the victim.

Sales Rank:

16,763th

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 64 reviews)

Another Great Transfer Of A Classic-Era Film by Craig Connell (Lockport, NY USA)

4 Stars
July 08, 2009
This hard-to-see film finally came to TCM in 2007 and then to DVD a short while later in the year, pleasing a lot of classic film and film noir fans. Criterion does its normal job of giving us a superb transfer. Yes, their discs are expensive, but you get what you pay for, usually. It's especially good to get well-photographed films like this looking sharp on our TVs. As for the story, I found the fist hour to be riveting with crisp dialog, interesting characters, and some nice camera shots by director Billy Wilder and photographer Charles Lang. Kirk Douglas was intense as "Chuck Tatum" and Jan Sterling ("Lorraine Minosa") was pure film-noir platinum blonde with attitude. Then, the next 40-45 minutes disappointed me, to be frank. Tatum slowly softens to the point where the film loses its edge, going from an adventure story-film noir to more of a melodrama. Sterling's character almost disappears from the screen, which doesn't help. However, with 10 minutes left in the film, a shocking scene with her jolted me back to full attention. The acting is superb, not just with the two leads but with all the supporting actors, led by Porter Hall, who played the newspaper editor "Jacob Boot." I also appreciated the sarcastic comedy in here as Wilder and the screenwriters parody the "carnival" atmosphere which develops when a tragedy occurs and people make a financial profit out of it. As the days linger on and the man in this story clings to his life trapped deep in a mine, the circus atmosphere grows. Hence, the second title of this film: "The Big Carnival." That latter title was used when the film bombed at the box office in America the first time it was shown. Later, it was reissued under that second title. It still bombed. However, today it seems to be getting cult status.

Review The Product Please... by SC

5 Stars
January 12, 2009
What is it with all you wannabe movie reviewers? I had to sludge through 3 pages of story lines for the ENTIRE film just to find someone who took a moment to write what was on the bonus disc, which is what I was after. Thank you to THAT guy. The rest of you... jeez, do you really think your insight is SO valuable that you have to write the 75th detailed review?

AWESOME MOVIE! WORTH BUYING by young classic film fan

5 Stars
December 16, 2008
This is one of my favorite movies of all time! How innovative and cutting edge this film was for its time. Although it was made in 1951, the main topic discussed is very true for today's media. Great film overall! Current films look terrible compared to this movie. I would highly suggest everyone see it. I'm 18 and this is one of my favorite movies ever.

Darker, More Cynical but Slightly Less Deft Than 'Sunset' by S. Niduaza (San Francisco)

4 Stars
December 02, 2008
After a long wait for the Criterion edition of 'Ace in the Hole', I must say that I am not disappointed. As a follow-up to the quintessential Wilder film, 'Sunset Boulevard', 'Ace' works well as a companion piece. But the message is also more poignant and universal than in 'Sunset'. 'Ace' is all about greed and hubris. This is fairly obvious but what strikes me the most is the incredible visual symbolism of such themes (the constant tightening of the hole in the cave throughout the film and the 'headline' in the closing shot of the film). For a script that was uncompleted before Wilder finished shooting, the story is well structured and thematically consistent. That being said, I got the feeling that the last third of the movie was written on the fly. The film is still thematically correct but the climax was somewhat predictable nevertheless. Some of these notions are touched on, with much verve, in the Criterion edition's commentary. I must agree to some degree because I felt similar to the commentator when I first viewed the film (w/o commentary). Despite these minor setbacks, the film is otherwise masterful, filled with Wilder's virtuoso dialogue and camera (Wilder isn't noted as being particularly fancy with the camera, but this film has plenty of shots that call attention to the story and it's themes). 'Ace in the Hole' is truly a lost masterpiece from a prolific and legendary film maker. Not to be missed!

See Kirk Douglas act like a total ace-hole! by C. R. Swanson (Phoenix)

5 Stars
September 07, 2008
In 1950 Billy Wilder was riding high. Fresh off the enormously successful Sunset Boulevard, the German-born Wilder decided to make a very different film; one somewhat critical of the society of his new home, the United States. That film was called Ace in the Hole. The movie concerns Kirk Douglas as a down-on-his-luck reporter who has been fired from just about every major newspaper in the country. Starting with New York, he's gone from large market to small, and now has ended up in Alberquerque. He's a self-described $250 a week reporter, but settles for $60 a week, and makes it clear at one point he'd be willing to take even less. But his character, Chuck Tatum, has dreams. Yes, he does. He dreams that one day, the Great Story will drop into his lap. A story that will let him write his way out of the situation he's in, one that will let him write his own ticket and get back to New York. That Great Story drops into his lap one day when, while on the way to cover a rattlesnake hunt, he stops at a gas station and finds out there's a man trapped in a nearby cave. He boldly goes into the gave, meets Leo Mimosa (Richard Benedict), the man trapped inside, and smells a story. Immediately he begins to sabotage the rescue efforts. When the engineer in charge of getting Mimosa out explains that it might take most of a day to get him out safely, Tatum conconcts a much more convulted rescue plan, one that will certainly take days. Days during which he can write a great story about this poor man trapped in a mountin. A story that will finally take him back to New York. Along the way he meets the slightly corrupt sheriff (Ray Teal), who is more-than-willing to help him, figuring the attention boosts his chances of getting relected. Also present is Mimosa's wife, Lorraine (Jan Sterling), who can't stand her husband and wants to leave. Tatum practically forces her to remain, saying the story works so much better if there's a grieving wife at home for him to focus on. As the days roll past, people begin to show up. First just a family on their way to a nice vaction, who end up settling in for the long haul. Before you know it, the entire area is filled with cars, as people come from miles around to witness this great story. Eventually a large carnvial builds up around the site (in fact the movie was, at one point, called The Big Carnival). Access to the cave area, once free, goes from 25 cents a car to 50 cents, and then to a dollar. The gas station is making money hand over fist. Tatum is being courted by New York. Everyone is benefiting. Everyone but Leo. Things begin to change in the life of everyone involved, including Tatum, when Leo starts to get sicker and sicker. Tatum quickly realizes the story doesn't work if the man in the cave doesn't make it out alive, and starts to try and change his tactics, only to find out that it might be too late. The story is based to a great extent on real-life events in 1925, when a man named Floyd Collins became trapped in a mine. It also put me in mind of those stories back in the late 80's and early 90's, where it seemed like every week some kid was getting trapped in a well. If nothing else, this movie shows well that the media circus that errupted around those wells was little different from what has gone before. When the movie was released, it was largely panned. Many people seemed to think it was overly-cynical and presented an image of America as it wasn't. The film also failed miserably at the box office. It did get an Oscar nomination, for the screenplay, but lost. Most people today have never even heard of the film, and that's a tragedy. The movie was recently released on DVD by the Criterion Collection and turns up on Turner Classic Movies from time-to-time. It's an exceptional film, with stunning cinematography, great performances and a wonderful screenplay. It feels amazingly modern despite being 57 years old. Roger Ebert said of this movie: "Wilder, true to this vision and ahead of his time, made a movie in which the only good men are the victim and his doctor. Instead of blaming the journalist who masterminds a media circus, he is equally hard on sightseers who pay 25 cents admission. Nobody gets off the hook here." He's exactly correct. The public that eats up these stories is every bit as culpable as the journalists who create them. If we ignore these stories, they'll go away. Instead the public lavishes attention onto them, encouraging the worst in journalism. On the plus side, at least in this case, it makes for a wonderful, if sometimes hard to watch, film.

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