The Big Carnival

It's dark, funny, ferocious, and vintage Wilder all the way.

A searing example of writer-director Billy Wilder at his most brilliantly misanthropic. An uncompromising portrait of human nature at its worst, the film was so far ahead of its time in its depiction of a media circus and the public's appetite for tragedy that it was a commercial disaster when first released, but now stands as one of the great American films of the 1950s.

Billy Wilder's direction captures the feel of morbid expectancy that always comes out in the curious that flock to scenes of tragedy.

Ace in the Hole is an acquired taste -- and an unforgettable one.

Ace in the Hole is a movie about the fascination of disaster that is itself a fascinating disaster.

So ham-handed and relentlessly overbaked that it is easy to see why audiences initially stayed away from it. Just when and how did anyone come to see this as a classic?

Ace in the Hole has to be one of the most cynical films of all-time. This film noir from director Billy Wilder tells the tale of a former big shot reporter, Chuck Tatum (Kirk Douglas), heading to Albuquerque for one last chance in the journalism game. While there, he stumbles on a man trapped in a cave that the local natives believe to contain "bad spirits". Jackpot. Milking the story for all it is worth, people come from miles to see the mountain, the sheriff runs a re-election campaign, and the victim's wife starts racking up cash through their family store (the only place in town). Chuck, meanwhile, milks the human interest of the story with a view towards a gig in a big city. One problem though: they can get him out of the mountain within hours. Having been fired from every big city job he had, Chuck Tatum knows this is his chance and dammit if he is going to let it slip through his fingers. Doing whatever he can to keep Leo Minosa (Richard Benedict) trapped under the rubble, he and every character acts out of pure self-interest. Wilder is known for his cynicism, but this one is other worldly. The scene of the incident is turned into a circus with people from miles away driving over and pitching tents. Leo's wife Lorraine (Jan Sterling) starts making people pay to get in, on top of serving them food and drinks in their restaurant. The sheriff (Ray Teal) paints "Re-elect Sheriff Kretzer" on the mountain. There are songs written about rescuing Leo and the news media across the country is willing to pay big bucks to Chuck, who is the man with exclusive access to Leo and the family, having wooed them to his cause before anybody else showed up. Manipulating the situation to prolong Leo's stay in order to soak in the attention and drive up demand for the human interest story, things take a turn for the worse when Leo has pneumonia and is near death. Considering how it would ruin his story and deprive the nation of a happy ending, something must be done or else Chuck will be faced with his guilt and regret. Initially a critical and commercial failure, Ace in the Hole was clearly ahead of its time. In exploring the involvement of the media in the news and the self-interest of everybody in telling a story, even the reading public, the film is a damning look at America. Everybody is selfish and forgets that a man is stuck in the mountain, but an old Indian curse keeping him there is far more compelling than the fact that a good man will die just because of their indifference. Had anybody cared to, he could have been rescued quite quickly, but they milk his suffering for their own satisfaction. In a day and age where the 24/7 news media uses human interest as a hook to reel in viewers, Ace in the Hole would be a great companion piece to news coverage of reporters running up to the families of children murdered in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting or the filmography of Peter Berg, namely Patriots Day. Today, there is money to be had and ratings to be gained from suffering. Just as with Chuck denying he wants Leo's suffering to continue only to then take steps to see it continue, the media wants shootings to stop nowadays, but man are those ratings ever nice. The public plays right into their cards too as we all gather around and watch with bated breathe to hear how everything turns out. While this undeniably happened in 1951 as well, not even Billy Wilder could have anticipated the way it would be nowadays. In essence, the film is an unseen warning for the future about what tragedy could be turned into and the disconnection people feel from others in tragic situations (i.e. the whole conversation regarding one person being more tragic than 84 or 284). Compelling, cynical, and terrifically acted, Ace in the Hole's dramatic ending being a slight rehash of its opening sequence is a stroke of genius. Kirk Douglas nails the role from beginning to end, somehow convincing people he is not nearly as bad of a person as he really is beneath the surface. A film that was far ahead of its time, Ace in the Hole is Wilder at his most cynical, showing how tragedy is profitable for those willing to trudge through the mud to profit of it. But, once the tragedy ends, everybody rushes home and forgets, symbolized by Leo's wife still leaving him. Things must go and life trudges ahead, leaving the tragedy that swept the nation in the dust as people move on to the next tragedy.