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Ace in the Hole (1951)

  • Writer: Thomas Duncan
    Thomas Duncan
  • 6 days ago
  • 4 min read

Cast:

  • Billy Wilder, Writer/Director

  • Lesser Samuels and Walter Newman, Writers

  • Charles Lang, Cinematography

  • Hugo Friedhofer, Music

  • Doane Harrison and Arthur P. Schmidt, Editing

  • Kirk Douglas as Charles "Chuck" Tatum

  • Jan Sterling as Lorraine Minosa

  • Robert Arthur as Herbie Cook

  • Porter Hall as Jacob Q. Boot

  • Frank Cady as Al Federber

  • Geraldine Hall as Nellie Federber

  • Richard Benedict as Leo Minosa

  • Ray Teal as Sheriff Gus Kretzer

  • Lewis Martin as McCardle

  • John Berkes as Papa Minosa

  • Frances Dominguez as Mama Minosa

  • Gene Evans as Deputy Sheriff

  • Frank Jaquet as Sam Smollett

  • Harry Harvey Sr. as Dr. Hilton

  • Bob Bumpas as radio announcer

  • Richard Gaines as Nagel


Background:

  • Ace in the Hole was wide released on June 14, 1951.

  • On a budget of $1.8 million, the film would only make $1.3 million in rentals and was widely considered Billy Wilder's first commercial and critical flop.

  • Most critics shredded the film at the time, but it has since undergone a full retrospective including specific praise from Spike Lee, Roger Ebert, and Brad Bird among others.

  • Despite the critical vitriol of the time, the film was nominated for Best Original Screenplay for 1951.

  • Ace in the Hole currently holds an 88% among critics on RT, a 72 score on Metacritic, and a 4.3/5 on Letterboxd.


Plot Summary: Meet Chuck Tatum — a fast-talking, down-on-his-luck newspaper reporter played by Kirk Douglas. After burning bridges at every big-city paper in the country, he ends up stranded in Albuquerque, New Mexico, working for a small-town daily and waiting for his big break.


Then one day, fate drops a story right in his lap. A local man named Leo Minosa gets trapped inside a collapsed mine shaft. Instead of calling for a quick rescue, Tatum sees an opportunity. He cuts a deal with a corrupt sheriff, engineers a longer — and far more dangerous — rescue operation, and turns the whole ordeal into a national media spectacle. Crowds pour in. Carnival rides go up. The story is everywhere.


But the longer the rescue drags on, the worse Leo's condition becomes. And Tatum, who started this as pure ambition, begins to realize what he's actually done.


Did You Know:

  • After the film was released, it got bad reviews and lost money. The studio, without Billy Wilder's permission, changed the title to "The Big Carnival" to increase the box office take of the film. It didn't work. On top of that, Wilder's next picture, Stalag 17 (1953), was a hit and he expected a share of the picture's profits. Paramount's accountants told him that since this picture lost money, the money it lost would be subtracted from the profits of "Stalag 17".

  • A canvas "desert water bag" hangs on the front grille of the car that Tatum and Herbie drive. Such bags, which cool water by evaporation, were common in desert travel in the days before coolers became widely available, and the water was used both for drinking and for adding to an overheated auto radiator.

  • The original shooting location is precisely 2.7 miles east of the Arizona/New Mexico border on State Highway 118 (formerly Route 66), coordinates 35°23'53.6"N, 109°01'12.0"W. Now on private property, the empty cliff niche is plainly visible just 200 yards from the highway. At the time, Paramount constructed the replica cliff dwellings inside the niche at a cost of $30,000.

  • John Berkes, who played Papa Minosa, died on July 5, 1951, the day after the movie's wide release.

  • In a 1950 memo to Billy Wilder, Kirk Douglas objected to several aspects of Chuck Tatum's monologue about missing New York City: "No pastrami! No garlic pickles! No Madison Square Garden! No Yogi Berra!," among other things. Douglas asked, "... what the hell is a Yogi Berra?" Douglas' secretary, who was amused her boss didn't know who the New York Yankee star was, told him he was a catcher.


Best Performance: Billy Wilder (Writer/Director)/Kirk Douglas (Tatum)

Best Secondary Performance: Billy Wilder (Writer/Director)/Kirk Douglas (Tatum)

Most Charismatic Award: Frank Jaquet (Smolett)/Jan Sterling (Lorraine)

Best Scene:

  • Meeting Leo

  • Meeting with the Sheriff and Engineer

  • The National Media

  • Anniversary Present

  • Chuck's Confession

Favorite Scene: Meeting with the Sheriff and Engineer

Most Indelible Moment: Chuck's Confession


In Memorium:


Best Lines/Funniest Lines:

Charles Tatum: Bad news sells best. Cause good news is no news.


Lorraine: I don't go to church. Kneeling bags my nylons.


Charles Tatum: I've done a lot of lying in my time. I've lied to men who wear belts. I've lied to men who wear suspenders. But I'd never be so stupid as to lie to a man who wears both belt and suspenders.


Jacob Q. Boot: Do you drink a lot?

Charles Tatum: Not a lot - just frequently.


Charles Tatum: Human interest. You pick up the paper, you read about 84 men or 284, or a million men, like in a Chinese famine. You read it, but it doesn't stay with you. One man's different, you want to know all about him. That's human interest.


Reporter: We're all in the same boat.

Charles Tatum: I'm in the boat. You're in the water. Now let's see how you can swim.


Charles Tatum: It's a good story today. Tomorrow, they'll wrap a fish in it.


Charles Tatum: When they bleached your hair, they must have bleached your brain too.


Charles Tatum: I don't make things happen, all I do is write about 'em.


Charles Tatum: There's three of us buried here: Leo, me, and you. We all want to get out and we're going to, only I'm going back in style.


The Stanley Rubric:

Legacy: 4.75

Impact/Significance: 2.5

Novelty: 9.25

Classic-ness: 8.25

Rewatchability: 7.25

Audience Score: 8.6 (8.0 IMDB, 92% RT)

Total: 40.6


Remaining Questions:

  • Does Tatum ever repent? Is he a redeemable character?

  • Where does Lorraine go?

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