Review #979: 'Ace in the Hole' (1951)

Billy Wilder - the American director whose body of work sailed as closely to perfection as one can get - reportedly referred to Ace in the Hole, a rare flop for Wilder, as "the runt of my cinematic litter." Dismissed by critics upon release for its cynical depiction of the tabloids and law enforcement, it has since been re-discovered and lavished with praise for foreshadowing a world in which we are bombarded with sensationalised news stories that are now never more than a thumb-swipe away. Kirk Douglas plays Chuck Tatum, a hard-drinking, troublemaking reporter exiled from New York to New Mexico, where he plans to recoup at a low-circulation local paper until he lands a story that will have his big-city former pals clawing at each other for his services.

After over a year without the big break he was counting on, Tatum bitterly takes to the road to cover a rattlesnake hunt. On route, he stumbles across a weeping woman while filling his car with gas and, when a police car whizzes by, quickly sniffs the air for something big. It turns that a local man called Leo Minosa (Richard Benedict) has become trapped in a cave while looking for local Indian artefacts. Remembering W. Floyd Collins, who had the nation gripped while in a similar situation, Tatum seizes his chance and quickly sets up shop, convincing Minosa's unhappy wife Lorraine (Jan Sterling) to stay and play the weeping damsel for the cameras and microphones, and strikes a deal with corrupt local sheriff Kretzer (Ray Teal) to support his re-election bid

A more recent film to cover similar ground was Nighcrawler (2014), starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a more outwardly slimy reporter, manipulating events to his own benefit. The difference with Ace in the Hole is that Tatum does, by the end, discover a shred of humanity without losing his ferocity, as Leo's situation starts to look increasingly dire. Before his moral epiphany though, he shapes events with a Machiavellian wickedness, delaying the rescue and therefore allowing the story to garner national coverage, and using the strong-armed sheriff to shoo away any rival newspapers. It turns into a media circus, literally. Tatum stands on a mountain admiring what he has created while people flock to the scene in their hundreds and carnival rides are set up. A band even performs a song about Leo to the crowd and sells the recordings.

Partly down to Douglas's astonishingly acid-tongued and energetic performance and partly Lesser Samuels, Walter Newman and Wilder's ferocious script, Ace in the Hole rests easily on par with the likes of The Lost Weekend (1945) and Some Like it Hot (1959), although it falls short of Double Indemnity (1944) and Sunset Blvd. (1950). He didn't get much wrong in his career, but Wilder's evaluation of the film is certainly dumbfounding. Unrelenting in its foreboding of where journalism was in danger of heading, Ace in the Hole is gripping storytelling. Douglas stampedes through the scenery like a branded bull, and his characters increasingly desperate actions remain shocking even now, 65 years later.


Directed by: Billy Wilder
Starring: Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling, Robert Arthur, Richard Benedict, Frank Cady, Ray Teal
Country: USA

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie