Movies - Ace in the Hole

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	Movies - Ace in the Hole

Ace in the Hole is a 1951 black-and-white film starring Kirk Douglas and directed by Billy Wilder. Paramount Pictures release.

Wilder examines the seedy relationship between the media and the news it reports in this film noir. Originally released theatrically as Ace in the Hole; The Big Carnival is the title used for the films re-release and most early television airings. The "carnival" in the title refers to the media circus surrounding the events in the movie.

Plot: Kirk Douglas portrays Charles 'Chuck' Tatum the cynical, down-on-his-luck reporter for a small New Mexico paper. While on assignment covering a rattlesnake hunt Tatum finds out about a man, played by Richard Benedict, has become trapped due to a mine collapse. Tatum sees his chance to make it big again, and manages to delay the rescue in order to benefit from the fame his exclusive reporting is bringing. The man in the hole's wife Jan Sterling also has eyes for Tatum.

Critical reaction

Reviews of the film today are mixed but mostly favorable. stated that the film isn't the greatest movie effort: "Ace in the Hole is by no means a great—or even a particularly good—movie, but its sustained nastiness shows a stunning disregard for box-office niceties" while says of the film "Not unlike Fritz Lang's equally misanthropic Scarlet Street
, Ace in the Hole plays the squashing of one man's human spirit for societal-weary gravitas."

Awards and nominations

The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Story and Screenplay.

Real-life events

Ace in the Hole is loosely based on events surrounding the 1925 entrapment and death of W. Floyd Collins in Sand Cave, Kentucky. A Louisville newspaper, the Courier-Journal, jumped on the story of the imperiled Collins by dispatching a reporter named William Burke "Skeets" Miller to the scene. Miller's enterprising coverage turned the tragic episode into a national event and earned Miller a Pulitzer Prize. Call Northside 777
is another film noir based on a series of Pulitzer Prize winning stories - though the press is portrayed in a more positive light.

Cast

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 Mr. Federber
Richard Benedict
as Leo Minosa

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