The Big Shot (1942)
-
Mr. Arkadin
- Posts: 2645
- Joined: April 14th, 2007, 3:00 pm
The Big Shot (1942)
Comes on Wednesday. Billed as a poor man's High Sierra. I've wanted to see this one for awhile. Can anyone comment on the film?
-
Mr. Arkadin
- Posts: 2645
- Joined: April 14th, 2007, 3:00 pm
-
Mr. Arkadin
- Posts: 2645
- Joined: April 14th, 2007, 3:00 pm
the BIG shot
Hey Mr. Ark - I think I have inexplicably mistaken THE BIG SHOT with SAN QUENTIN. That's the Bogart movie I've always thought was subpar. Strangely enough, I've never seen THE BIG SHOT, so thanks for the accidental nudge. I wonder why it's so seldom shown, it sounds great.
-
Mr. Arkadin
- Posts: 2645
- Joined: April 14th, 2007, 3:00 pm
-
jdb1
I just watched this one (according to the Now Playing guide, it's a TCM Premiere, yet it's a WB movie) and I liked it. It seemed kind of a low-budget quickie. I don't know why, but everytime they panned to the bundled up cops chasing Bogie at the end, I kept laughing. They looked like they were from a different movie! And why didn't Bogie spin out in the snow? I've driven in nicer snowy/rainy weather and fishtailed and I wasn't even trying to escape the cops!
It was interesting to see the scenes, where he was mixing the pancake batter. It just seemed odd to see, because I don't think I've ever seen any movie where Bogie is so domestic.
And the innocent guy--I think his name was George. I just kept getting a real lunkheaded vibe off him. I'm not sure if this was him or him acting. Whatever it was, I kinda wanted to imprison him for just being a dope.
Good movie. Not something to really go nuts over, but it was a good way to pass 90 minutes.
It was interesting to see the scenes, where he was mixing the pancake batter. It just seemed odd to see, because I don't think I've ever seen any movie where Bogie is so domestic.
And the innocent guy--I think his name was George. I just kept getting a real lunkheaded vibe off him. I'm not sure if this was him or him acting. Whatever it was, I kinda wanted to imprison him for just being a dope.
Good movie. Not something to really go nuts over, but it was a good way to pass 90 minutes.
"Some of the best parts of life are frivolous." - Arthur Kennedy in A Summer Place
-----
The Roadshow Version: A Modern Take on Classic Movies
-----
The Roadshow Version: A Modern Take on Classic Movies
-
jdb1
I saw about 1/3 of it, and it really didn't do much for me. It was like a by-the-numbers prison break movie, and Bogart was pretty much wasted.
I remembered, though, that when I was a little girl I used to confuse Chick Chandler with Bud Abbott (!). I think it was because they were both the fast-talking vaudeville/burlesque type, and in at least one movie Abbott's name was "Chick."
I remembered, though, that when I was a little girl I used to confuse Chick Chandler with Bud Abbott (!). I think it was because they were both the fast-talking vaudeville/burlesque type, and in at least one movie Abbott's name was "Chick."
-
MissGoddess
- Posts: 5072
- Joined: April 17th, 2007, 10:01 am
- Contact:
I saw it for the first time last night and though I can see that Bogie has really begun to come into his own as an actor, his material wasn't up to his abilities, and Irene Manning sparked nothing from him. Sometimes he acted like she wasn't even in the same room with him.
The domestic pancake batter scene was the most interesting scene of all, if only for that priceless look on his face when sits down in the rocking chair only to fall backward. Never saw him do a physical bit like that before and he was funny!
I also liked his griping about having to cut wood and it being so cold. That seemed like genuine Bogart.
The domestic pancake batter scene was the most interesting scene of all, if only for that priceless look on his face when sits down in the rocking chair only to fall backward. Never saw him do a physical bit like that before and he was funny!
I also liked his griping about having to cut wood and it being so cold. That seemed like genuine Bogart.
BIG SHOT
Finally got around to watching THE BIG SHOT, which I taped the other evening. It's hard to come to grips with the fact that all these years have gone by without my ever seeing it. I always seem to confuse it with some other Bogart film ("San Quentin") and, to complicate matters, it hardly ever gets aired. So watching this 1942 gangster classic was a revelation and a delight. And while it might not rate as high as some of the other films he was doing during this period ("High Sierra," "Maltese Falcon," "All Through The Night," "Casablanca") it is his most noirish film from that classic early phase of the style; this coming from a studio (WB) not necessarily known for its contributions to film noir. From his doom-laden, fatalistic voice-over at the beginning to the mindbending array of psychological trickery, high contrast lighting and startling camera angles, THE BIG SHOT is a virtual catalogue of noir trappings. Am I the only person in the world coming to this film so late in life? Thanks again, Mr. Ark, for steering me over to this unheralded noir gem.
-
moira finnie
- Administrator
- Posts: 8024
- Joined: April 9th, 2007, 6:34 pm
- Location: Earth
- Contact:
The Big Shot (1942)
I'd never seen The Big Shot (1942) either before the other night's broadcast on TCM. I thought that the film, though uneven, added one more brushstroke in the fleshing out of Humphrey Bogart's evolving heroic persona as a romantic cynic. Made after High Sierra, there are parallels between the movies, though High Sierra is beautifully crafted and cast, and this one is admittedly slapdash.
At the start of The Big Shot the audience is shown the details of Bogie's life of crime via a nicely introduced flashback. We see a convincingly despairing Bogie wandering through the callous city, defeated and alone. This is among the most effective montages in the film, as was the sequence later in the film when he's convicted and sentenced to life. This latter sequence, which included a rapidly shown nightmarish shot of Bogart falling through space, was quite striking.
As a matter of fact, other than Bogart, the most memorable things about the film were technical and aesthetic qualities such as the velvety blacks and creamy whites, and the extremely dramatic perspective in the composition of several shots. Some credit should probably go to the cinematography by Sidney Hickox.
In terms of the Bogart persona, his highly individual and personal sense of nobility and selective generosity of spirit is demonstrated in a few scenes, such as the episode in which he refuses to use Irene Manning for an alibi, since it would compromise her as a married woman. Another time in the film when, as Bogie is about to turn himself into the police, he overhears a young policeman (John Ridgely) talking to his fellow officers about his wife's wondering when they'll be able to afford a baby. In a nice scene, the camera shows Bogie listening intently, bemused and perhaps a bit moved, and in a lighthearted way, he makes sure that the young policeman is credited with his capture and eligible for the financial reward, explaining to everyone within earshot that the guy's "about to have a baby." Finally, of course, in a plot device that could probably only happen in a Warner Brothers crime flick, our man Bogart turns himself in rather than see his young, innocent but dumb fellow convict (Richard Travis) accused of involvement with a prison breakout that resulted in a guard's death.
Irene Manning did not register as a strong character despite her beauty. Pallid Richard Travis fared little better as the hapless car salesman caught up in Bogart's legal troubles. It was, however, great fun to see an energetic Howard Da Silva in a small role as a gangster, and Susan Peters, who would receive several plum roles once she hired on at MGM, was noticably intense if not exactly good in her part as Travis' girl. As usual, I couldn't take my eyes off Minor Watson's toupee long enough to evaluate his role, and I even had another toupee to watch in this film when another wig-wearing but decent actor, Stanley Ridges, appeared in a rather underwritten role as the shyster lawyer.
In the sequence at the hideout, in which Bogie and Manning try to enjoy the brief pleasures of domesticity, the director Lewis Seiler didn't seem to be able to determine the right note of levity or longing. This portion of the movie alternated between a kind of burlesque of back country life or the serio-comic tragic effect of missed opportunities. During this segment, I was reminded of a similar, far more tragic sequence in Fritz Lang's touching proto-noir, You Only Live Once (1937), in which Henry Fonda and Sylvia Sidney attempt to create a home while on the lam, however briefly.
One significant reason that this film may not have been shown on tv over the years, despite being a part of the Bogart canon: the extended blackface act.
At the start of The Big Shot the audience is shown the details of Bogie's life of crime via a nicely introduced flashback. We see a convincingly despairing Bogie wandering through the callous city, defeated and alone. This is among the most effective montages in the film, as was the sequence later in the film when he's convicted and sentenced to life. This latter sequence, which included a rapidly shown nightmarish shot of Bogart falling through space, was quite striking.
As a matter of fact, other than Bogart, the most memorable things about the film were technical and aesthetic qualities such as the velvety blacks and creamy whites, and the extremely dramatic perspective in the composition of several shots. Some credit should probably go to the cinematography by Sidney Hickox.
In terms of the Bogart persona, his highly individual and personal sense of nobility and selective generosity of spirit is demonstrated in a few scenes, such as the episode in which he refuses to use Irene Manning for an alibi, since it would compromise her as a married woman. Another time in the film when, as Bogie is about to turn himself into the police, he overhears a young policeman (John Ridgely) talking to his fellow officers about his wife's wondering when they'll be able to afford a baby. In a nice scene, the camera shows Bogie listening intently, bemused and perhaps a bit moved, and in a lighthearted way, he makes sure that the young policeman is credited with his capture and eligible for the financial reward, explaining to everyone within earshot that the guy's "about to have a baby." Finally, of course, in a plot device that could probably only happen in a Warner Brothers crime flick, our man Bogart turns himself in rather than see his young, innocent but dumb fellow convict (Richard Travis) accused of involvement with a prison breakout that resulted in a guard's death.
Irene Manning did not register as a strong character despite her beauty. Pallid Richard Travis fared little better as the hapless car salesman caught up in Bogart's legal troubles. It was, however, great fun to see an energetic Howard Da Silva in a small role as a gangster, and Susan Peters, who would receive several plum roles once she hired on at MGM, was noticably intense if not exactly good in her part as Travis' girl. As usual, I couldn't take my eyes off Minor Watson's toupee long enough to evaluate his role, and I even had another toupee to watch in this film when another wig-wearing but decent actor, Stanley Ridges, appeared in a rather underwritten role as the shyster lawyer.
In the sequence at the hideout, in which Bogie and Manning try to enjoy the brief pleasures of domesticity, the director Lewis Seiler didn't seem to be able to determine the right note of levity or longing. This portion of the movie alternated between a kind of burlesque of back country life or the serio-comic tragic effect of missed opportunities. During this segment, I was reminded of a similar, far more tragic sequence in Fritz Lang's touching proto-noir, You Only Live Once (1937), in which Henry Fonda and Sylvia Sidney attempt to create a home while on the lam, however briefly.
One significant reason that this film may not have been shown on tv over the years, despite being a part of the Bogart canon: the extended blackface act.