Cheap Ace in the Hole (AKA The Big Carnival) (DVD) (Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling) (Billy Wilder) Price

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Customer Reviews of Ace in the Hole (AKA The Big Carnival)

"When they need you, they forgive and forget."
In the film, "Ace in the Hole", unemployed newspaper reporter Charles Tatum (Kirk Douglas) finds himself stuck in New Mexico. He's penniless, his car has just broken down, and he has no prospects whatsoever. One thing Tatum does have in abundance is nerve. And it's this nerve that takes Tatum into the local newspaper office where he bullies and bargains his way into a job as a reporter. Tatum has a checkered past. He used to work for big newspapers, but he's "been fired from 11 papers." He's been at the top of his field, and he dreams of getting back up there one day. Tatum realizes that his best shot at fame is through the chance of writing a killer story--and he brags, "if there's no news, I'll go out and bite a dog." Stuck in a small backwater town, the opportunities for the big break just don't materialize. Tatum is on his way to cover the annual Rattlesnake hunt, when he stumbles across the story of a lifetime.

Tatum accidentally runs into a crisis--there's a man stuck in an abandoned mine shaft/Indian burial ground. Leo Minosa is trapped and buried under some fallen rubble. To extract him carelessly could cause the mine to collapse and Leo would be killed. Tatum turns the rescue into a media circus--and of course, he's the one with all the power.

The three main characters all want to escape in different ways. Tatum wants to escape the small time. Leo wants to escape from the mine, and his wife, Lorraine, a former dime-a-dance girl (Jan Sterling) wants to escape from the boring humdrum existence stuck behind the serving counter at the family business. The three characters collude--from necessity--and create a media circus in the middle of nowhere.

The role of Tatum is Kirk Douglas at his best--he's hard as nails, cynical, shameless and driven. He never gives an inch in his inhuman drive for fame and fortune. "Ace in the Hole" examines the issue of ethics in journalism, and I doubt there's a better film on the subject. This is simply an incredible classic film, and it's a travesty that it's not available commercially. Based on a true story, this film was a huge flop for director Billy Wilder, and the film really deserves to be resurrected from the vaults--displacedhuman

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lawsuit
after this film came out there was a lawsuit as to who came up with the idea for the film. the story is based on a true incident of a man trapped in a mine, but the idea to make that news story into a film was brought to the attention of wilder by a man who later sued for compensation. the case went all the way to the california supreme court and the verdict went against wilder and the studio. this could be the reason why the film is not available for sale.

it is a shame because kirk douglas in unbelievable in this movie and the subject matter of media reporters taking matters into their own hands to distort facts to create the story (to make a name and increase ratings/circulation) is more timely than ever

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Wilder's "Ace" is a hole of a good movie!
Billy Wilder made this film after Sunset Blvd(1950) and before Stalag 17(1953), two of his most popular works. He once referred to "Ace" as "the runt of my litter". It is one of the most brilliant films to come out of Hollywood in the early 1950's.

The idea of a newspaper man covering the story of a trapped miner, exploiting and managing the "rescue" in order to sell the story to the media, was way ahead of it's time, which is why the picture flopped at the box office.

The people at Paramount don't seem to value the artistry inherent in this masterpiece. They probably only look at the numbers and figure, "well, it didn't make any money in 1951, so it won't make any now if we release it on DVD"
But they are wrong. This is a cult classic and on every film buff's must-have list.

Besides the acting and direction and the bitterly pungent screenplay, the arid b&w cinematography of Charles Lang and the moody, impressionist, noir music score by Hugo Friedhofer are absolutely perfect for this story.

By all means, write a letter to Paramount Home Video and demand that this film is given a DVD release. You can get their address from their website. I wrote them last year and they said there were no plans to release it. So that means waiting for it to show up on Turner Classic Movies, where I last saw it about 3 years ago.
But if they get enough letters, well, you never know...............