Ace In The Hole (1951)

30 December 2021

This is my second favorite Kirk Douglas film after Paths of Glory, and possibly my favorite Billy Wilder film. To be honest I didn't plan to have a Billy Wilder film festival as I also watched Witness for the Prosecution and Sunset Boulevard around the same time as this. This film is about a has-been journalist stuck working for a small-time Albuquerque newspaper, and finds and subsequently milks a story of a man trapped in a cave for all he can.

It's loosely based on a true story of spelunker Floyd Collins getting trapped in a Kentucky cave in the 1920s. Though ironically life emulates art decades later, and both the concepts of the 24-hour news cycle, and of sensationalistic journalism both are criticized here. It's a sharp and vicious look at the American institutions of journalism and local government that wasn't appreciated at the time of its release. Decades later it's seen new life though, and is an interesting statement on the abandonment of journalistic ethics that plague today's word.

Nearly 13 years ago I gave this film an 8/10, but especially as the last decade has shown the implosion of journalism and blurring of truth, I think films that criticize these concepts are important to see with a crisp and innocent lens - something that is harder to find in modern times. The main character's sentiment holds true today: "Bad news sells best. Cause good news is no news." 10/10

31 January 2009

8/10