Ace in the Hole (1951)

Release date: 1951-07-04
Country: USA
Language: English|Spanish|Latin
Director: Billy Wilder
Production Co: Paramount Pictures
Genre: Drama
Rating: 8.2/10
Length: 1h 51min

Storyline

Charles Tatum, a down-on-his-luck reporter, takes a job with a small New Mexico newspaper. The job is pretty boring until he finds a man trapped in an old Indian dwelling. He jumps at the chance to make a name for himself by taking over and prolonging the rescue effort, and feeding stories to major newspapers. He creates a national media sensation and milks it for all it is worth - until things go terribly wrong.

Plot Keywords

media manipulation, journalism, dysfunctional marriage, media circus, new mexico, cave, newspaper, newspaper office, world war two veteran, cynicism, radio news, teletype, long take, reporter, sheriff, corrupt sheriff, rattlesnake, newspaper headline, lantern, liar

Short Review

In a lesser movie, Tatum would share our sympathy for the pathetic man. Here, he's on a parabola in that direction but wants it to intersect with the moment of his own greatest fame.