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Ace in the Hole

United States

1951

111 Min
Black and White
1.33:1
English
  • Currently 4.2/5 Stars.
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DIR Billy Wilder

SCR Billy Wilder, Lesser Samuels, Walter Newman

DP Charles Lang

CAST Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling, Bob Arthur, Porter Hall, Frank Cady, Richard Benedict, Ray Teal, Frank Jaquet

ED Arthur Schmidt

MUSIC Hugo Friedhofer

Venice (In Competition): International Award

Synopsis

One of the most scathing indictments of American culture ever produced by a Hollywood filmmaker, Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole is legendary for both its cutting social critique and its status as a hard-to-find cult classic. Kirk Douglas gives the fiercest performance of his career as Chuck Tatum, an amoral newspaper reporter caught in dead-end Albuquerque who happens upon the story of a lifetime—and will do anything to ensure he gets the scoop. Wilder’s follow-up to Sunset Boulevard is an even darker vision, a no-holds-barred exposé that anticipated the rise of the American media circus. —The Criterion Collection

Director

Original

Billy Wilder

Originally planning to become a lawyer, Billy Wilder abandoned that career in favor of working as a reporter for a Viennese newspaper, using this experience to move to Berlin, where he worked for the city’s largest tabloid. He broke into films as a screenwriter in 1929, and wrote scripts for many German films until Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933. Wilder immediately realized his Jewish ancestry would cause problems, so he emigrated to Paris, then the US. Although he spoke no English when he arrived in Hollywood, Wilder was a fast learner, and thanks to contacts such as Peter Lorre (with whom he shared an apartment), he was able to break into American films. His partnership with Charles Brackett started in 1938 and the team was responsible for writing some of Hollywood’s classic comedies, including Ninotchka (1939) and Ball of Fire (1941). The partnership expanded into a producer-director one in 1942, with Brackett producing, and the two turned out such classics… read more

Wall

Displaying 4 of 41 wall posts.
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Dr. Pepper

18Mar13

No longer is Billy Wilder attacking Hollywood and its croonies, now his fiery cynicism is against us all - how we all feed upon tragedy. His most brilliant film.

  • Picture of Trolley Freak

    Trolley Freak

    18Mar13

    Hey, glad you liked it! I haven't seen it in over 20 years but the memory of its brilliance has stayed with me all this time... :)

Picture of jeffreyreeser

jeffreyreeser

18Jan13

Fascinating story and done with excellency. (9/10)

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WhatsUpWill

15Nov12

A tour de force by everyone involved. A masterpiece and Wilder's best film.

Dr. Pepper and Kyle Lewis like this

Picture of There Will Be Josh Schasny

There Will Be Josh Schasny

4Nov12

A quintessential "middle finger" film from the 50s. Wilder's bleakest film. Great to see that someone was going against the current at the time.

Related Films

Fans

Displaying 5 of 886 fans.

Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.
W184

Kirk Douglas @ 95

By David Hudson on December 9, 2011

And to think he’s appeared in nearly as many films.

read article

Lists

Displaying 5 of 256 lists.

Reviews

Displaying 4 of 6

ACE IN THE HOLE

By Daniel A. DiCenso on September 4, 2011

The status of Ace in the Hole as Billy Wilder’s follow-up to Sunset Boulevard is evident in the opening shot of Kirk Douglas riding on a car as it is being towed. Here is a man reveling sardonically…  read review

Billy Wilder's Aces

By Andhika Eka Buana on February 2, 2010

and when i though this is just another Billy Wilder film in the same vein with Sunset Boulevard, and said the word ‘Billy Wilder is so fuc***n overrated’ (the first 30 minutes makes me worry,i’m already…  read review

Untitled

By Phillip​EJohnst​on on November 3, 2009

All great artists know that it is impossible to understand human nature and experience without looking at the extremes of greatness and vileness. Film noir prefers looking at the vile and Ace in the…  read review

Untitled

By Gary Wood on August 6, 2009

Billy Wilder’s Ace In The Hole is a blistering condemnation of America’s vulturous nature; with acid cynicism, the film doesn’t skewer America, the film disembowels.

Ace In The Hole was not…  read review

Forum

Displaying 1 discussion topic.

Best Billy Wilder Movie?

32 posts by 23 people about 2 years ago

DVD

Buy the DVD from The Criterion Collection.