Ace in the Hole

Billy Wilder's ACE IN THE HOLE is so nasty that I couldn't find a way in to the movie. Watching ACE IN THE HOLE, I felt like I was stuck on a long trip with an insufferable companion. As the third act slowly hove into view, I couldn't wait for it to end.

ACE IN THE HOLE begins with Kirk Douglas, all braggadocio and desperate self-assurance, hustling for work in a smalltime Albuquerque newspaper. He lands the job and settles in to wait for the Big Story that'll get him back to the big time, where he think he belongs. The problem is, I didn't buy him as a newspaperman. I didn't buy him as the kind of guy who'd have the patience to gut it out in the minor leagues. Frankly, I didn't buy him as a human being. When I saw him, I saw only Kirk Douglas hamming it up.

But Douglas gets his break in the form of Richard Benedict, a poor sap who gets stuck in a cave-in while scavenging for Indian relics. Douglas milks the story for all its worth, and the resulting media circus is the real heart of this movie. Problem is, I didn't buy Benedict, either. He plays his character, Leo Mimosa, as too pious, too loving, too simple, too everything. It's as if the movie is part of the circus, building an image of a man who can't exist.

ACE IN THE HOLE may have much to say about human nature, the news media, and life in general. But it clangs its bell so loudly that all I wanted to do was plug my ears. I never thought I'd see a Billy Wilder movie I didn't like. ACE IN THE HOLE proves that there's a first time for everything.

Last Train from Gun Hill

John Sturges's LAST TRAIN FROM GUN HILL is worth watching for the title alone. I mean, how can you not dig a movie with a title like that?

Having said that, its title is the best thing about LAST TRAIN FROM GUN HILL. The story, which rips off HIGH NOON (but with a twist!), follows Kirk Douglas as a marshall who absolutely, positively will not compromise when it comes to getting his man. Unfortunately, in this case his man is the son of his best friend, played by Anthony Quinn. Quinn's the top dog in Gun Hill, a town several stops down the rail line from Douglas's territory, and, well, there's your conflict.

I like Kirk Douglas. I like Anthony Quinn. I like John Sturges. LAST TRAIN FROM GUN HILL only counts as a middling success, however, because it's premised upon the conflicting loyalties of both men but resolves that source of tension too early in the film. Once Quinn makes his choice, the movie's only about the countdown to the gunfight, and HIGH NOON did a better job of handling the material. The does look and sound great, and it has some cool stunts. It's a good rainy day Western, but I wouldn't peg it much more highly than that.