Ace In The Hole-Billy Wilder

​At the end of watching Ace In The Hole, I wasn't quite sure whether or not this was a scathing assault on capitalism, or, more bluntly, greed. Or, was it a cynical expose of how malleable folks—by and large—are? This latter theory is brushed upon in the brilliant comedy-satirical Clerks, when a Chewlies gum representative persuades a crowd to assault Mini-Mart attendant, Dante, with cigarettes and hurl insults at him for being a cancer merchant—all being led under the deceptive guise of boosting sales for the gum that he peddles. Another amazing work of art that captures gullibility on an even grander scale was Elia Kazan's A Face In The Crowd, where Andy Griffith portrays Lonesome Rhodes, a small town nobody catapulted from drunk tank to political podium, exchanging the intoxicating spirits of alcohol for that of power, becoming more and more compromised along the way with crowds across America hailing him as a demigod. Extended diatribes such as these and Ace In The Hole make one wonder what it says about our current state of life in 2024. On one side of the fence therein lies a following of self-titled patriots that, seemingly overnight, have exalted Donald Trump to unfathomable levels of reverence, nearing close to Bible-thumping Christians in their rabid defense and devotion to their savior in Red. Who prefer boot-licking and law and order over civil unrest while conveniently choosing to ignore the January 6th catastrophe. Then, residing firmly on the other side, are those who perceive the former Commander in Chief to be the Anti-Christ, or, Hitler reincarnated, and all of his followers to be delusionally light-flavored Nazis. All while embracing a complete denial of the law of identity and forever adding letters to the sexually confused alphabet community continuing to wear masks (despite overwhelming evidence pointing to the contrary of their effectiveness) and buying into whatever the predominately left-leaning media feeds to them as if it were the gospel truth. Take a second to step away from the flames of this mess and strive to observe it all as an indifferent visitor from the future. It may become absurdly obvious that a lot of what we are seeing is orchestrated from a metaphorical balcony that sits above us all. Whether that be from the Heavens or the powers in place remains to be seen. But the fact is entrenched, that, people, now, so more than ever, are living at the sharpest apex of manipulation, where the ability to think independently is becoming, by the second, a rarer and more valuable commodity. To see how this correlates to Ace In The Hole, let us go to the skinny of the film. Chuck Tatum (Kirk Douglas) is a fallen-from-grace journalist who has crash-landed from New York City all the way down to Albuquerque, New Mexico where he serves a bitter existence in proverbial exile hashing out laughable tabloids and covering pitiful stories for a bottom-feeding local Herald. He spends his days lamenting his present state while spinning yarns of a past that was chock full of lost glories to his lowly bemused contemporaries until, one day, while en route to cover a rattlesnake hunt, fate whisks Chuck and his young photographer lackey to a roadside hatchery at the base of a mountain where an accident collapses the walls in on Leo Minosa (Richard Benedict), a local explorer. Chuck sprints to the scene of the accident and worms his way into the trap-laden cave until he finds a narrow fissure and comes face to face with Leo. It is through this narrow fissure that Chuck sees his window of opportunity to catapult his way back into the big leagues. After gaining the trust of Leo and getting the easily compromised Sheriff (Ray Teal) and Leo's unsatisfied wife Lorraine (Jan Sterling) to play ball, the exploitation train begins to run full steam ahead. Strategically, Chuck leaks the story out to the nationwide press and becomes the solitary communication conduit between Leo and the world, creating the story as he goes along, even usurping local rescue engineers who have the means to liberate Leo from his peril by going directly in through the mouth of the cave to reset new slats. Instead, Chuck decries this method as antiquated and dangerous and insists upon drilling from the top down (which only serves to deliberately delay the rescue and stretch out the story for maximum value). Meanwhile, outside of the cave, business explodes at the tiny roadside attraction and everyone in the know grows more and more insane as their pockets become pregnant with amalgamated funds. Chuck prepares for his departure while setting the market for his highly-sought after value with the big-name papers, crowds pay the steadily rising entry fee and swoon to hear Chuck's bullshit on the bullhorn, merchant salesman set up shop, Lorraine buys herself furs, and the Sheriff begins to mount a re-election campaign with his banner stretched across the mountain for all to see—all while Leo wastes away deep within the cavity of the mountain, growing more and more destitute by the minute, losing his mind at the constant pounding of the drill. Eventually, the minutes catch up and time runs out on the escapade for all involved. Leo's condition grows to be so unbearable that a doctor is brought in for an impromptu examination, after which he informs Chuck that Leo has only 12 hours left to live. In a panic, Chuck attempts to thwart death's grip by trying to get the construction crew to enter in through the mouth of the cave, as was the original plan, but by that point, the compression from the drill becomes too much. Outraged at the situation and disgusted at what he has done, Chuck goes into a tailspin and everything collapses. What unfolds thereafter is fairly predictable, but I will spare the reader at least that much because it truly is remarkable to see what greed eventually reduces the central pawns into by the end. This film was a magnificent piece of art that picked apart the meat of greed and narrowed in on the bones of how ugly it can grow to become once unfettered. I saw this firsthand at the casino daily and it can be amazing to watch when it plays out on such a grand scale. Once again, it is tough to say which target Billy had in his crosshairs. Was it the public and their willful embrace of ignorance, or the tabloids and their bottomless abyss of methods they are willing to use when milking out stories that are 25% truth wrapped in 75% of lies? Regardless, I loved the approach. Sometimes the general public needs a movie like this to slap them in the face to regain a sense of sobriety. This may be why Ace In The Hole bombed so badly at the box office and isn't surprising in retrospect. People, much like the sheeply crowds that bought into Chuck as Leo's grand liberator, despise the truth when it exposes the fact that they have been rooked, and, oftentimes, acting out of blind ignorance to defend their mortally wounded ego, will double-down in their diet of bullshit and gorge even further despite the irreversible damage it inflicts to their lost sense of self. Ace In The Hole is a rather unsettling film for those who prefer not to think too deeply about the unfortunate oil that keeps the mechanisms of economics running fluidly. Gentrification, apartheid, nepotism, exploitation, materialism, caste, deceit, and self-aggrandizing are all by-products of greed. And, if one were to assess the current state of shape in the world with an honest scope, are seemingly normal, and, oftentimes, embraced aspects of modern-day economics. Ace In The Hole was made 73 years ago yet is just as relevant today in 2024 as it was then. This is proof to the notion that the landscape may change, but human nature never does.

Stars: *****

Verdict: Watch

Cousins: Wall Street, A Face In The Crowd, Strange Days, Out Of Shadows, They Live!