Ace in the Hole
U 111 mins
MyPicturehouse rating
U 111 mins
MyPicturehouse rating
On-screen journalists rarely come as acidic or bad-bottomed as Douglas’s Chuck Tatum.
In one of Billy Wilder’s most scathingly misanthropic films, the tabloid hack exploits a mine collapse with a worker trapped inside.
He orchestrates a media frenzy around the tragedy, intentionally sabotaging rescue attempts in order to prolong the excitement.
Douglas is toweringly monstrous here – a vulture appealing to the public’s worst impulses.
In fact, he may be the scumbag journo against which all others are measured.
He makes J.J. Hunsecker in Sweet Smell of Success (1957) look like a pushover.