It's interesting how many reviewers are prepared to shower this seriously sub-standard Billy Wilder melodrama with 9 and 10 ratings. I guess Wilder got one thing right: people are REALLY cynical about the media. As a former journalist, I'm probably more cynical than anyone. I've seen deeply unethical reporters at work. I've seen newspapers manipulate stories and milk tragedies. And I've encountered all the ghouls and gawpers. So, yes, there's a ring of truth to the tale Wilder spins. That said, Ace in the Hole is wildly unconvincing from start to finish. As many have noted, Kirk Douglas gives a scenery chewing performance that is entirely lacking in nuance and subtlety. But that's hardly surprising, given the script he has to work with. There's nothing subtle about Chuck Tatum, which leaves you constantly wondering why absolutely everyone falls for his manipulations and duplicity. Indeed, at the very start of the film his pitch to the local newspaper editor is so odious that you really can't imagine anyone with half a brain giving him a job. He subsequently manages to orchestrate almost every aspect of a cave rescue operation. Nobody else gets a look-in - not the local sherif, not the engineers who bring actual expertise to the operation, nobody. And as other reporters flock to the story, none of them manages to find a different narrative or challenge any aspect of the operation Tatum has engineered. They all fall into line, rather than find their own angle, which is what any reporter (even the most cynical) would do. I'm all for a scathing, scabrous satire, but the cynicism Wilder attempts to pass off here is just fanciful and preposterous. He just doesn't make it fly. And as the deeds become more and more dastardly and the film goes from dark to pitch black, I really don't see how any thinking viewer can continue to suspend disbelief. Yet clearly many have. But while those reviewers may be prepared to proclaim Ace in the Hole "an overlooked masterpiece", I'm a bit more inclined to agree with Wilder's own assessment of the film's place in his filmography. He called it "the runt of the litter".
Review of Ace in the Hole
