'The Big Shot' was made in 1942 and followed Bogie's playing Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon. As Spade, Bogart played the tough guy with a code of conduct that would not let him succumb to the seductive Mary Astor. In The Big Shot Bogart is a three time loser who decides, at the last minute, not to participate in robbing an armored car. All the same his character is fingered for the job and because of that he has to go on the run.
If that sounds like the makings of a good film I apologize. It's not. The film's a strange one. There are scenes that play well: an early scene of Bogart taking on gangsters in a bar, and a late scene of Bogart attempting to participate in preparing dinner.
But in between the film presents us with: a black-face vaudeville show within the walls of a prison, a jail-break that is as amateurishly shot as a student-film, an armored car holdup on a city street that looks exactly like what it is; a Hollywood sound stage with no one else present on that street. There's an old love affair that pits Bogart's character against the lawyer who claims to be helping him: a contrivance if I ever heard one. What I did find interesting is the young couple who are in love and who become involved with Bogart's character. A foreshadow of the couple in his later Casablanca who show up at Rick's door asking for help.
So. Bottom line. If, like me, you've run out of Bogart films to see, try this. Before last night I'd never heard of this film. Now I have. And so have you.
If that sounds like the makings of a good film I apologize. It's not. The film's a strange one. There are scenes that play well: an early scene of Bogart taking on gangsters in a bar, and a late scene of Bogart attempting to participate in preparing dinner.
But in between the film presents us with: a black-face vaudeville show within the walls of a prison, a jail-break that is as amateurishly shot as a student-film, an armored car holdup on a city street that looks exactly like what it is; a Hollywood sound stage with no one else present on that street. There's an old love affair that pits Bogart's character against the lawyer who claims to be helping him: a contrivance if I ever heard one. What I did find interesting is the young couple who are in love and who become involved with Bogart's character. A foreshadow of the couple in his later Casablanca who show up at Rick's door asking for help.
So. Bottom line. If, like me, you've run out of Bogart films to see, try this. Before last night I'd never heard of this film. Now I have. And so have you.