The Big Shot (1942)

The greatest movie ever!

one of my absolute favorites!

Lack of good storyline.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The Big Shot was completed just as the USA was getting into World War II and it would be many years before Humphrey Bogart once again played a gangster role. He ended his career as Warner Brothers gangster however with a good role that more than faintly resembled his High Sierra and George Raft's part in Each Dawn I Die.The story of The Big Shot is told in flashback as Bogart lies in a prison hospital. As he relates it, Bogey's a three time loser who if he gets another conviction it's permanent accommodations for him at the state's expense. Like Roy Earle in High Sierra, it's really too late for him to go straight.But what a surprise he gets when he finds his former girl friend, Irene Manning, now married to big shot criminal attorney and criminal mastermind Stanley Ridges. When they start taking up where they left off, it's the beginning of the end for Bogey.Like Roy Earle and Hood Stacey in Each Dawn I Die, there is an air of doom about Bogey's Duke Berne in The Big Shot. No matter what he does it will end bad for him as it does for those other characters. But the audience gets quite a ride. Best bit of action is that police chase with Bogart and Manning being pursued by upstate cops.Best supporting performance in the film is that of Chick Chandler who plays another convict Dancer with whom Bogey makes a prison break. Chandler did work in vaudeville and was a song and dance man and got to use those skills in the role. Also Stanley Ridges is one mean and nasty villain.This was the time that Bogart was between classics The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca. Though The Big Shot is not up there with those two, it's a lot better than other stuff he was doing at the time like All Through the Night and Across the Pacific. This is a good film for a Bogart fan to introduce someone else to the charisma and persona of Humphrey Bogart without using a classic.

Not even Bogart can save this film. Bogart's fame had caught up with his talent by the time this film was made. Its surprising that Warner would make such a bad film that could have wrecked the career of its star. If anyone thinks this film is great, just ask somebody who is film buff, which means a Bogart fan who played in "Big Shot", chances are the question will go unanswered. This film is hardly ever played, and its no wonder. For those commentators who liked the chase scene in the snow, they must have never ridden a motorcycle, let alone in the snow on mountain roads. The cops do eventually crash, but not before firing about twenty shots,which means they would have had to reload at least twice, while driving one handed. For those not familiar with revolvers, and apparently the writer's were not, loading a revolver is basically a two handed operation. So that means the cops would have been driving in the snow with no hands on the bars.Unrealistic court rooms are not unusual for most movies, but this one is really bad. Surprise witnesses may be dramatic, but they are hardly an accurate portrait of the court system.Unlike most Bogart gangster movies, you can never figure out whether he's a robin hood bad guy, or just a bad guy. In this film, the writer's created someone who comes across as a little sappy. Wasn't it quite unlike other Bogart characters to be stopped from pulling an armored car robbery by his former girl friend now married to the crooked attorney who for some never quite explained reason will get most of the loot.The only good line in this film is during the prison break scene where the former girl friend is trying to fool around, and Bogart retorts, "I can only do one thing at a time." Not only was it a funny line, but one of the most believable.I am still trying to figure out how Bogart and girlfriend got out of the house into their car. The prison seemed more like a refuge for bad actors, rather than bad characters. If a guy acted like "Dancer Smith" in prison, he would probably been raped so often, he would never been able to dance. This also was the first prison break that used a spot light to put out the lights. A novel but highly unlikely way of to start a break.Its hard to believe that Warner Brothers put this film out at the same time it put out the Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, High Sierra. Some of Best films ever made which makes this film a real stinker.

Humphrey Bogart, a master-actor of crime, did it again in this 1942 film. Ironically, it's when Bogie tries to go straight that things begin to go awry.While we have all the familiar elements to a Warner's Gangster Film, this picture is done incredibly well. There are the small time crooks, the fancy lawyer who plots the jobs, two innocent young lovers caught up in this mess and a dame, Irene Manning, who gives a splendid performance.Manning, the wife of the crooked lawyer, will not allow her lover, Bogart, to participate in a heist. That's when the action begins. Her husband discovers her indiscretion and makes sure that Bogart, who is blamed for being part of the robbery team, goes to prison on a life sentence as it is his third offense.The lawyer causes more havoc until Bogie breaks out of jail and is finally able to deal with him.With all his sinister gangster ways, Humphrey Bogart shows that he has a heart and will not let the "kid" take the rap and go to the chair as a result.

HUMPHREY BOGART once admitted that he had to spend years at Warner Bros. dodging bullets and writhing around on the floor as a bullet-ridden gangster type, before being taken seriously in other roles. THE BIG SHOT is a prime example. It came at a stage in his career where he was on the verge of becoming one of the biggest stars ever, with CASABALANA giving him the iconic role of Rick and taking him away from gangster roles for awhile. But until then, he was still a full-fledged gangster star.Basically, it's a grade-B yarn with IRENE MANNING (who starred in "The Desert Song" opposite Dennis Morgan a year later), as his romantic interest in a cast that includes SUSAN PETERS, STANLEY RIDGES, MINOR WATSON and HOWARD DA SILVA.Bogart is an ex-inmate, a three-time loser trying to go straight and we see his story in flashback as he lies on a hospital bed. Lured back into a life of crime when he can't find a job, he joins Da Silva's gang and has to deal with romantic complications involving ex-girlfriend Manning, married to crime boss Stanley Ridges. He gets accused of being one of the armored car bandits and has to figure a way to get himself clear of a frame-up. Ridges frames him while posing as his lawyer and Bogart gets sent to prison for a life term.The prison break scene is the highlight of the drama and rescues the film from a slow pace that only steams up toward the conclusion. Bogart has a moral problem. A good guy (RICHARD TRAVIS) who tried to prevent Bogie and friend from making a jail break, gets accused of being mixed up in the escape. When a prison guard dies during the attempt, Travis has to take the blame.The plot takes a turn when Bogart decides he can't let Travis, an innocent man, take the rap.Summing up: Worthwhile for Bogie fans, but we've all seen this kind of crime drama before.