The Big Shot (1942)

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Blistering performances.

Big Shot, The (1942) ** 1/2 (out of 4) B-grade gangster film from Warner features Humphrey Bogart as a three-time hood who gets out of prison and tries to go straight because one more mess up will get him life in prison. After not being able to make a straight living he sets up a heist for a crooked attorney but gets double crossed. Once back in prison Bogart must find a way to escape and get revenge. This really isn't anything we haven't seen in countless other prison/gangster films from Warner but as usual Bogart makes it worth watching. He plays the tough guy perfectly and his image as a tough guy can never be questioned. He even gets a few funny moments including one segment where he's on the hideout in the deep woods and can't get use to cutting wood for a fire. The supporting cast includes Richard Travis, Susan Peters and Irene Manning as Bogie's love interest. Manning isn't too good in her role and it probably would have been better with a stronger actress here but either way, if you're a fan of Bogart then this is worth checking out. It's also worth noting that there's a scene in the prison where Bogart is pitching a baseball, which is filmed pretty much shot for shot like a scene in The Shawshank Redemption.

This movie is very similar to Bogie's first movie "Up the River." Having seen all but three of his movies I was not expecting very much and chose to watch it only because it was one I had never seen before. I was pleasantly surprised by the acting. But, the location shoots and especially the stunt work was extremely well done for the time. The first car crash was very different than those of most movies that are over 65 years old, showing a car crashing through other cars and then flying off of a ramp and rotating through the air before it exploded into flames. The location shots taken in the snow covered high mountain country provide glimpses of vintage life in rural America of 1940. And the ending car chase and motorcycle stunts were very impressive for stunt men without the safety equipment that is now used. Even the dance scenes that "Dancer" was in were also enjoyable and revealed some of the dancing style of vaudeville. All in all the movie was entertaining and worth seeing, especially if you are a fan of Bogart and early stunt work.

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 portrays three time convict Joseph "Duke" Berne, with twenty years of prison time under his belt. But he's running gun shy now, as the next offense will put him away for life. When former cohorts show up planning an armored car heist, the Duke is in, until he runs into former flame Lorna (Irene Manning), now married to mob lawyer Martin T. Fleming (Stanley Ridges). He sits out the heist while the gang gets pinched, but gets fingered anyway by a nervous witness who's pressured to make an ID during intense police grilling.Now he needs attorney Fleming's help with an alibi, which comes in the form of young car salesman George Anderson (Richard Travis). Anderson's testimony will get Duke released, but small time hood Frenchy (Joe Downing), with a score to settle with Duke, rats out his involvement with Mrs. Fleming to her husband. The prosecuting attorney brings in Anderson's girlfriend who doesn't corroborate the salesman's story. Now Anderson and Duke both find themselves behind bars.Almost immediately, Duke starts planning his escape, and forms an alliance with The Dancer (Chick Chandler), a talented con man who will head up the prison's talent show. With the help of James Cagney lookalike Quinto (Murray Alper), who plants a gun under the warden's car to be retrieved by Duke in the prison machine shop, the stage for the breakout has been set.Meanwhile, George is implicated in the escape and faces more hard time if he doesn't spill his guts to the warden. With his conscience getting the better of him, Duke decides to turn himself in. What follows is a quite thrilling car chase scene over slick, snow covered mountain roads. Lorna takes a bullet in the chase, and when she doesn't make it, Duke's revenge on Fleming takes form. In a confrontation with Fleming, Duke gets his revenge, but takes a bullet himself.Told in flashback from the prison's hospital ward, "The Big Shot" is an interesting period piece. Note the sign in a scene from Sardo's Restaurant - "Italian Dinner - 60 cents"! The film's not in the same league with edgier gangster dramas like Cagney's "White Heat" or "Public Enemy", or even Bogey's earlier effort "Bullets or Ballots" with Edward G. Robinson. But it's not bad either, and a well spent hour and a half or so if you can find it. The film hasn't been released commercially, so you'll have to scour the late night cable movie channels, or source it from a private collector.