Revolt in the Big House (1958)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This is a standard prison picture helped by the presence of a number of good actors.Tough guy Gene Evans, whose story is told in flashback, stars as Gannon, a big time criminal planning a break out where his fellow convicts will get gun parts smuggled in from connections outside, hidden in boxes of large soap cakes,conceal them inside bales of jute being stored in the mill area, and assemble them until they are ready to use. In the climax, where the prisoners all burst out of their cells, taking food from the canteen and generally rioting, there is an exhilarating rush from seeing these men strive for their freedom. The Evans character, however, deliberately lets others be killed by the guards he knows are waiting on the other side, so he can selfishly sneak over a wall a different way on his own. Robert Blake co-stars as a young Latino convict Gannon grooms to become embittered enough to help them. Rather than hire a real Latino performer, Hollywood at the time often used actors with a vaguely swarthy background (Blake came from Italian stock) and cast them as Mexicans or Indians. There is a subplot involving the trouble the Blake character gets into with the heavy set captain of the guards, played by Walter Barnes, who is a racist: At one point the Latino is called a "little chili picker," at another the captain tells a group of inmates speaking Spanish, "From now on you monkeys better stick to English."Timothy Carey delivers another of his patented weirdo jobs as Bugsy, running a racket inside. John Qualen as an older prisoner acts as more of an observer, who stands back and reacts to what is going down with bemused, quizzical expressions. And in a somewhat smaller role Emile Meyer is on hand as the warden. He had previously played the warden in the much superior, Don Siegel directed prison film, Riot In Cell Block 11. Meyer was usually cast as an authority figure: a police official or detective, or a sheriff if in a Western.

This B-grade prison movie really packs a wallop, thanks to committed performances from a cast featuring Gene Evans, Tim Carey and Robert Blake. A stock story is brought to convincing, exciting life as hardened criminal Gene Evans is thrown into the "Big House". Right off the bat, he organizes a crashout. But he has other things on his mind as well. Routine as it may at first seem, this movie holds a number of surprises that make well worth anyone's time. Evans is solid as ever and expert at taking charge of the situation. He has no trouble standing up to and intimidating Tim Carey (a feat in itself). But the most impressive performance comes from young Robert Blake: his subtle use of accent and his consistency of character show true acting talent. Blake is the heart of this film while Evans is the brazen brains of it. Also on hand are stalwarts John Qualen, Emile Meyer and others, all directed by R.G. Springsteen with powerhouse impact. Great stuff. Yet another B movie that could use a restored issue on DVD.

Another prison revolt/escape movie, this time it's Allied Artists that tries for that Warner Bros. stock story. Gene Evans plays the new boss-like inmate with a 20-year sentence that he's not about to tolerate. He rouses everyone he meets with the idea of breaking out. But Evan's character is more slippery than you think, giving the film its only strength, story-wise. He's got tricks up his sleeve, and a cold, cold heart that's revealed at the end. Evans is solid, as is Robert Blake who struggles with a Mexican accent but gets a lot of dialogue and handles it well. The standout is Timothy Carey, playing the half-smart tough guy inmate used like all the others by Evans. Carey is convincingly creepy and menacing... aw heck, he's just plain weird throughout.Not a bad little movie, but it does take a while to get going, and the titled "revolt" doesn't occur until late in the proceedings, and shows the budget limitations (the staging is mostly awful, too) and ends fairly quickly. Doesn't hold a candle to the energetic old Warner Bros. prison thrillers.

The plot of this film has been filmed a million times: a group of prisoners start a revolt in order to make an escape attempt. What makes this worth seeing over dozens of other "B" films is the good cast. Gene Evans is excellent as Lou Barlow who tricks good kid Rudy (Robert Blake) into helping him escape. Tim Carey gives his usual good performance as the unhinged prisoner "Bugsy" who lovingly fondles guns. Glad my local video store had this one.