An early Bette Davis melodrama when she was still making those B pictures for Warner Bros. She plays an employee in a drug store , engaged to the owner, pharmacist Charles Farrell, during the heart of the depression, and it's not doing too well. Neither is the beer rackets, since Prohibition has been repealed and hundreds of beer factories have sprung up, hurting racketeer Ricardo Cortez and his henchmen. He gets an antacid in Farrell's store, but it is a home-made one by Farrell, since he was out of the brand Cortez wanted. It tastes identical to that brand and did the trick, giving Cortez an idea for a new racket. He get Farrell to make lots of items -- toothpaste, minor medicines, cosmetics, etc. to sell at cut-rate prices. Cortez, however, puts brand names on them, causing one toothpaste company to declare backruptcy eventually. When Farrell has enough money to quit, he marries Davis, but Cortez won't let him quit. Instead, Cortez wants to expand to drugs. First is an antiseptic without the antiseptic properties. Then it is digitalis without the stimulant property. Cortez keeps Farrell in line by threats against Davis, which Farrell takes seriously after a witness who informed the district attorney of the racket was murdered. Farrell finally realizes the horrible consequences of the phony medicine when the pregnant Davis loses her baby because the digitalis given to her in the hospital did not work. He grabs a gun and goes after Cortez.
19 Reviews
A so-so melodrama about racketeers putting bogus cut-rate toothpaste and medications on the market and the tragedies they cause.
Art-2222 October 1998
Warning: Spoilers
The Black-Market
nycritic18 May 2006
Warning: Spoilers
An interesting but ultimately average melodrama where manufacturers of counterfeit medicinal products make an idealistic girl who works at a pharmacy to be the innocent bystander who pays the price. This was the sort of ultra-gritty movies that Warner Bros. was churning out a mile a minute, and for the lack of gloss and nifty cinematic presentation they made up for in droves with the subject matters they took on -- something no one was doing at the time. It's surprising that the Code didn't step in to evaluate this crime-drama, but given the fact that any bad behavior is more or less curtailed and there is an obvious moral to the story, the end-result was this short little B-movie. THE BIG SHAKEDOWN is, as much of the movies of its time from Warners, a bare-bones plot that moves quite rapidly and focuses less on the actors than on getting from point A to point B in breakneck time. Some mildly disturbing scenes involve a vat of hydrochloric acid and a man falling into it, and Bette Davis' rather bland reaction to her character's miscarriage (and her unbelieably swift ability to bounce back, as if nothing had happened). It's a hoot (for me) to watch Glenda Farrell play her usual gangster's moll as she burns a path right down her lines -- the woman definitely had some talent in being able to enunciate just under four hundred words a minute!
Cool Crime Shocker with some thinking about modern day medicine.
mark.waltz10 December 2013
Warning: Spoilers
A pharmacist who is too weak to turn down a crooked money-making opportunity, a charming villain who takes things too far (and gets a bath he will instantly forget about) and two blonde wise-crackers are the focus of this 60 minute B pre-code sleeper where a definite moral tale is disguised behind typical tough Warner Brothers dialog. Charles Farrell, after years of silent melodramas and perky early musicals with Janet Gaynor, is the owner of a neighborhood pharmacy which caters to the variety of characters who live in the neighborhood. A young Bette Davis is first seen selling an ice cream cone to the stereotypical Jewish teen Sidney Miller (a staple of many of these Warner Brothers pre-code films) who debates the need for the government all of a sudden charging tax and also expresses shock at the idea of ice cream served in a bowl rather than on a cone. Miller reappears briefly several times throughout the film making wisecracks which amuses Davis with their oddness. He's more appealing to her than the people who come in mainly for change, a postal stamp or to insist that owner Farrell change the brand of beer he sells. One visitor attempts to buy the drugstore as part of a chain yet disappears once the plot thickens thanks to beer baron Ricardo Cortez whose goon Allen Jenkins had made strong suggestions to Davis about Farrell changing the beer. Cortez finds out that Farrell can make the same creams, toothpastes and headache powders that a major brand does and sell them for less without the overhead of advertising. This upsets Davis who sees the sordidness of using the brand's name to make money and ultimately brings on violence thanks to the betrayal of Cortez's mistress (Glenda Farrell) who pays the ultimate price for being honest.
Brisk, fast-moving and filled with witty dialog which made the Warner Brothers pre-code films the most delightful of that genre, this also has a slight element of horror to it with the sudden violent end of one of the characters in the climax that seems like something out of a Bela Lugosi/Boris Karloff horror film from Universal. There's a catfight between Farrell and the bitchy Renee Whitney as her competition for Cortez and a shocking scene where one of the victims of Cortez's theft of their product name takes a desperate way out as profits fall. Cortez is light-hearted and charming throughout, an interesting companion villain to Edward G. Robinson's "Little Caesar" and James Cagney's "Public Enemy" in earlier pre-code films. Some of the characters come in and out so fast they seem to have no character resolution and this is perhaps the film's one major weakness, seemingly either an editing of the film shot or deletions from the script. But nonetheless, there's also the comparison to today's pharmaceutical field which has de-humanized the importance of personal attention both in the medical profession and in dispensing medicine altogether. Films like this, the "Dr. Kildare" series and many of the classic T.V. medical shows prove that the old fashioned care wasn't so bad after all and make you wonder what the world of the Hippocratic oath has come to.
Brisk, fast-moving and filled with witty dialog which made the Warner Brothers pre-code films the most delightful of that genre, this also has a slight element of horror to it with the sudden violent end of one of the characters in the climax that seems like something out of a Bela Lugosi/Boris Karloff horror film from Universal. There's a catfight between Farrell and the bitchy Renee Whitney as her competition for Cortez and a shocking scene where one of the victims of Cortez's theft of their product name takes a desperate way out as profits fall. Cortez is light-hearted and charming throughout, an interesting companion villain to Edward G. Robinson's "Little Caesar" and James Cagney's "Public Enemy" in earlier pre-code films. Some of the characters come in and out so fast they seem to have no character resolution and this is perhaps the film's one major weakness, seemingly either an editing of the film shot or deletions from the script. But nonetheless, there's also the comparison to today's pharmaceutical field which has de-humanized the importance of personal attention both in the medical profession and in dispensing medicine altogether. Films like this, the "Dr. Kildare" series and many of the classic T.V. medical shows prove that the old fashioned care wasn't so bad after all and make you wonder what the world of the Hippocratic oath has come to.
very low production values and a total waste of Ms. Davis' talents but still a pretty good movie!
planktonrules24 May 2006
Warning: Spoilers
This is a low-budget and sloppily acted film with many plot problems--but it somehow redeems itself with a snappy ending.
Charles Farrell is an owner of a corner drug store. He seems like a decent man but is pulled into the seedy world of knock-off products posing as the originals. At first, it's innocent enough--no one got seriously hurt buying fake tooth paste that was essentially the same as the original. But later, the gangsters he works for insist into diversifying and make cheap and ineffective versions of drugs. Then, people start to die (including Farrell's own unborn son).
So far, this is all VERY over-the-top and difficult to believe--and it's hard to care one bit about Farrell. After all--what do you EXPECT when you work with gangsters?! Duh! However, despite the quality of the movie to this point, there are several sensational plot twists at the end and the movie becomes really gritty and exciting. I really don't want to fill you in on it because it would spoil the surprises. But rest assured, this was a pre-Hays Code film and it's doubtful such a messy conclusion would have been done just a few years later!
Now on to the biggest complaint about the film. Bette Davis was simply one of the greatest actresses that lived. However, here in this film and many others of the day, her roles were barely hashed out and her characters could have been played by any semi-competent actress of the day. Here in this movie, she is given practically no depth to her character and those expecting to see a Bette Davis film will be greatly disappointed. Fortunately, by the late 30s, she WAS finally consistently given good material that allowed her talents to shine. This movie, unfortunately, was not her finest moment.
Charles Farrell is an owner of a corner drug store. He seems like a decent man but is pulled into the seedy world of knock-off products posing as the originals. At first, it's innocent enough--no one got seriously hurt buying fake tooth paste that was essentially the same as the original. But later, the gangsters he works for insist into diversifying and make cheap and ineffective versions of drugs. Then, people start to die (including Farrell's own unborn son).
So far, this is all VERY over-the-top and difficult to believe--and it's hard to care one bit about Farrell. After all--what do you EXPECT when you work with gangsters?! Duh! However, despite the quality of the movie to this point, there are several sensational plot twists at the end and the movie becomes really gritty and exciting. I really don't want to fill you in on it because it would spoil the surprises. But rest assured, this was a pre-Hays Code film and it's doubtful such a messy conclusion would have been done just a few years later!
Now on to the biggest complaint about the film. Bette Davis was simply one of the greatest actresses that lived. However, here in this film and many others of the day, her roles were barely hashed out and her characters could have been played by any semi-competent actress of the day. Here in this movie, she is given practically no depth to her character and those expecting to see a Bette Davis film will be greatly disappointed. Fortunately, by the late 30s, she WAS finally consistently given good material that allowed her talents to shine. This movie, unfortunately, was not her finest moment.
"My tomatoes blew up."
utgard147 April 2014
Pharmacist Charles Farrell goes into business with gangster Ricardo Cortez making counterfeit toothpaste and cosmetics. Soon Cortez wants to branch out into making medication, which Farrell isn't happy about. But Farrell wants to marry fiancée Bette Davis and give her financial security. Early Bette flick before she had really developed her style. She's fine but there's not a lot for her to do through most of the picture but worry about her guy. Charles Farrell is OK. Ricardo Cortez is a great bad guy as usual. Nice supporting cast includes Glenda Farrell, Allen Jenkins, and Henry O'Neill. Fun cat fight between Glenda Farrell and Renee Whitney. Exciting climax you will not be able to predict!
early Bette in her ingénue days
blanche-23 July 2015
Charles Farrell, a great silent screen star, appears with Bette Davis and Ricardo Cortez in "The Big Shakedown," a 1934 film featuring Allen Jenkins and Glenda Farrell.
Farrell and Davis are Jimmy and Norma, a boyfriend-girlfriend who marry later in the film. They run a corner drugstore. Cortez is a post- Prohibition gangster, Dutch Baines, looking for a new racket. Patronizing the store one day, he realizes that Jimmy can make his own products, which are identical to ones on the market. However, he isn't selling them claiming that they are the commercial brands; he makes them so he can sell a house brand for less.
Of course, Dutch sees that if these products are sold under the commercial names, he can use their publicity and brand reputation to make a fortune. He talks Jimmy into making toothpaste and beauty products because Jimmy needs money. He's reluctant to do it and planning to quit when Dutch decides to go into medicine and have Jimmy make drugs. Jimmy flatly refuses; Dutch makes noise about Norma's safety, and Jimmy caves.
This is a typical crime film interesting because of the cast. Davis' role is an ordinary ingénue one that could have been played by anyone. She was still getting a build-up and hadn't yet become a star with a special image. She's blond and pretty. Glenda Farrell has the role of Dutch's girlfriend, whom he throws over. Farrell, with her distinctive speaking voice and likable personality always stands out. Cortez does well playing the tough, uncompromising Baines.
Charles Farrell, whom I used to see as an elderly man (your fifties were considered like the seventies back then) when My Little Margie was in syndication, was good-looking and popular in his day. He had a gentleness about him and also an earnestness which he displays here. He retired in 1941 to become a land developer, but returned for Margie, which was followed by his own show. Then he retired again.
Cortez's career as a leading man was just about over. Though he continued working until he retired, he also became a successful broker on Wall Street.
Of interest, the actor who played the young Jewish boy who buys ice cream (a cone was six cents), Sidney Miller, went on to become a director and composer, and actually revamped the Mickey Mouse Club for Walt Disney beginning in its second season.
Amazing that Bette Davis was the only one to stay full-time in acting.
Farrell and Davis are Jimmy and Norma, a boyfriend-girlfriend who marry later in the film. They run a corner drugstore. Cortez is a post- Prohibition gangster, Dutch Baines, looking for a new racket. Patronizing the store one day, he realizes that Jimmy can make his own products, which are identical to ones on the market. However, he isn't selling them claiming that they are the commercial brands; he makes them so he can sell a house brand for less.
Of course, Dutch sees that if these products are sold under the commercial names, he can use their publicity and brand reputation to make a fortune. He talks Jimmy into making toothpaste and beauty products because Jimmy needs money. He's reluctant to do it and planning to quit when Dutch decides to go into medicine and have Jimmy make drugs. Jimmy flatly refuses; Dutch makes noise about Norma's safety, and Jimmy caves.
This is a typical crime film interesting because of the cast. Davis' role is an ordinary ingénue one that could have been played by anyone. She was still getting a build-up and hadn't yet become a star with a special image. She's blond and pretty. Glenda Farrell has the role of Dutch's girlfriend, whom he throws over. Farrell, with her distinctive speaking voice and likable personality always stands out. Cortez does well playing the tough, uncompromising Baines.
Charles Farrell, whom I used to see as an elderly man (your fifties were considered like the seventies back then) when My Little Margie was in syndication, was good-looking and popular in his day. He had a gentleness about him and also an earnestness which he displays here. He retired in 1941 to become a land developer, but returned for Margie, which was followed by his own show. Then he retired again.
Cortez's career as a leading man was just about over. Though he continued working until he retired, he also became a successful broker on Wall Street.
Of interest, the actor who played the young Jewish boy who buys ice cream (a cone was six cents), Sidney Miller, went on to become a director and composer, and actually revamped the Mickey Mouse Club for Walt Disney beginning in its second season.
Amazing that Bette Davis was the only one to stay full-time in acting.
Some men are SO Evil that the ONLY way to deal with them is to . . .
oscaralbert7 November 2018
Warning: Spoilers
. . . dissolve them in a giant vat of "Nitrohydrochloric acid," the always eponymous Warner Bros. warn America with THE BIG SHAKEDOWN. "Dutch Barnes" is a serial womanizer, who lashes out at any of his former lovers brazen enough to "kiss and tell," THE BIG SHAKEDOWN reveals. Dutch is particularly adept at driving successful companies--such as the "Odite" concern here--into bankruptcy. The under-handed Dutch surrounds himself with a blindly loyal base of core supporters, who wage a Reign of Terror against the Honest Majority of Americans through lies, falsehoods, intimidation, threats, strong-arm tactics, Fear, Hysteria, and Chaos. Dutch manages to insert his tentacles into every crevice of American Life during THE BIG SHAKEDOWN, greatly undermining Civility, Public Safety, Common Sense, and Basic Morality. Warner's prophetic prognosticators of (The Then Far) Future foresee a day here when the U.S. Mass Media will be able to elevate a Big City Hoodlum with a modicum of personal charisma and an ocean of gall (like Dutch) into Public Enemy #1. Warner uses THE BIG SHAKEDOWN to argue that there's only one prescription to cure a case of Dutch-at-the-Helm Disease!
luminous Davis
e_imdb-6430 May 2006
Although this is typical of the low-budget quickies that Warners churned out like hotcakes in the Thirties it offers Bette Davis in her most youthfully appealing "down-to-earth platinum blonde girl" phase. You can find the same character in THREE ON A MATCH, THE GIRL FROM 10TH AVENUE, THE PETRIFIED FOREST and others. She exudes an innocent but intelligent, unaffected femininity that seems to have evaporated by the time she hit her stride with JEZEBEL, so it's good that this phase of her career is preserved - if only to track her evolution as an actress. Note the energy and vitality she injects (perhaps effortlessly) into a supporting role as the girlfriend-wife, stealing every scene she's in - without relying on conventional beauty. It's kind of fun also to see how the scenarists managed to leap from one implausible, contrived plot development to the next - but that's a secondary matter because most of these films were beyond belief. The point was to make a moral point, not to be narratively convincing. The point here being: evil gangsters, beware of the authorities because they'll get you!
The counterfeit game...
MikeMagi19 October 2014
Back in the days when stardom meant signing a seven-year contract, Bette Davis didn't have much choice but to play the wife of a struggling pharmacist, who gets mixed up with the mob, in this mellerdrama. Hubby Charles Farrell is conscripted by gangster Ricardo Cortez to make counterfeit products like tooth paste and face powder. But when Cortez demands cheap knock-offs of high-priced medication, lives are in danger...Bette's included. She plays the ingénue role surprisingly well without the tics and mannerisms which would mark (and sometimes mar) her later career. Tall, handsome Charles Farrell, on the other hand, couldn't act. To say that he had two expressions is putting it generously. Fortunately, Cortez as the suave hood behind the counterfeiting scheme takes up the slack and Glenda Farrell drops seductively by as a gun moll who knows too much. A pretty entertaining B movie made moreso by the youthful Bette Davis.
Poor script is the real villain here
overseer-39 June 2006
Warning: Spoilers
I am sure it was not just Miss Bette Davis who was appalled at having to try and breathe life into poor screenplays like this, for the appropriately titled "The Big Shakedown" (1934). Here with her were two major stars of the silent era, Charles Farrell and Ricardo Cortez, who had some of the most successful silent film credits to their names, and they were forced by the studio to endure mediocre, uninspiring roles in talkies like these, with implausible plots which border on the ludicrous. Perhaps this film might have had more bite to it if it had been a precode, perhaps not. However it isn't fair to blame the actors for a bad script. It's just horrible, folks. If Einstein were an actor even he couldn't have figured out how to breathe life into this one.
They all try to do the best they can under the circumstances. Bette brings some sympathy to her good girl role; Charles Farrell is still unbelievably handsome, but his character makes some bad decisions out of greed for quick wealth, therefore his position is tenuous at best, and Ricardo Cortez tries to bring some taut dimension to a thankless role of yet another gangster type. I'm used to seeing him die at the end of talkies, however this ending takes the cake: he's shot AND falls into a tub of acid. Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle! Watch Ricardo fry! Creepy!
Silent film fans and Bette fans should give it a wink, just don't be surprised if your winks turn into a complete shut-eye. Snore...........
5 out of 10.
They all try to do the best they can under the circumstances. Bette brings some sympathy to her good girl role; Charles Farrell is still unbelievably handsome, but his character makes some bad decisions out of greed for quick wealth, therefore his position is tenuous at best, and Ricardo Cortez tries to bring some taut dimension to a thankless role of yet another gangster type. I'm used to seeing him die at the end of talkies, however this ending takes the cake: he's shot AND falls into a tub of acid. Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle! Watch Ricardo fry! Creepy!
Silent film fans and Bette fans should give it a wink, just don't be surprised if your winks turn into a complete shut-eye. Snore...........
5 out of 10.
Gangsters Brush Their Teeth
Michael_Elliott30 July 2011
Big Shakedown, The (1934)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Here's yet another Warner crime picture but this one here is about as far-fetched as you can get. A young pharmacist (Charles Farrell) isn't making too much cash in his store, which means he can't marry the girl (Bette Davis) he loves. At the same time a gangster (Ricardo Cortez) realizes there's no market for beer so he gets the bright idea of making fake toothpaste, female products and eventually medicine and hires to pharmacist to make it for him. Before long the gangster has the pharmacies by the neck and soon a tragedy happens. This film runs a very quick 62-minutes and if you're a fan of "B" movies then there's quite a bit to enjoy here. Yes, the story itself is rather silly at times and the final "message" included in a three paragraph newspaper report that we're forced to read is even sillier. I think fans of Warner and the terrific cast are going to enjoy what's on display here as long as they don't go in expecting THE PUBLIC ENEMY or anything of that quality. Farrell is pretty good in his role, although I'm sure many would argue that he's a bit too laid back in part. I thought this actually helped because his character really wouldn't be the type to do anything else than what he goes through here. By this time in his career Cortez was already a master at playing low-level hoods and he's fun to watch as usual. The supporting cast includes Glenda Farrell playing the gangster's mole and we get Allen Jenkins in for a few laughs. Davis isn't the Davis that is now a legend but I always enjoy seeing her in these early movies where she's yet to really hit her stride. Her performance is just fine so fans will have fun here. The director at least keeps the film moving at a fast pace and thankfully it doesn't go on too long because there's really not enough story here for much more. THE BIG SHAKEDOWN is a "B" movie all the way but as long as you don't expect too much it's not too hard to not have fun with the cast.
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Here's yet another Warner crime picture but this one here is about as far-fetched as you can get. A young pharmacist (Charles Farrell) isn't making too much cash in his store, which means he can't marry the girl (Bette Davis) he loves. At the same time a gangster (Ricardo Cortez) realizes there's no market for beer so he gets the bright idea of making fake toothpaste, female products and eventually medicine and hires to pharmacist to make it for him. Before long the gangster has the pharmacies by the neck and soon a tragedy happens. This film runs a very quick 62-minutes and if you're a fan of "B" movies then there's quite a bit to enjoy here. Yes, the story itself is rather silly at times and the final "message" included in a three paragraph newspaper report that we're forced to read is even sillier. I think fans of Warner and the terrific cast are going to enjoy what's on display here as long as they don't go in expecting THE PUBLIC ENEMY or anything of that quality. Farrell is pretty good in his role, although I'm sure many would argue that he's a bit too laid back in part. I thought this actually helped because his character really wouldn't be the type to do anything else than what he goes through here. By this time in his career Cortez was already a master at playing low-level hoods and he's fun to watch as usual. The supporting cast includes Glenda Farrell playing the gangster's mole and we get Allen Jenkins in for a few laughs. Davis isn't the Davis that is now a legend but I always enjoy seeing her in these early movies where she's yet to really hit her stride. Her performance is just fine so fans will have fun here. The director at least keeps the film moving at a fast pace and thankfully it doesn't go on too long because there's really not enough story here for much more. THE BIG SHAKEDOWN is a "B" movie all the way but as long as you don't expect too much it's not too hard to not have fun with the cast.
Bootleggers Find New Products After Repeal in this Bizarre Film
LeonLouisRicci5 April 2014
This is an Odd one to say the Least. Now that Prohibition has been Repealed Bootleggers get into the Fake Cosmetic and Drug Business. Making Generic and Ineffective Products and Slapping Brand Names on the Labels.
There are Scenes that are Downright Bizarre, like a Row of Gangsters Brushing Their Teeth, a Jewish Teenager who keeps a Ledger and Wisecracks about Sales Tax, a Mother Buying Cough Syrup "for her child", "don't wrap it up I'll drink it, I mean carry it that way." A Cat Fight with some Slang Banter that is Priceless, a Miscarriage, a Brutal Torture Scene, and some Moralizing in the End that is so Over the Top it Defies Dramatic License, and there are Others.
Bette Davis Fans can Check this out to see why She was so Disgusted with Light Weight Roles like this that She Fled to England. She Looks Beautiful here but doesn't have much to do. The Film is Worth a Watch for its Strangeness but not much Else. There is a lot of Drug Talk and Pre-Code References to Coke (the drug not the drink) but Nothing Racy or Raunchy.
There are Scenes that are Downright Bizarre, like a Row of Gangsters Brushing Their Teeth, a Jewish Teenager who keeps a Ledger and Wisecracks about Sales Tax, a Mother Buying Cough Syrup "for her child", "don't wrap it up I'll drink it, I mean carry it that way." A Cat Fight with some Slang Banter that is Priceless, a Miscarriage, a Brutal Torture Scene, and some Moralizing in the End that is so Over the Top it Defies Dramatic License, and there are Others.
Bette Davis Fans can Check this out to see why She was so Disgusted with Light Weight Roles like this that She Fled to England. She Looks Beautiful here but doesn't have much to do. The Film is Worth a Watch for its Strangeness but not much Else. There is a lot of Drug Talk and Pre-Code References to Coke (the drug not the drink) but Nothing Racy or Raunchy.
B-Movie 101
jjnxn-15 April 2014
B-movie without an original thought in its script. Naive protagonist used by some crooked hood. Check. Pretty ingénue who stands steadfastly by her man while hoping for domesticity. Check again. Wised up, gum chewing doll who gets double crossed, turns informant and pays a price. You bet. And on and on it goes. You can practically see the conventions of the genre click by as the picture unfolds.
It's not that the movie isn't entertaining if you like the formula but it holds zero surprises. The actors all do their jobs professionally. Charles Farrell, one of the better looking men to ever appear on screen, is earnest and callow in the lead but not very memorable. Ricardo Cortez, Allen Jenkins and many other familiar character actors whose livelihood during these years was playing hoods fill their roles expertly but again their roles are standard stuff. Also nobody could play the flashy moll like Glenda Farrell.
The only thing that makes this different than the hundreds of other programmers churned out by Hollywood during the thirties is the presence of a very young Bette Davis as the ingénue. She looks great in her extreme blondness and exudes her customary confidence on screen but her part is a nothing. It's no wonder she ultimately rebelled against Warners since they continued to stick her in junk like this even after she had attained star billing and an Oscar.
It's not that the movie isn't entertaining if you like the formula but it holds zero surprises. The actors all do their jobs professionally. Charles Farrell, one of the better looking men to ever appear on screen, is earnest and callow in the lead but not very memorable. Ricardo Cortez, Allen Jenkins and many other familiar character actors whose livelihood during these years was playing hoods fill their roles expertly but again their roles are standard stuff. Also nobody could play the flashy moll like Glenda Farrell.
The only thing that makes this different than the hundreds of other programmers churned out by Hollywood during the thirties is the presence of a very young Bette Davis as the ingénue. She looks great in her extreme blondness and exudes her customary confidence on screen but her part is a nothing. It's no wonder she ultimately rebelled against Warners since they continued to stick her in junk like this even after she had attained star billing and an Oscar.
What's Up With That Ending?
journeygal19 August 2019
Warning: Spoilers
This movie isn't much longer than an hour long, but it aptly tells the story of Jimmy Morrell, pharmacist and his girlfriend Norma Nelson. His drugstore is more of a neighborhood hangout than a moneymaker, and he's on the verge of losing it when he's approached by racketeer Dutch Barnes. Jimmy is a great chemist and he starts making knock-offs of best selling drugstore items. He makes enough to pay off the loan on the store, and to get married to Norma. Then Dutch reveals himself to be the true thug he is, gets sloppy and has Jimmy make up things he cannot copy correctly. One of these is digitalis...which the hospital gives to Norma when she is having a baby and is failing. She loses the baby, Jimmy goes and kills Dutch, then turns himself in to the states attorney. It ends with Jimmy and Norma all comfy cozy in the store, without a mention of the child they lost or the fact that he killed someone.
A Bit Overdone
view_and_review2 March 2024
Warning: Spoilers
In 1933 America repealed the 18th Amendment thereby legalizing booze again. This was a win for many but a loss for the bootleggers. Dutch Barnes (Ricardo Cortez) was one of the losers. He wasn't able to use his strong arm tactics to get businesses to buy his booze when there were dozens of legitimate alcohol makers around. So he left bootlegging alcohol in order to bootleg other products like toothpaste, antiseptics, and even life saving drugs. How could a gangster do that? With the help of a scientist/druggist named Jimmy Morrell (Charles Farrell).
Jimmy knew how to reproduce a lot of the popular products on the market. He reluctantly reproduced them for Dutch even in the face of the protestations of his sweetheart Norma Nelson (Bette Davis).
I thought the plot was novel until they went too far with it. Dutch's counterfeit antiseptic actually bankrupted Odite, the company that made the antiseptic, which caused the inventor of it to commit suicide. It was a bit far-fetched and a bit pro-business to show a small-time counterfeiter bankrupting a large, multimillion dollar, publicly traded company.
Then, as if bankrupting a company wasn't extreme enough to stress how bad counterfeiting is, Dutch had Jimmy make a knock off version of a life saving drug called "digitalis." This was a whole new sphere of counterfeiting because hospitals aren't consumers, yet, somehow, Dutch got his fake digitalis into hospitals. This was especially bad because the fake digitalis was missing key components that made it essentially useless.
It gets deeper.
Jimmy's girlfriend turned wife, Norma (Bette Davis), needed an injection of digitalis to save her life during childbirth. Well, because the hospital had fake digitalis, it didn't work. Norma lived, but the baby died.
Now how is that for irony.
I think "The Big Shakedown" would've fared a lot better without the extreme examples of the harms of counterfeiting. They completely glossed over how a small-time hood was able to produce and push enough antiseptic to bankrupt a company. They also omitted how he was able to get his fake drugs into hospitals. If they just toned it down the movie would've been so much better.
I liked the cast. I don't know anything about the leading actor, Charles Farrell, but I like Bette Davis, Ricardo Cortez, and Glenda Farrell. Glenda Farrell played Dutch's girl Lily. She has the attitude and behaviorisms to play a gangster's girl. The cast helped a lot. They helped somewhat overcome the terrible plot devices.
Free on Odnoklassniki.
Jimmy knew how to reproduce a lot of the popular products on the market. He reluctantly reproduced them for Dutch even in the face of the protestations of his sweetheart Norma Nelson (Bette Davis).
I thought the plot was novel until they went too far with it. Dutch's counterfeit antiseptic actually bankrupted Odite, the company that made the antiseptic, which caused the inventor of it to commit suicide. It was a bit far-fetched and a bit pro-business to show a small-time counterfeiter bankrupting a large, multimillion dollar, publicly traded company.
Then, as if bankrupting a company wasn't extreme enough to stress how bad counterfeiting is, Dutch had Jimmy make a knock off version of a life saving drug called "digitalis." This was a whole new sphere of counterfeiting because hospitals aren't consumers, yet, somehow, Dutch got his fake digitalis into hospitals. This was especially bad because the fake digitalis was missing key components that made it essentially useless.
It gets deeper.
Jimmy's girlfriend turned wife, Norma (Bette Davis), needed an injection of digitalis to save her life during childbirth. Well, because the hospital had fake digitalis, it didn't work. Norma lived, but the baby died.
Now how is that for irony.
I think "The Big Shakedown" would've fared a lot better without the extreme examples of the harms of counterfeiting. They completely glossed over how a small-time hood was able to produce and push enough antiseptic to bankrupt a company. They also omitted how he was able to get his fake drugs into hospitals. If they just toned it down the movie would've been so much better.
I liked the cast. I don't know anything about the leading actor, Charles Farrell, but I like Bette Davis, Ricardo Cortez, and Glenda Farrell. Glenda Farrell played Dutch's girl Lily. She has the attitude and behaviorisms to play a gangster's girl. The cast helped a lot. They helped somewhat overcome the terrible plot devices.
Free on Odnoklassniki.
EARLY bette davis
ksf-210 November 2019
Stars a young Bette Davis as Norma, girlfriend to Jimmy (Charles Farrell). Jimmy runs the drugstore that the gangsters want to take over. Jimmy doesn't want to sell, but the gangsters want him to start making cheap knockoffs of major pharma products. what could go wrong? co-stars Glenda Farrell (Lil, and Torchy Blane !) and Ricardo Cortez. and of course, the nasal character actor Allen Jenkins. he was in every single gangster movie made in the 1930s and 1940s... sometimes the good guy, sometimes the bad guy. John Wray would die pretty young at 53, but he made some big films in the 1930s. it's a snapshot of the rough and tumble mobster films of the depression, complete with a chick-fight between the two ladies, Lil and Norma. Directed by John Dillon, his last film; died of a heart attack at 49. From First National. He had also directed the 1930 version of Kismet. Shakedown is pretty good.. some huge hollywood names in the early days of talkies. It's in great condition, considering it's from 1934; it must have been restored.
Bad early Davis
Bucs196018 May 2006
It was films like this that caused Bette Davis to flee to England in an attempt to break her Hollywood contract. During the early '30s, she was forced into quickies with weak stories, bland co-stars and mediocre directors and was never given much chance to utilize her talents as a superb actress. She is co-starred here with Charles Farrell, who was a superstar of the silents but didn't seem to click in talkies. (He went on the gain fame on television in "My Little Margie" and personal fame as the mayor of Palm Springs). Ricardo Cortez plays his usual role as a gangster, this time utilizing Farrell's training as a pharmacists to black market bogus drugs. They start with toothpaste!!!!.....but soon move on to more dangerous territory. Frankly, I found the premise just a bit ridiculous and the acting even more so. Miss Davis looks like she would rather be somewhere else and has little to do. Cortez really overdoes it and Farrell is just downright bad. If you like Bette Davis, then you might want to see this film if for no other reason than to get a glimpse of what low grade junk assignments she had to put up with early in her career. Otherwise, it's not worth it.
Cut rate pharmaceuticals
bkoganbing11 March 2015
The Big Shakedown has Ricardo Cortez looking for a new racket for his mob now that Prohibition is a thing of the past. While in Charles Farrell's drugstore Farrell says to Cortez that a whole lot of things that are sold can be easily counterfeited and he has the chemical know how to do it. As it is Farrell and fiancé and soon to be wife Bette Davis are barely keeping their heads above water with the chain stores moving in. Farrell and Cortez start manufacturing things like toothpaste, cosmetics, various other things you find in pharmacies.
But when they start manufacturing their own cut rate pharmaceuticals Farrell balks, but he's in way too deep.
This film definitely belongs to Ricardo Cortez. He is really a piece of work even keeping two women on a string Glenda Farrell and Renee Whitney. Featured in the film is a chick fight between the two of them over Cortez whom if these women thought about would have dumped him. It ends badly for one of them. Allen Jenkins and Dewey Robinson make a fine pair of pharmaceutical salesmen.
Bette Davis is here and puts whatever life she can into her role as Farrell's faithful wife. But this was one of those thankless parts that Warner Brothers gave her in the beginning.
The Big Shakedown is a decent enough B drama, but my big question here is where was the Food and Drug Administration while all this was going on?
But when they start manufacturing their own cut rate pharmaceuticals Farrell balks, but he's in way too deep.
This film definitely belongs to Ricardo Cortez. He is really a piece of work even keeping two women on a string Glenda Farrell and Renee Whitney. Featured in the film is a chick fight between the two of them over Cortez whom if these women thought about would have dumped him. It ends badly for one of them. Allen Jenkins and Dewey Robinson make a fine pair of pharmaceutical salesmen.
Bette Davis is here and puts whatever life she can into her role as Farrell's faithful wife. But this was one of those thankless parts that Warner Brothers gave her in the beginning.
The Big Shakedown is a decent enough B drama, but my big question here is where was the Food and Drug Administration while all this was going on?
No big shakes
TheLittleSongbird19 December 2019
Really wanted to like 'The Big Shakedown' so much more. The idea sounded interesting, have always been a big fan of "classic film" and Bette Davis is considered a screen legend for reasons that are more than justifiable. It is always intriguing seeing her in her very early roles before she hit her prime period (the 40s and 50s), back where her career was a lot more hit and miss (some of her early work worked surprisingly well, others don't hold up).
'The Big Shakedown' for me was a big disappointment, not a fair representation of such a great actress and badly bungles any potential it had with its story. It is one of the worst examples of the work from this early period of her career that hasn't held up, and only worth seeing really if you're a fan of Davis and want to see all her work (so basically for curiosity and completest sake). Am taking no pleasure in saying this, am actually quite gutted.
Davis comes off quite well here, especially when compared to pretty much everything else, despite a sketchy character and also that she has definitely given much better performances in films with far meatier characters and much better writing. She really does give it a good bash and hardly looks uncomfortable or disinterested.
Only two other performances comes off halfway-decently and they come from Glenda Farrell on sparkling form and especially from Ricardo Cortez, in a role perfect for him but somewhat of a typecast one which he fills with colour and menace. The cat fight is entertaining, the most entertaining the film gets, and despite the pat-ness of the very end the climax is exciting enough.
Charles Farrell is pretty much a non-entity as a character that is worse than underwritten or under-characterised and instead one that has no real presence at all. Can't remember anybody else.
Some nice photography here and there aside, the production values are pretty sloppy and indicative that 'The Big Shakedown' was made in a rush. The direction is dull and unimaginative, the pace doesn't ever properly ignite and the characters are all sketchy and the opposite of implausible. It's the script and story that doom 'The Big Shakedown' though. The script is a massivee shambles, the dialogue makes one wince and it further suffers from being muddled and contrived and a longer length of perhaps 15-20 minutes more may have helped it. The story takes implausibility to the limit that it is impossible to take the film at face value, and the far-fetched quality just gets too over the top to try to not take it too seriously. It also felt very confused and like it was not sure what to do with itself.
Altogether, semi-watchable curio but messy and no big shakes at all. 4/10
'The Big Shakedown' for me was a big disappointment, not a fair representation of such a great actress and badly bungles any potential it had with its story. It is one of the worst examples of the work from this early period of her career that hasn't held up, and only worth seeing really if you're a fan of Davis and want to see all her work (so basically for curiosity and completest sake). Am taking no pleasure in saying this, am actually quite gutted.
Davis comes off quite well here, especially when compared to pretty much everything else, despite a sketchy character and also that she has definitely given much better performances in films with far meatier characters and much better writing. She really does give it a good bash and hardly looks uncomfortable or disinterested.
Only two other performances comes off halfway-decently and they come from Glenda Farrell on sparkling form and especially from Ricardo Cortez, in a role perfect for him but somewhat of a typecast one which he fills with colour and menace. The cat fight is entertaining, the most entertaining the film gets, and despite the pat-ness of the very end the climax is exciting enough.
Charles Farrell is pretty much a non-entity as a character that is worse than underwritten or under-characterised and instead one that has no real presence at all. Can't remember anybody else.
Some nice photography here and there aside, the production values are pretty sloppy and indicative that 'The Big Shakedown' was made in a rush. The direction is dull and unimaginative, the pace doesn't ever properly ignite and the characters are all sketchy and the opposite of implausible. It's the script and story that doom 'The Big Shakedown' though. The script is a massivee shambles, the dialogue makes one wince and it further suffers from being muddled and contrived and a longer length of perhaps 15-20 minutes more may have helped it. The story takes implausibility to the limit that it is impossible to take the film at face value, and the far-fetched quality just gets too over the top to try to not take it too seriously. It also felt very confused and like it was not sure what to do with itself.
Altogether, semi-watchable curio but messy and no big shakes at all. 4/10
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