Patterns (1956)

Director:

Fielder Cook

Writers:

Rod Serling (teleplay)
Rod Serling (writer)

Release Date:

26 October 1956 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Ruthless Men And Ambitious Women...Clawing For Control Of A Billion Dollar Empire!!!

Plot:

Van Heflin stars in a story about big business and the ruthlessness at the top of the ladder.

Plot Keywords:

Businessmen | Fighting Back | Based On TV Movie

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award.

Cast

Van Heflin	...	Fred Staples
Everett Sloane	...	Walter Ramsey
Ed Begley	...	William Briggs
Beatrice Straight	...	Nancy Staples
Elizabeth Wilson	...	Marge Fleming
Joanna Roos	...	Miss Margaret Lanier
Valerie Cossart	...	Miss Stevens
Eleni Kiamos	...	Sylvia Trammel
Ronnie Welsh	...	Paul Briggs
Shirley Standlee	...	Miss Hill
Andrew Duggan	...	Mr. Jameson
Jack Livesy	...	Mr. Vanderventer
John Seymour	...	Mr. Gordon
James Kelly	...	Mr. Latham
John Shelly	...	Mr. Grannigan

Also Known As:

Patterns of Power (UK)

Runtime:

USA:83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Jed Harris

Trivia:

Andrew Duggan's first movie.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: When Fred Staples is introduced in the boardroom for the first time, Walter Ramsey says he came from Queen City Tool and Die in Mansfield, Ohio. However, the Queen City refers to Cincinnati, 160 miles to the southeast.

Quotes:

Walter Ramsey: Name your terms. All terms are negotiable.
Fred Staples: I don't think so. Not mine.
Walter Ramsey: All right. I'd just as soon not waste any time doing trading. As of now, your salary is doubled. Your stock option is doubled right down the line. Your expense account is whatever you make it. Add to that a new title, vice president.
Fred Staples: I want a lot more than that. You're not going to take me on as just another vice president you can push around. You take me as someone who hates you down to the bare nerve. Nothing in the world will ever change that. I'll argue with you, contradict you and fight you every way I know how. I'll do everything in my power to push you out and take your place myself.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Remake of "Kraft Television Theatre: Patterns (#8.16)" (1955)

Rod Serling's landmark teleplay still speaks truth to power today.

...Rod Serling is recalled today almost exclusively for his speculative fiction television series "The Twilight Zone" and "Rod Serling's Night Gallery." Perhaps that's understandable, given the out-of-sight-out-of-mind nature of today's audiences, and the fact that the generation Serling first impressed with this lean but powerful work in 1955 on the "Kraft Television Theater" is now well into the process of dying out. Still, the kinetic nature of PATTERNS, either in this theatrical film or in the kinescoped original TV broadcast, is not lost on today's first-time viewers. It helped that two of the three leads in this picture, Everett Sloan and Ed Begley, were carried over from the TV productions (Richard Kiley was replaced in this film by Van Heflin, giving perhaps his single greatest performance). But Serling's screenplay has not lost one bit of its relevance; in fact, I'm surprised nobody's thought of remaking this one...