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The Big Street

  • 19421942
  • PassedPassed
  • 1h 28m
IMDb RATING
6.3/10
1.6K
YOUR RATING
Henry Fonda, Lucille Ball, Agnes Moorehead, and Sam Levene in The Big Street (1942)
A busboy in unrequited love with a nightclub performer grows closer to her after she is paralyzed in an attack by her gangster boyfriend.
Play trailer1:34
1 Video
99+ Photos
DramaMusicRomance
A busboy in unrequited love with a nightclub performer grows closer to her after she is paralyzed in an attack by her gangster boyfriend.A busboy in unrequited love with a nightclub performer grows closer to her after she is paralyzed in an attack by her gangster boyfriend.A busboy in unrequited love with a nightclub performer grows closer to her after she is paralyzed in an attack by her gangster boyfriend.
IMDb RATING
6.3/10
1.6K
YOUR RATING
    • Irving Reis
    • Leonard Spigelgass(screenplay)
    • Damon Runyon(from the Collier's Magazine story "Little Pinks")
  • Stars
    • Henry Fonda
    • Lucille Ball
    • Barton MacLane
    • Irving Reis
    • Leonard Spigelgass(screenplay)
    • Damon Runyon(from the Collier's Magazine story "Little Pinks")
  • Stars
    • Henry Fonda
    • Lucille Ball
    • Barton MacLane
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 51User reviews
    • 17Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 1:34
    Watch Official Trailer

    Photos100

    The Big Street (1942)
    The Big Street (1942)
    Ray Collins and Sam Levene in The Big Street (1942)
    The Big Street (1942)
    Henry Fonda in The Big Street (1942)
    Ray Collins in The Big Street (1942)
    Ray Collins and Sam Levene in The Big Street (1942)
    Eugene Pallette in The Big Street (1942)
    Henry Fonda in The Big Street (1942)
    Ray Collins and Barton MacLane in The Big Street (1942)
    Art Hamburger and Sam Levene in The Big Street (1942)
    Don Barclay in The Big Street (1942)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Henry Fonda
    Henry Fonda
    • Little Pinks
    Lucille Ball
    Lucille Ball
    • Gloria Lyons
    Barton MacLane
    Barton MacLane
    • Case Ables
    Eugene Pallette
    Eugene Pallette
    • Nicely Nicely Johnson
    Agnes Moorehead
    Agnes Moorehead
    • Violette Shumberg
    Sam Levene
    Sam Levene
    • Horsethief
    Ray Collins
    Ray Collins
    • Professor B
    Marion Martin
    Marion Martin
    • Mimi Venus
    William T. Orr
    William T. Orr
    • Decatur Reed
    • (as William Orr)
    George Cleveland
    George Cleveland
    • Colonel Samuel Venus
    Vera Gordon
    Vera Gordon
    • Mrs. Lefkowitz
    Ozzie Nelson and Orchestra
    • Night Club Orchestra
    Ozzie Nelson
    Ozzie Nelson
    • Orchestra Leader
    Al Bain
    Al Bain
    • Mug
    • (uncredited)
    Don Barclay
    Don Barclay
    • Eating Contest Emcee
    • (uncredited)
    Mary Bayless
    • Nightclub Patron
    • (uncredited)
    Louise Beavers
    Louise Beavers
    • Ruby - Gloria's Maid
    • (uncredited)
    Anthony Blair
    • O'Rourke
    • (uncredited)
      • Irving Reis
      • Leonard Spigelgass(screenplay)
      • Damon Runyon(from the Collier's Magazine story "Little Pinks")
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Lucille Ball's favorite of her films. She felt her performance was unjustly ignored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).
    • Goofs
      A gathering to raise money to send Gloria Lyons to Florida doesn't raise enough, so a suggestion is made to put it on a horse. A face-on shot of Horsethief shows him sitting down and pulling a paper from his inside pocket. He stands up and unfolds the paper, but then a long shot shows him just starting to take the paper from his pocket.
    • Quotes

      [about Gloria]

      Agustus 'Little Pinks' Pinkerton, II: She's in bad shape, Doc. Can you do something?

      Florida Doctor: I wish I could.

      Agustus 'Little Pinks' Pinkerton, II: Why can't you?

      Florida Doctor: Did you ever hear of a thing called paranoia? No, I guess you didn't. Well, it's what happens to people when they get to believe they're something they're not.

      Nicely Nicely Johnson: Now you're cooking with gas.

      Violette Shumberg: Shut up, Nicely.

      Nicely Nicely Johnson: Don't tell me to shut up.

      Violette Shumberg: I'll tell you to shut up anytime I feel like it, and I feel like it now.

      Agustus 'Little Pinks' Pinkerton, II: Please go on, Doc.

      Florida Doctor: They can go on for a long time and be okay, except when the illusion is shattered. Then they kind of wither up and... phht. Unless it's restored.

      Agustus 'Little Pinks' Pinkerton, II: But if it is...

      Florida Doctor: I'm afraid what that young lady wants, she'll never get.

      Agustus 'Little Pinks' Pinkerton, II: But we can't just stand around and let her die!

      [the doctor walks away sadly]

      Violette Shumberg: He ain't a very good doctor, Pinks. Why, last months he treated Nicely for a cold, and it turned out to be chicken pox.

      Nicely Nicely Johnson: You don't have to be telling everybody I had chicken pox at my age.

      Violette Shumberg: If you had chicken pox, you had them. And you had them.

    • Crazy credits
      Opening credits: "Loser's Lane --- the sidewalk in front of Mindy's Restaurant on Broadway-- is not as high-toned a trading center as Wall Street, but the brokers are a lot more colorful. Generally they prefer to put their money on a prizefight or horserace, but when the action slows, anything can happen and it usually does. Tonight, for example, the citizens of the Lane are discussing the latest contest in their usual quiet way --"
    • Connections
      Featured in AFI Life Achievement Award: AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Henry Fonda (1978)
    • Soundtracks
      Who Knows?
      (1942)

      Lyrics by Mort Greene

      Music by Harry Revel

      Performed by Lucille Ball at the New York nightclub (uncredited)

      Reprised by her with Ozzie Nelson and Orchestra at the Florida nightclub (Vocals for Miss Ball by Martha Mears) (uncredited)

      Played often in the score

    User reviews51

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    5/10
    Lucille Ball is excellent, and in top-form.
    This interesting story failed to make it big with audiences in its initial release, but is actually a noteworthy picture, nonetheless. This unlikely story has Henry Fonda as Little Pinks, a shy, timid busboy, who's obsessed with Lucille Ball's self-absorbed, mean-spirited torch singer. Despite her poor treatment of him, he continues to worship her. During an argument with her louse of a boyfriend, he (the boyfriend) pushes her down a flight of stairs. Paralyzed and desperate, Gloria moves in with Pinks. The wheelchair-bound diva alienates everyone around her with her anger and venomous commentary. But Pinks doesn't let it bother him. Instead the "odd couple" go on an unusual roadtrip together. He pushes her in her wheelchair all the way to Miami - pretty dumb, really !

    Ball is excellent, and in top form. It's great to see her in such an unusual role (see also 1947's "Lured"). Fonda is great, too, as the innocent and smitten young man. And the rest of the cast is good; especially, the always fabulous Agnes Moorehead. Despite a good story and an excellent cast, the plot limps along at points, and the shoddy production value is unignorable. Plus, the whole "Let's push Lucy to Florida in her wheelchair" thing is utterly nuts! However, the final scene is an unforgettable melodramatic moment that is fascinating just for the fact that Ball is the center of it. It makes it worth sitting through the many drawbacks of this film just to see the ending scene.
    helpful•14
    6
    • boy-13
    • Aug 22, 1999

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • September 4, 1942 (United States)
      • United States
      • English
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Miami, Florida, USA
    • Production company
      • RKO Radio Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • 1 hour 28 minutes
      • Black and White

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