Le gouffre aux chimères

"Ace In the Hole," which used to turn up on local TV as "The Big carnival," was far head of its time. It wasn't very successful and its cynicism shocked people.

Along comes Andy Warhol almost two decades later with his notion of "fifteen minutes of fame" and everyone buys that concept. It's not quite the same as the concept of this. Nor is that of the very popular "Network," which came even later. But the premise here is that reporter Kirk Douglas will literally jeopardize a man's life in order to get a series of big newspaper stories. And does anyone today doubt that such things happen? Wilder was often cynical, though here it is to the most meaningful end. "the Fortune Cookie" and "Kiss Me, Stupid" are cynical also and they are both fun but this one makes a very trenchant point and they do not.

The acting is superb. Kirk Douglas gave many brilliant performances. This is one of them. The trailer included in the DVD I just saw crows that with this Jan Sterling will be immediately elevated to the top rank of female stars. That never happened but she is excellent here, as generally elsewhere.

The interviews of Wilder by Cameron Crowe tell a funny story about the genesis of one of her lines. I'd better not quote it; so get that book. It's very entertaining, informative, and touching.

Wilder was one of =this country's great directors. This will probably never be one of his most popular movies but I'd certainly rank it as one of his best.