The trouble with Houston's remarks about the footage cut wouldn't have made a difference is that the film was ahead of its time. Murphy is outstanding in his first big picture (Cagney talked him into doing films.) Too bad Huston was with Bogart, his favorite actor or maybe he would have fought. It's hard to even come up with a better way to tell a story about war,esp. the Civil War. I also like "7 Ways From Sundown" with Walter M. ,"Hell is for Heroes", his bio-pic,And "The Unforgiven" with Lancaster. Plus "Night Passage" with Jimmy S. and Dan Durea. Murphy is the most decorated WW2 veteran and looked like a kid up to 1963 about. Died In 1970 about in plane crash,age 46. Played in 44 films, 34 Westerns. His gravesite is 2nd most visited at Arlington next to President JFK.
Reviews
2 Reviews
The Big Noise
(1944)
Much better than reputation
12 September 2006
I bought this in the mid 1990's on VHS because it wasn't on DVD at the store. I was just hungry for more of the boys films and had not read the critic's yet. It turned out that I was very surprised at the level of comedy as I was not expecting much since the 40s and on I had mostly been disappointed. I recommend this film though. Much better than Utopia, Jitterbugs, and a couple of the other later ones. This film and Nothing But Trouble were probably their last good comedies, IMO. Not as good as their vintage days, but still good and funny. You can't always go by reviews(which includes mine!) This film has more character-driven comedy than some other Fox films. Maybe the studio let them do their own thing a little more, which was what made them so great such as was Keaton's greatness too but was stifled by over-control. If you have seen their old films but ignored this one and Nothing But Trouble give these a try. I think you will be surprised. Steve
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