One of the most scathing indictments of American culture ever produced by a Hollywood filmmaker, Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole is legendary for both its cutting social critique and its status as a hard-to-find cult classic.
Kirk Douglas gives the fiercest performance of his career as Chuck Tatum, an amoral newspaper reporter caught in dead-end Albuquerque who happens upon the story of a lifetime—and will do anything to ensure he gets the scoop.
Wilder’s follow-up to Sunset Boulevard is an even darker vision, a no-holds-barred exposé that anticipated the rise of the American media circus. —The Criterion Collection
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling, Bob Arthur, Porter Hall, Frank Cady, Richard Benedict, Ray Teal, Frank Jaquet
Venice (In Competition): International Award
About this movie
Title: Ace in the Hole (1951)
Directed by: Billy Wilder
Date of birth: 22 June 1906, Sucha, Austria-Hungary
Date of death: 27 March 2002, Beverly Hills, California, USA
Writing credits: Billy Wilder, Lesser Samuels, Walter Newman
Music: Hugo Friedhofer
Year: 1951
Country: United States
Language: English
Color: Black and White
Runtime: 111 min.