Tonight's movie was an outstanding Noir with Humphrey Bogart, called "The Big Shot" (1942). I had mentioned that we'd have more Bogie movies coming as a result of my recent "Warner Archives" search in the library database. This was one of them, and man was it ever hard-boiled.
Bogart is a down and out ex-con who's done two stints in prison, one lasting five years, the other, ten. He is trying to go straight as he explains in a voiceover at the beginning of the film, but no one will give him a job. The cops follow him everywhere he goes, just waiting for him to slip up. He is broke and has been reduced to accepting free meals from a sympathetic restaurant owner. The rent is barely paid up in his flophouse apartment. One day, two hoodlums enter the restaurant, one being the great character actor Howard daSilva. He is an acquaintance of Bogart's from past crimes. His partner is a young punk named "Frenchy", who takes one look at the unshaven, slovenly Bogie and starts shoving him around. Howard daSilva wants Bogie to be the third man on an armored car robbery. "Frenchy" doesn't think he can handle it, but then Bogart - tired of being abused by the youngster - kicks his ass and the question is settled. There's still some fire underneath the worn-out exterior, and Bogie is up for the job. More than anything, he just needs the money.
Now, holy smokes folks - there are gonna be so many plot twists and double crosses in "The Big Shot" that I won't be able to relate even half of them. This is yet another of those examples of tremendous screenwriting from the Golden Era that I harp about, and this script is extra exceptional. I mean, this movie is one of the best Noirs I've ever seen. You never know what's coming next.
The armored car robbery doesn't go well, but Bogie did not take part after all. He backed out at the last minute because he has run into an Old Flame who doesn't wanna see him go back to prison, which he will if caught, and it will be for life this time. She has an ingenious way of making sure he doesn't participate in the heist, and it works. The only problem is that, in the interim, while Bogie was in prison, she married a wealthy lawyer, a shyster who organises bank jobs and defends any of his crooks who happen to get caught. Now Bogie is in double trouble because not only has he flaked on the armored car job, but his girl is also the wife of the leader. And "Frenchy", his punk nemesis, has seen Bogie with the dame. Will "Frenchy" fink on him to the boss? What do you think? :)
So now, the Boss - the crooked lawyer - is gonna frame Bogie for the robbery, even though he didn't participate. Bogie returns the favor by telling the lawyer that - hey - is he goes back to prison he will have nothing to lose, because he will be in for life, therefore he will name names and implicate the lawyer as the main man who planned the whole thing.
Now it's getting really nasty and double-crossy. There are even triple crosses happening.
I hate to say it, but Bogie is gonna wind up back in prison. He is no match for the clever, well connected lawyer, so back into the Joint he goes, this time for life. He does have a friend in the prison warden, though, a reformist who has known Bogart through the years and recognizes his basic decency. The warden is going to allow a talent show to take place, for the prisoners' entertainment. Bogie befriends a con by the name of Dancer, who is to be the headline act in the show......
Can you believe this is only an 82 minute movie? Yep, and I haven't even mentioned several other important characters nor have I delved deeply into the most important relationship in the film; that of the lawyer's wife and Humphrey Bogart. They were once a couple before all of this mess, but will they be together again?......
You will have to find out for yourself, as I've told you way more than I usually do, to entice you to see this picture. I had never heard of "The Big Shot" before I discovered it in my library search, but once again I was lucky to find yet another Humphrey Bogart movie when I thought I'd exhausted the supply. How in the world do I keep doing that? "The Big Shot" is so good that it deserves to be included on the list of The Greatest Film Noirs. You know how Martin Scorcese champions certain films and is shown on the dvd extras sometimes, doing an interview where he talks about what the film means to him? For this movie, they should have me doing it. That's how good it is.
Two Gigantic Thumbs Up for "The Big Shot", which also features some very dramatic (and even brutal) action footage from the crime in progress - exceedingly well shot and edited for 1942, when action was not a prime concern in movies. There is also a chase scene in the snowy mountains, but then I have told you way too much and I am sorry about the spoilers. Just give it a couple of weeks and you'll forget what I've said. Then you can watch the movie with no advance information remembered.
My highest recommendation, especially for (but not limited to) Humphrey Bogart fans. ////
Elizabeth, I liked your photos of the contemporary nature paintings. Her use of contrasting color really brings out the depth in those treescapes, plus the tones make it look magical. I am working on my hardest drawing yet, where I am attempting to overlap images in a way that both combines them and keeps them separate. I am having such a blast this year with drawing in colored pencil, and I have completed five Really Weird Ones already. Gotta get some Krylon finishing spray and a portfolio to put 'em in so they don't collect dust. And, I've still got all my older abstract drawings leaning against all my bookcases and walls in the Tiny Apartment. I am artworking myself out of the place, haha.
I hope all of your projects are coming along well, and I have no doubt they are. Art rules!
and just being creative is so much fun, whether drawing, singing, playing piano, writing music, making films, taking photographs, or any other form of creativity including just being outside in nature and thinking about it.
That's all I know for tonight. I will see you in the morning with much love sent as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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