Flashback film.
Not the typical gangster role for bogart.
Blackface.
"The Big Shot" is a very good gangster film, but it represents a bit of a milestone for Humphrey Bogart. Up until that time, he made a living out of making B-movies and appearing in a lot of gangster films. However, with the success of "Casablanca" in 1942, he soon began getting better and mostly more heroic roles as he was now an A-lister in Hollywood. That same year, he also made "The Big Shot"...and it represents the last of his older period films.
Bogart plays Duke Berne...a career criminal and two-time loser. When the film begins, he's trying to go straight but finds the going very difficult. He finally succumbs to the lure of a life of crime and agrees to help with an armored car robbery. But his old girlfriend, Lorna, convinces him not to do this. Even though she has married a lawyer, she still cares about him and her convincing him NOT to get involved with the crime ends up biting him in the butt! How? Well, the police mess with the only witness in the case. But Duke's lawyer insists to him that he has nothing to fear and Duke turns himself in to the police since he knows they are looking for him. What Duke doesn't know is that the lawyer THINKS Duke and hid wife, Lorna, are having an affair and he deliberately throws the case. Duke is given a life sentence and he seems royally screwed. But there's MUCH more to the story...and you'll just have to see the film to know what's next.
This is a dandy film. Much of it is because Bogart does NOT play the typical sort of villain. He's rather sympathetic and decent, in his own way, and he does really well in the role. I also appreciate that for 1942, the film is ultra-violent and rather film noirish...with some great camera angles and a sense of foreboding. A truly excellent film...and, sadly, one seldom shown on TV.
Not the typical gangster role for bogart.
Blackface.
"The Big Shot" is a very good gangster film, but it represents a bit of a milestone for Humphrey Bogart. Up until that time, he made a living out of making B-movies and appearing in a lot of gangster films. However, with the success of "Casablanca" in 1942, he soon began getting better and mostly more heroic roles as he was now an A-lister in Hollywood. That same year, he also made "The Big Shot"...and it represents the last of his older period films.
Bogart plays Duke Berne...a career criminal and two-time loser. When the film begins, he's trying to go straight but finds the going very difficult. He finally succumbs to the lure of a life of crime and agrees to help with an armored car robbery. But his old girlfriend, Lorna, convinces him not to do this. Even though she has married a lawyer, she still cares about him and her convincing him NOT to get involved with the crime ends up biting him in the butt! How? Well, the police mess with the only witness in the case. But Duke's lawyer insists to him that he has nothing to fear and Duke turns himself in to the police since he knows they are looking for him. What Duke doesn't know is that the lawyer THINKS Duke and hid wife, Lorna, are having an affair and he deliberately throws the case. Duke is given a life sentence and he seems royally screwed. But there's MUCH more to the story...and you'll just have to see the film to know what's next.
This is a dandy film. Much of it is because Bogart does NOT play the typical sort of villain. He's rather sympathetic and decent, in his own way, and he does really well in the role. I also appreciate that for 1942, the film is ultra-violent and rather film noirish...with some great camera angles and a sense of foreboding. A truly excellent film...and, sadly, one seldom shown on TV.