The Big Night (1951) User Reviews

THE BIG NIGHT (Joseph Losey, 1951) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 6/10 · 23 August 2006]

From Losey's American feature films (a period which barely lasted four years, when he fell victim to political persecution) I had only previously watched his eccentric debut, THE BOY WITH GREEN HAIR (1948). The same year he made THE BIG NIGHT, a low-budget noir, he directed two other thrillers - THE PROWLER, Losey's own favorite from this early phase of his career and M, an Americanization of Fritz Lang's German masterpiece. Both these films promise to be a good deal more interesting than the ones I watched, and I hope I get the chance to view them someday...

Anyway, back to THE BIG NIGHT: in itself, it wasn't too bad but it didn't feel at all like a Losey film; perhaps that's because I'm not used to watching him dealing with an American setting - but it's still a minor film, not quite knowing where it's going and not even that compelling while it's on. The noir-ish atmosphere (courtesy of cinematographer Hal Mohr), however, is quite interestingly deployed - sometimes with an audacious psychological resonance, as in the nightclub scene where a riotous drum solo brings back to lead John Barrymore Jr. (looking more like Sean Penn than his matinée' idol father!) memories of his father's vicious beating at the hands of a crippled but influential sports columnist (an effectively sinister Howard St. John); the latter episode is actually a key scene, which sets the plot in motion and sends Barrymore - who witnessed father Preston Foster's humiliation and whom he idolized - seething with revenge in search of St. John.

The characters are largely stereotypes - caring bartender (Foster owns a bar), philosophical drunk pal, his bitter girlfriend (a rather spent Dorothy Comingore, who 10 years earlier had played Susan Alexander in CITIZEN KANE [1941]!), her good-girl sister who falls for and yearns to 'save' Barrymore, shady promoter Emil Meyer (a dry run for his memorable turn as a crooked cop in SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS [1957]), etc. - but the last act provides a couple of ironic twists involving the characters of Foster, St. John and the tragic fate of a woman they both loved in their own way.

The night has its secrets

[kapelusznik18 · 7/10 · 12 May 2017]

***SPOILERS**** At a coming of age 17th birthday party at a neighborhood bar young George La Main, Drew Barrymore, is shocked to see his father Andrew, Preston Forster, meekly allow himself to be whipped black and blue in front all the shocked costumers by crippled sportswriter Al Judge, Howard St. John, without as much as raising a finger in his defense. Seeking revenge against Judge for what he did to his father George gets a .38 revolver from his room and goes out into the night looking for him and planning to blow Judge away in an act of revenge.

This all has George later find Judge in his pad writing a story about a fight that he and George witnessed at the garden arena who seems not at all surprised to see him even with a gun pointed at his head. It's then that Judge gives George the lowdown to why he so brutally beat his father and why he being far bigger and much stronger the the crippled and old Judge that he took the beating almost willingly! Soon a fight erupts between George and Judge with Judge enduing up on the floor from a bullet wound with George fleeing from the oncoming, who were alerted by the neighbors, police!

***SPOILERS***Back home with his dad and waiting to be arrested for the murder of Mr. Judge George finds out that his dad is taking the rap for what he just did. It also turns out that despite George being more then willing to take the blame for shooting Judge everything is soon to turn out to be find with Judge alive and well suffering only powder burns and Judge willing to drop all charges against George or his dad who's taking the rap for him. We and George then learn from his dad that he more then deserved what he got from Judge by driving his sister to suicide by refusing to marry her. We also find out that George's dad is still married to his wife whom he told his son has died soon after he was born! Which is the reason he couldn't marry Judge's sister that drove her to kill herself!

So as we and George found out his dad really got off light in what he did and even in taking responsibility for shooting Judge, who dropped all the charges against him, it was his actions that lead his son George to try to blast Judge! Who as it turned out was the real injured party in this strange and baffling case.

Vivid and dark and despairing...with that spark of survival throughout

[secondtake · 7/10 · 20 March 2011]

The Big Night (1951)

Wow, the dark scenes and the dark mood of this movie are gripping stuff. Even the ever-struggling Barrymore in the lead role--Drew's dad, John Drew Barrymore--is edgy and tough enough to carry it through some very intense emotional stuff. Ultimately the movie is about redemption, but it is mostly an exploration of nihilism--a kind of self-defeating despair that was probably in the air for many in post-war America.

The plot is pure Hitchcock--a murder takes place at the wrong time for the wrong reason. The difference is that the focus here isn't on the innocent man accused (there is one of those, and we don't sympathize with him) but on the guilty man unaccused. And so there is a psychological thread as we see his decline, and the pressure around him build. Other layers to the plot include his mother dying, and an overall desperation to survive in the most basic ways, paying the rent and eating.

Don't expect to be cheered up on this one. But do expect to be deeply embroiled. If it lacks the depth and drama of, say, "On the Waterfront" or some other movie set in the New York area around the same time, it makes up for it at least partially in gritty realism. This is small time stuff without the gloss and hype. But with director Joseph Losey's famous use of photography (brilliant, by Hal Mohr) and ambiance (the art director went on to do a lot of classic "Gunsmoke" episodes). A great one for what works best here.

Wrong Woman

[robotman-1 · 30 June 2001]

A teenager on the verge of becoming a man watches his father get beaten to a pulp by a gangster. This leads to the teen going on a short odyssey for vengeance, where he discovers some ugly things about himself and his father.

This is a short b-movie without much story, concentrating on the passionate lives of hard folks living in a 1950s cityscape. The teen is enraged, but he's also idealistic; in a night club he hears a woman belting out a torch song and is entranced; later when he gets to meet her, the teen tells her how beautiful he thinks she is, even if she is, you know, a black woman. The look of pain on the singer's face rips the heart out of the white teen, who for all his idealism still can't get over the fact that the singer is Negro, and he was transported by her.

This film has one of the great film noir lines ever. The father, a broken man who lost his wife when she ran out on him with another man, and who had chances to marry again but remained in love with that betrayer, tells his son, "Some men are like that. Sometimes a man loves one woman in the whole world. If she turns out to be the wrong one...well, it's just tough." That's the sense of this film: haunting loss that comes back and smacks you down, day after day. Strong stuff.

Time without pity.

[ulicknormanowen · 7/10 · 8 December 2021]

1951 was a fruitful year for great director Losey ("the prowler" ,the remake of "M" which compares favorably with Lang's classic ,and "the big night"which suffers by comparison ).

It should be not dismissed so easily : the father/son relationship would be resumed in "time without pity" in which the father sacrificed his life to save his sentenced to death son ; had the screenplay not been watered down , it would have been the other way around here .

The first two scenes echo:George is harassed by youngsters his age ,because he does not want to kiss a girl , the act by which you become a man ;then a birthday celebration turns into a nightmare and the scene is directed by Losey with an impressive economy of means : Georges attends the beaten up of his papa , nobody intervenes ,and the boy feels helpless and humiliated ; nothing could have been more moving than the hand of the tortured man which raises when everybody has left the place .

In the short space of one night,George will seek revenge ,recalling the events of the afternoon (the cymbals of the drummer and the cane which comes down on his dad's back) ,and trying to prove himself he can be a man.

John Drew Barrymore Jr portrays a hung-up young man , who suffers from the absence of a mother ; his face,always looking tense, reflects his inability to cope with the outside world. And who realizes ,that ,to come to terms with the adult life you have to accept hard realities (the father's final revelation)

Decent B Noir, horrible audio quality

[amadman · 6/10 · 14 January 2020]

As previous reviewer wrote, saw this on TCM and the sound was terrible. Good story in need of a cleanup. I like hearing dialogue.

The long revenge journey into the night!!

[elo-equipamentos · 7/10 · 5 November 2023]

Joseph Losey on his nightmare years on Hollywood accused of anti-American activities that famous black list, here made a small Noir picture starring the younger Barrymore's clan John Barrymore Jr, playing a teenager who testified his beloved father Andy La Main (Preston Foster) get beat up upon eyes of many customers without any defensive posture, it pulls out entrains of soul, seek revenge through the night against a notorious sportswriter Al Judge (Howard St. John) wherever he goes all night long, firstly on a box match where he bumps into a friendly guy Dr. Lloyd Cooper (Philip Bourneuf) who'll buy an extra ticket, stolen by a corrupt cop aftermaths, he is introduces for a Dr. Lloyd's lover Marion (Joan Loring) at night club, meanwhile looking around Al Judge's whereabouts.

The young George La Main stalking Al Judge in every place, this journey actually is his prove of fire, due in that night George will see how the anger sometimes is silly over a so complex matter regarding his father's past happenings, he'll meets a gorgeous black singer girl, where the society barrier split apart, also on Marion's apartment he randomly faces a young girl whom cares about him, depressing and haunted George seeks Al Judge at your own apartment aiming for clear up and finally got his so awaited revenge, however the real reason will baffled him when the perpetrator claiming a fair reason.

Aside the fine premise the outcome is faraway to be suitable, a lame screenplay lost a fair opportunity to allowed a convincing ending, what a waste, in other hand there are plenty of fine sequences at long night in several places, as the fabulous one at toilet, also on the box match when George watching Al Judge thru binocs one second later Al disappears from the sight, fantastic sequences worthwhile a look in this early Losey.

Thanks for reading

Resume:

First watch: 2023 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.

John Barrymore, Jr., memorable in coming-of-age noir

[bmacv · 8/10 · 17 December 2001]

Joseph Losey's The Big Night is a film noir that's also, like Moonrise and Talk About A Stranger, a coming-of-age story. The young male undergoing his transformational journey is John Barrymore, Jr., son of the Great Profile and father of Drew. His film career was not high-profile, as he inherited the family disposition toward chemical dependency (blood will tell). But here, boasting a luxuriantly healthy crown of hair, he gives a surprisingly intense yet controlled performance. His big night happens to be his 16th or 17th birthday, when his barkeep father is brutally beaten and publicly humiliated by a local sportswriter (Losey's staging is unflinching). Frustrations about his own Hamlet-like ditherings and confusions impel him to seek revenge on his father's behalf, and, gun in pocket, he sets out into a nightscape of prize fights, gin mills and the walk-up flats of casually met strangers. While Losey's sympathies lie with Barrymore, it's always clear that the emergent man is still a callow stripling, incapable of apprehending the complex reality he crashes into, like a fatted calf in a china shop. Though the director refrains from pushing the conclusion to where it might logically go -- he retreats into sentimentality and sententiousness -- The Big Night still scores as a provocative, moodily shot film.

Cop out ending

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 17 January 2020]

A truly cop out ending really ruins what was potentially a great coming of age film. John Drew Barrymore gave an outstanding performance as our youth protagonist who does a lot of growing up in The Big Night.

Young Barrymore celebrating his 17th birthday is horrified that at his birthday party sportswriter Howard St.John gives Barrymore's father Preston Foster one severe and public thrashing. And Foster who back in his prime Hollywood days in the 30s was one rugged tough guy just submits to it. A case of directolr Joseph Losey casting successfully against type. i do wish we saw a bit more of Foster in the film though.

Looking to avenge the family honor Barrymore has quite an odyssey on his Big Night.

I can't say more lest I spoil things, but the ending was a cop out. My guess was that the soon to be blacklisted Joe Losey made some concession to Hollywood convention. It was not over politics though.

Not the best note Losey could have left America on.

The remarkable independent sequences, do not add up to a great convincing film

[JuguAbraham · 8/10 · 23 May 2020]

The tale is based on an obscure novel called The Dreadful Summit by author/screenplay-writer Stanley Ellin. The script for the film appears to be a jumbled mess, but each segment has great independent value that is the result of an intelligent Losey touch. The lovely remarkable scenes are the following:

A. Young bespectacled George bullied by friend to kiss a girl whom he likes B. A birthday cake with lighted candles given by his father that George is unable to blow out in full, One remains lit ominously. The cake serves as a reminder that the entire film deals with happenings of a single day. At the last scene the cake reappears to remind us of it. C. What appears to be real is proved unreal time and time again. D. The left-sympathizing Losey and friends made the film with a cleverness missing in other films of the day. Closure of the bars's curtains by the assistant to George's dad is a symbolic in an odd way. E. The small bitter role given to the enigmatic "2nd Mrs Citizen Kane" (Dorothy Comingore) as Julie Rostina, after she was hounded out in real life by Randolph Hearst and then the awful McCarthy witch hunt of alleged communists in Hollywood that followed states a story within a story. It is sad the way she died in real life. She had so much potential as an actress. F. The honest appreciation of beauty and talent of a black singer by George leads to so much bitterness of color-based prejudices. Losey adds a black poodle in chains in that scene. G The two kisses of George in the film are so different (the opening sequence and later one with Marion)

These sequences are all wonderful, though the film never comes together. Yet it is a notable statement of undying love by a husband for his wayward wife and also of a motherless young man trying to love women and eventually grow up to be a good husband.

Too much chlaustrophobia for one night.

[mark.waltz · 3/10 · 5 March 2021]

It's easy to see the potential in this film noir about a young man (John Drew Barrymore) out for revenge when his hardworking father is brutally beaten in front of him, and the nightmare he finds while traveling all over looking for the culprits. But the experimental way in which this script develops its characters fails miserably because they are never fully fleshed out, just flat cardboard cutouts that you'd read about in a dime store pulp novel.

The film seems to be recorded in a tunnel and at times, the echoing becomes painful to listen to. By restricting the action to mostly indoor sets, you really don't feel the tension that the leading character is facing, and while this chlaustrophobia could have worked in smaller doses, you begin to feel that the walls closing in on Barrymore are closing in on you too.

But there are a few amazing moments, particularly when Barrymore is in an all black nightclub and envisions his father being beaten while the drummer bangs out his part of the rhythm. His encounter with a black singer outside the nightclub is rather strange, but really revealing nothing but what the writer wanted to insinuate about society and never took any further than that moment. Still the pained look on the singer's face (complimented then suddenly degraded) is very haunting.

This is basically a connect the dots story, but unfortunately there are only three of them which doesn't make for much of a challenge. It's a mishmash of absurd twists and turns, ugly secrets and underwhelming revelations, desperate in need of stronger direction, a less heavy handed script and a different way of the potentially great leading actor developing this troubled young man. Someone else in the sound booth (or perhaps extra checkings of all the wires being connected) may have aided in a full projection by those in front of the camera. This big night seems covered in fog, and that makes it a night where everybody should have stayed home.

A Little Deeper Look at an Oddly Affecting Noir

[dougdoepke · 27 March 2014]

Uneven film that at times seems to drift. Still, there are genuinely compelling moments, as when burly dad LeMaine (Foster, in a fine performance) meekly submits to a brutal cane lashing that had me cringing. Why he's submitting remains a puzzle until the end. Because of the beating, Dad's insecure son George (Barrymore Jr.) spends the movie's remainder trying to avenge his father.

Beneath the revenge narrative, however, is really a rite-of-passage story. For example, in a not very believable opening, a cringing George is pounded in humiliating fashion by his teenage peers. We're given no explanation, nor does actor Barrymore physically resemble an easy mark. It's not a promising beginning. Then, in a much more persuasive scene, Dad casts a slightly disapproving eye over his nervous son's birthday cake (symbolic of the story). So the kid must prove himself not only to Dad, but to himself.

It's not a tight screenplay. Events more or less simply follow one another, tied together by the theme of vengeance. Happily, however, the narrative doesn't drag. Actor Barrymore Jr. had a rather brief career despite the pedigree. One thing for sure, he's certainly different looking. With a mop of unruly hair and slightly crooked mouth, he's no glamor boy. Nonetheless, his looks are perfect for the role, such that, when he dons a sport coat and hat, he still looks like a kid trying to take a big step up. All in all, the young actor does pretty well in the kind of difficult role that would later go to James Dean. I also like a de-glamorized Joan Lorring, who's a good match for him. My one real complaint is the way Al Judge (St. John) is written. His behavior is so crude and ugly, it's hard thinking of him as a respected sports writer. A racketeer would have been more credible and easier, so the scriptwriters must have had a reason.

Then too, the screenwriters, Butler and Lardner Jr., along with director Losey, were all blacklisted during Hollywood's commie hunting period. I suspect it was their leftist leanings that are responsible for one of the film's most arresting sequences. George goes to a nightclub where a drop-dead beautiful black songstress (Mauri Lynn) entertains. Afterward, he encounters her outside and is compelled to compliment her looks and talent. She glows at the flattering remark. Trouble is his heartfelt momentum carries over to the unspoken qualification "for a Negro woman". She grasps the unfortunate hanging-in-the-air racial reference, and is reminded of her not-fully-equal status. Thus, disappointment clouds her former glow. It's a beautifully played moment and quite powerful in emotional impact. I wonder what happened to that fine actress.

Anyway, the movie does have a number of effective noir touches, especially George's twilight escape through LA's towering industrial district. It's a mysterious world so much larger than himself. All in all, the film is oddly memorable, thanks, I think, to Barrymore's unusual presence. I know I sought it out on DVD, lo, so many years after having first seen it in a theatre.

(In passing—the burly guy sitting next to Barrymore and Bourneuf ringside at the fights is Robert Aldrich, the great director of such classics as Kiss Me Deadly {1955} and Attack {1956}.)

Proper breeding is the main focus of this Real Life Who-Done-It . . .

[oscaralbert · 8/10 · 14 January 2020]

. . . as the True Blue Patriot Progressive crew behind BIG NIGHT dare its audience to finger the back-stabbing yellow ingrate weasel snitch blabbing to the deplorable Pachyderm Party bird-brain HUAC Witch Hunters. This crew knew intuitively that such Evil Nefarious Venal Villains could be spotted at a glance. Sure enough, any viewer with eyes to see will instantly identify "J.D. Barrymore" as sporting one of "American Mao" drunken mad dog Joe McCarthy's classic snitch visages. Fortunately, last year (2019) Science discovered the actual gene that will be used to separate the sheep from the goats, or We Normal Average One Per Center Union Label Working Stiffs from the Putin-s, Fuhrers, Confederates, Clansmen, Mussolini-s, Rogers, Fords, Bonds, Morrisons, Kazan-s, Hoppers, Reagans and Capra-s of this world, all of whom run around with hateful clone miens making them just as indistinguishable from each other as the rump cushion mob's card deck, or Graham and McConnell in the U.S. Senate. No one will be able to stomach the story and back-story of BIG NIGHT without perceiving the necessity to round up EVERYONE sharing this treasonous traitor genetic defect and (after a thorough job of citizenship defrocking, asset confiscation and spaying or neutering) deporting such morally corrupt core supporters directly to Siberia.

Noir without audio is sad....

[suesan629 · 2/10 · 12 January 2020]

I'd love to rate this picture but it's hard to do so with the horrible audio. I've missed half of what's been said. rewinding over and over to try to glean a word or two makes this movie tiresome to watch. The sketchy plot is not helped by the lack of dialogue.

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE...!

[masonfisk · 9/10 · 21 January 2020]

Joseph Losey's (The Servant/King & Country) 1951 film noir about a fateful night when a boy goes out to seek revenge against the man who beat his father in front of him. John Drew Barrymore (Drew's dad) wakes up on his birthday to finalize his plans for that night (he & his dad are planning to attend the fights) but in the midst of blowing out the candles on his cake, in walks a man (a sports writer of some renown) who promptly makes his father takes off his shirt, lay down on the floor & get beaten by his cane. The image rolls around in the boy's head so he resolves to get his by taking the family gun & go out into the night to mitigate some payback. At the fights, he befriends a professor (he scalps his extra ticket to him) & while on the chase decides to tag along w/him to a night club. What follows, in seemingly real time, is a journey into choices which may or may not backfire on him as he finally finds the sports scribe & hopefully get the answers he searches for. Running a scant 80 minutes, the film is a marvel shot in actual locations w/the prospect of salvation around every corner. Also starring Dorothy Comingore (she played Kane's mistress in Citizen Kane) & Emile Meyer who plays a nasty heavy who encounters our hero at the fights.

Meh

[jodyxweiss · 5/10 · 27 April 2020]

Plot stinks. Only one dimensional. The reason only unveiled at the end.

The Wrong Woman

[robotman-1 · 28 June 2001]

The story here is revenge, more real-life based, a 1950's version of the crime of passion. A teenager's good-hearted father is beaten to a pulp by a gangster, so the kid invades the streets to get some payback. The father's not worried about the floor-wiping, which leads to a mystery behind the teen's mother, who skipped out on the family long ago, and a woman the father knows who has committed suicide.

Seeing this film, there's not much in terms of plot, but there are some notable scenes, particularly when the kid hears a beautiful night-club singer, becomes entranced, gets a chance to meet her on the street, and tells her how beautiful she is. Even though she's, you know,

black. The pain in the singer's face rends the poor kid, who was transported by her voice, but can't get beyond her skin color.

This film also has one of THE great lines ever in any film noir or any movie period, at least concerning the tragedy between a man and a woman, when there is love involved. There are no words more powerful or poignant, especially for a man who loves a woman beyond reason, who knows he has lost the love of his life. Unable to move on, to love or marry another woman after that one woman has destroyed him, and in fact still very much in love with his destroyer,

Preston Foster tells his son, "Sometimes a man loves one woman in the whole world. If she turns out to be the wrong one, well...that's just tough." Truly, the heart of noir is not blackness, but the white-hot scars of passion.

Too stage bound!

[jimddddd · 29 August 2008]

As someone who knew John Barrymore Jr. 25 years ago, I was heartbroken to see him early in his aborted film career. Though not as charismatic as James Dean would be just a couple of years later, he was certainly Dean's prototype in The Big Night. Perhaps with a better film and a less disturbed personality, Barrymore might have been a working Hollywood actor for many years to come. Anyway, what director Joseph Losey lacked here was the Los Angeles cityscape he used to full effect that same year in his retelling of Fritz Lang's M. The Big Night was screaming for a location project on downtown L.A.'s seedy, beaten down Bunker Hill, a neighborhood of crumbling Victorian mansions and apartment buildings with vertiginous stairways that provided so much atmosphere to other films, such as Kiss Me Deadly, Criss-Cross, The Exiles and, yes, M. Instead, the movie is stage bound and hemmed in by sets that never look convincing. With its rambling "a night in the life" plot line, The Big Night needed another character: a dark city of real streets, background lights, rambling old house, and dingy clubs and bars. In other words, the kind of verisimilitude that transports the viewer into the protagonist's world. The back lot, unfortunately, was a poor stand-in.