The Big Beef (1945) User Reviews

Surprisingly good.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 2 August 2018]

During the 1930s and 40s, Edgar Kennedy made a string of short comedies for RKO. What they shared in common was that Edgar had in-laws living with him who were not only freeloaders but selfish jerks who made his life miserable. And, in each, Mrs. Kennedy insists that Edgar not do anything in return...when Edgar SHOULD have been contemplating homicide!

In "The Big Beef", Edgar has invited his boss over for dinner and he's sprung for steaks. However, when a door-to-door salesman shows up, the family assumes it's the boss and invite him to sit down and eat with them. Because Edgar is stuck in the garage, he isn't there to let everyone know that the man is NOT his boss. In the meantime, the salesman is enjoying the boss' dinner! And, when Edgar calls on the phone for help, the dopey dispatcher at the police department misunderstands and has police dispatched to 'arrest a burglar stuck in the garage'! What's next...especially when Edgar gets out of the garage?!

As usual, Edgar is a grouch....and his family not particularly likable, though they have been worse...much worse...in other shorts. So is all this any good? Yes. While I'd never consider it a great film, it is enjoyable and well written.....with some nice twists.

"He'll be back tomorrow, twice as hungry".

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 30 April 2016]

Unavoidable, unintended consequences trip up Edgar Kennedy more than once in this funny film short, as an encyclopedia salesman unwittingly closes a deal and Edgar manages to order up a thousand pounds of beef on the hoof. There's even an uncontrollable vacuum cleaner run amok to further add to his consternation, as if the cops who come calling hadn't already. Turner Classics offered up a handful of these Kennedy bits the other night and it was cool to relive some of my childhood memories of the slow burn comic. I agree with a previous poster, TV would have been an ideal medium for Kennedy and his extended family. A series might even have retained the 'Chopsticks' theme.

If I had a set of in-laws living with me like this, I'd be spending all my free time in the garage!

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 19 June 2020]

Poor Edgar Kennedy. stuck with wife Florence Lake's neer do well brother and meddling mother-in-law. In this episode, he's expecting his new boss over for dinner, and after being locked in the garage, finds out that his wife fed the steak expected for dinner for his boss. When the boss does finally show up, they convince him that he showed up on the wrong night, and must now rush to find a steak during times of war rationing. Kennedy must now create a freezer out of refrigerator parts to hold the thousand pounds of beef he was forced to purchase. This of course creates all sorts of hilarity, and as uncomfortable as the comedy is in knowing that Kennedy will screw up (giving the in-laws more ammunition against him) and that everything that can go wrong will hilariously go wrong, By the time the boss shows up, Kennedy might just need a new house, a job, and a pasture! Typically frantic Edgar Kennedy short with lots of laughs.

No Beef With This One

[boblipton · 8/10 · 2 December 2013]

When an encyclopedia salesman eats the steak that Edgar planned for his boss, Edgar orders a thousand pounds of beef for the next day and decides to build a refrigerator to store it in this fine entry in his RKO two-reeler series. His Average Man short subjects ran from 1932 until his death in 1948, and in this one, Florence Lake as his ditzy wife and Jack Rice as his obnoxious brother-in-law get good bits.

This sort of series would have migrated naturally to television in another ten years and have been a real winner. Cast and crew had their roots in fast-paced silent comedy -- Kennedy had worked for Mack Sennett and Hal Roach -- and the gags, as well as Kennedy's patented "slow burn" are a delight.

Edgar's Job is at Steak

[ExplorerDS6789 · 8/10 · 23 February 2021]

The boss is coming over for dinner. Classic scenario. With the big man coming to dinner, you want everything to be just perfect, but in everyone's life a little rain must fall, and in Edgar Kennedy's case, it's always monsoon season. On this day, he has invited his boss over for a lovely steak dinner. Everything was in order to allow for a very peaceful evening... now let's watch it all come crashing down. It started when Edgar went out to the garage to sharpen the steak knife, but in the process, the door comes down and a fallen ladder prevents him from opening it, trapping him inside. At the same time, a pushy encyclopedia salesman shows up and the family mistakes him for Mr. Bib, Edgar's boss. They invite him in and treat him like royalty. Too bad this wasn't Mr. Bib, or else Edgar would have scored some major points. The family is very polite and cordial to him, even though we know it's the wrong guy, they don't, so they can't be blamed for this mishap. As for Ed, after many futile attempts to extricate himself from his confines, he picks up the phone and calls the police, and I don't see this ending well. Edgar and the police never seem to get along. Why didn't he call the fire department instead? Well, it's so we could see Edgar nearly get arrested when he figured out he could just climb out the window, and the cops mistake him for a burglar. Fortunately Florence comes outside and clears up the mess before her husband got taken to the slammer. It's then that Edgar realizes the steak that was meant to be shared with Mr. Bib is gone, eaten by the encyclopedia salesman. Edgar throws him out, just as Mr. Bib arrives, and when he finds out there's no steak, he fires Edgar right on the spot. What a jerk, acting that way after your lowly employee invited you to his house. Fortunately, Brother decides to FINALLY be useful and tells Mr. Bib that he was due to come to dinner the next day. Bib apologizes and says he'll return tomorrow.

Continuing his useful streak, Brother calls his friend who works at a meat packing company and Edgar is able to secure 1,000 pounds of beef. It's at this point I guessed the punchline to the whole charade and the film did not disappoint, but I'll get to that in good time. In order to store his ton of beef, Edgar converts a kitchen closet into a freezer... with predictable results. Just as Mr. Bib arrives for his second attempt at dinner, a delivery arrives for Edgar. He instructs the man to put it in the freezer and pays him, then he goes to let in his boss. Unfortunately, the delivery was not for the beef, but rather encyclopedias. That rotten salesman pulled a fast one. Well, unfortunately Edgar would lose his job a second time, until the actual beef arrived. Good, one last chance to save face... and here's where the payoff comes in: he gets a whole cow. Well, no steak, no job, but one good slow burn.

This is another one of my favorite Edgar Kennedy shorts. Gotta say it will make you hungry for steak, and I'm wondering why couldn't Edgar just go back to the butcher and get another side of beef? Was it due to that Meatless Tuesday business or something? It was also nice to see that the family didn't cause Edgar's misfortunes this time around. Sure, in an indirect and unintentional way they did, but they didn't know that pushy salesman wasn't Mr. Bib. Also nice of Brother to actually come to Edgar's rescue when all seemed lost. So, any lessons to be learned from all this? I guess have your steak knives sharpened before the guest arrives, be careful where you set your ladder, and before you pay the piper, make sure you know what he looks like. Anyone who has ever planned a special dinner for an important person in their life can certainly relate to what Edgar went through, especially if it all went to pot. I definitely recommend The Big Beef, predictable, though entertaining.