You Ain't Seen Me, Right? – The Big Knife (1955)

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The Big Knife (1955)
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By the ‘50s, the movie-going public was sufficiently familiar with the intricacies of the film industry for Hollywood to begin presenting them on the screen. The affectionate pastiche of Singin’ in the Rain (1952) was contrasted by a number of films addressing the darker side of Tinseltown: Sunset Boulevard (1950), In a Lonely Place (1950) and The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) exposed the dream factory as a fickle, inhospitable place. This process was accelerated in large part by the rise of influential gossip columnists Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons. These sworn rivals competed to be the first to expose the stars’ private affairs, both catering to and fuelling the desire to lift the lid on this tightly controlled world, wielding immense power with their ability to make or break careers.

Based on Clifford Odets’ play, The Big Knife tells the story of Charlie Castle (Jack Palance), an actor who has chosen fame and wealth over his integrity and family. In a last-ditch attempt to save their marriage, Charlie’s wife, Marion (Ida Lupino), urges him not to sign a new contract with the studio, much to the consternation of its mercurial head, Stanley Hoff (Rod Steiger). Hoff uses his knowledge of an incident from Charlie’s past to pressurise him into re-signing, manipulating him into dealing with the loose ends from the incident that threaten to destroy his heroic image.



Robert Aldrich was a supremely efficient, adaptable director; making westerns, film noirs, war films and melodramas with equal proficiency. The Big Knife afforded him the opportunity to expand his repertoire to satire; making the most of the limited locations by arranging shots that delineate the psychological warfare unfolding in Castle’s Bel Air mansion, using the low ceilings to create a sense of confinement, while at the same time providing ample space for the performances to flourish. James Poe’s screenplay retains Odets’ elevated language and piercing social commentary: for the fiercely principled and highly-strung Odets - who is said to have been the basis for Barton Fink - the play was his revenge on a business that had rejected him, like so many other literary figures.

Fresh from On the Waterfront (1954), Steiger’s commitment to Lee Strasberg’s ‘method’ school is very apparent here; submerging himself in the character, every gesture and inflection calculated to express the irrationality of power. Another Strasberg acolyte, Shelley Winters, plays the scheming hopeful who holds Charlie’s fate in her hands, bringing enough emotional truth to overcome the role’s limitations. Square-jawed and seemingly carved from granite, Palance displays a fragility that runs counter to his standing as the consummate villain, capturing the inarticulate rage of the burned-out idealist trapped in his gilded cage. Acclaimed B-movie actor and director Lupino’s toughness and self-possession elevates her role beyond the standard long-suffering wife, Wesley Addy plays a blatant Odets surrogate, and Everett Sloane entertains as Charlie’s put-upon agent.

The Big Knife outlines the law of the playground that predominates in Hollywood; a milieu where ideals are ‘a lost cause’, actors are ‘deductable items’, leverage is the ultimate weapon, and compliance is the most valuable commodity; subtly alluding to the decadence that was lurking beneath this anodyne era.
There you go, folks. Sounds like an episode of Entourage to me, only older and with fewer douchebags. More from You Ain't Seen Me, Right? next week.