Ace in the Hole (1951) is a classic temptation/morality tale. A New York City newspaperman, Tatum (Kirk Douglas), finds himself in Albuquerque, New Mexico, scraping for a job. Cocky and sure of himself, he (quickly) stews in a podunk job, desperate to return to the excitement of the big city after disgracing himself out of it. The best solution? The big story to prove himself to the papers he so wants to work for.
And so temptation is dropped in his lap – a foolish man, exploring Indian caves, has become trapped in a rockfall. Tatum stumbles onto the story and recognizes that just a little enhancement might make this his ticket home. He talks to the trapped man, earns his trust. The sheriff shows up – caught up in a re-election campaign, he’s not a problem, he won’t interfere.
Then the mining engineer shows up, and this is a problem. He can rescue the man in hours.
Now Tatum’s dream threatens to drain away, but, see, he has the sheriff on his side. You shouldn’t go in through the mine shaft, no, no, no. Go in through the top of the mountain. It’ll only take, what, 5 days that way? The sheriff reinforces the idea to the reluctant mining engineer, but money’s tight for everyone, so the mining engineer, against his better judgment, agrees; he’ll be fired, after all, and they’ll find someone else to do it their way.
And so it begins. The days may pass, but not those who pursue the dollar. The curious are organized and guided to the shearing stations: meals, drinks, carnival rides, radio interviews, anything to bring glory and loose wallets to this dusty old corner. The trapped man’s dissatisfied wife? The silver can sway even her.
You see it coming, don’t you? But that’s not the point, is it? Yes, of course, Leo, the trapped fool, desecrating Indian sacred caves, he must die, his befuddled mind collapsing in guilt and grime over how he treated his wife, confused that his little hobby could do this to him. Sure, pneumonia gets him.
But don’t be surprised by that. He’s played well, but he remains a plot pivot point, critical yet nearly invisible.
What about everyone else? What happens to those who manipulated the situation? And those who were manipulated? From the mining engineer to the big city reporters frozen out by Tatum, and even the crowds that melt away as soon as Leo is gone, from the wife to Tatum and the sheriff, these are the elements that interest, that might even teach us.
And they play out with what some might call the ring of truth. The mythology of our society would say that Leo should have been rescued immediately, that delaying his rescue for filthy lucre’ was immoral. But for those who’ve replaced community with money, they might find the essence of this story to be nothing more than an overreach – that Tatum strung it too long, that perhaps Leo should have been rescued earlier and the crowds lied to about his rescue. Tatum was presented with opportunity, and, like any good reader of Ayn Rand, he did something with it; this is merely a cautionary tale of the dangers of chasing the sacred nickel.
But for those of us who find simpler moralities to be more comfortable, this movie does ring true. Perhaps not everyone received a comeuppance, but enough do such that, when Tatum is face-down in the dust in front of his small-paper editor, the one who took a chance on him, the editor who is the boring, mundane voice of ethics, we realize that some people flub redemption – and we can feel a mixture of pity and, perhaps, relief that Tatum didn’t really benefit from his “minor” sin.
My Arts Editor commented half way through that she needed to stop and take a shower – “I feel slimy.” It’d be hard to find a better compliment for this fine story. With very little apparent effort it depicts the conflicting motivations of morality and greed, and how the ascendancy of the latter leads to the fall of those under its flickering glow. For all that, it’s not preachy; this is not a paean to ethics, but a grim & dirty examination of what happens when they’re abandoned.
The technical elements really match the quality of the story – great acting, believable dialog, good audio, beautiful black and white cinematography, etc etc.
It may be grim, but strongly recommended.
[edited 11/6/2016 – “this is not a paean to ethics”]
