Watch The Big Shot For Free

Best movie of this year hands down!

Very disappointing...

An Exercise In Nonsense

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Big Shot, The (1942) ** 1/2 (out of 4) B-grade gangster film from Warner features Humphrey Bogart as a three-time hood who gets out of prison and tries to go straight because one more mess up will get him life in prison. After not being able to make a straight living he sets up a heist for a crooked attorney but gets double crossed. Once back in prison Bogart must find a way to escape and get revenge. This really isn't anything we haven't seen in countless other prison/gangster films from Warner but as usual Bogart makes it worth watching. He plays the tough guy perfectly and his image as a tough guy can never be questioned. He even gets a few funny moments including one segment where he's on the hideout in the deep woods and can't get use to cutting wood for a fire. The supporting cast includes Richard Travis, Susan Peters and Irene Manning as Bogie's love interest. Manning isn't too good in her role and it probably would have been better with a stronger actress here but either way, if you're a fan of Bogart then this is worth checking out. It's also worth noting that there's a scene in the prison where Bogart is pitching a baseball, which is filmed pretty much shot for shot like a scene in The Shawshank Redemption.

Humphrey Bogart, a master-actor of crime, did it again in this 1942 film. Ironically, it's when Bogie tries to go straight that things begin to go awry.While we have all the familiar elements to a Warner's Gangster Film, this picture is done incredibly well. There are the small time crooks, the fancy lawyer who plots the jobs, two innocent young lovers caught up in this mess and a dame, Irene Manning, who gives a splendid performance.Manning, the wife of the crooked lawyer, will not allow her lover, Bogart, to participate in a heist. That's when the action begins. Her husband discovers her indiscretion and makes sure that Bogart, who is blamed for being part of the robbery team, goes to prison on a life sentence as it is his third offense.The lawyer causes more havoc until Bogie breaks out of jail and is finally able to deal with him.With all his sinister gangster ways, Humphrey Bogart shows that he has a heart and will not let the "kid" take the rap and go to the chair as a result.

HUMPHREY BOGART once admitted that he had to spend years at Warner Bros. dodging bullets and writhing around on the floor as a bullet-ridden gangster type, before being taken seriously in other roles. THE BIG SHOT is a prime example. It came at a stage in his career where he was on the verge of becoming one of the biggest stars ever, with CASABALANA giving him the iconic role of Rick and taking him away from gangster roles for awhile. But until then, he was still a full-fledged gangster star.Basically, it's a grade-B yarn with IRENE MANNING (who starred in "The Desert Song" opposite Dennis Morgan a year later), as his romantic interest in a cast that includes SUSAN PETERS, STANLEY RIDGES, MINOR WATSON and HOWARD DA SILVA.Bogart is an ex-inmate, a three-time loser trying to go straight and we see his story in flashback as he lies on a hospital bed. Lured back into a life of crime when he can't find a job, he joins Da Silva's gang and has to deal with romantic complications involving ex-girlfriend Manning, married to crime boss Stanley Ridges. He gets accused of being one of the armored car bandits and has to figure a way to get himself clear of a frame-up. Ridges frames him while posing as his lawyer and Bogart gets sent to prison for a life term.The prison break scene is the highlight of the drama and rescues the film from a slow pace that only steams up toward the conclusion. Bogart has a moral problem. A good guy (RICHARD TRAVIS) who tried to prevent Bogie and friend from making a jail break, gets accused of being mixed up in the escape. When a prison guard dies during the attempt, Travis has to take the blame.The plot takes a turn when Bogart decides he can't let Travis, an innocent man, take the rap.Summing up: Worthwhile for Bogie fans, but we've all seen this kind of crime drama before.

Humphrey Bogart portrays three time convict Joseph "Duke" Berne, with twenty years of prison time under his belt. But he's running gun shy now, as the next offense will put him away for life. When former cohorts show up planning an armored car heist, the Duke is in, until he runs into former flame Lorna (Irene Manning), now married to mob lawyer Martin T. Fleming (Stanley Ridges). He sits out the heist while the gang gets pinched, but gets fingered anyway by a nervous witness who's pressured to make an ID during intense police grilling.Now he needs attorney Fleming's help with an alibi, which comes in the form of young car salesman George Anderson (Richard Travis). Anderson's testimony will get Duke released, but small time hood Frenchy (Joe Downing), with a score to settle with Duke, rats out his involvement with Mrs. Fleming to her husband. The prosecuting attorney brings in Anderson's girlfriend who doesn't corroborate the salesman's story. Now Anderson and Duke both find themselves behind bars.Almost immediately, Duke starts planning his escape, and forms an alliance with The Dancer (Chick Chandler), a talented con man who will head up the prison's talent show. With the help of James Cagney lookalike Quinto (Murray Alper), who plants a gun under the warden's car to be retrieved by Duke in the prison machine shop, the stage for the breakout has been set.Meanwhile, George is implicated in the escape and faces more hard time if he doesn't spill his guts to the warden. With his conscience getting the better of him, Duke decides to turn himself in. What follows is a quite thrilling car chase scene over slick, snow covered mountain roads. Lorna takes a bullet in the chase, and when she doesn't make it, Duke's revenge on Fleming takes form. In a confrontation with Fleming, Duke gets his revenge, but takes a bullet himself.Told in flashback from the prison's hospital ward, "The Big Shot" is an interesting period piece. Note the sign in a scene from Sardo's Restaurant - "Italian Dinner - 60 cents"! The film's not in the same league with edgier gangster dramas like Cagney's "White Heat" or "Public Enemy", or even Bogey's earlier effort "Bullets or Ballots" with Edward G. Robinson. But it's not bad either, and a well spent hour and a half or so if you can find it. The film hasn't been released commercially, so you'll have to scour the late night cable movie channels, or source it from a private collector.