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Pretty Good

Fresh and Exciting

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Some brilliant actors inhabit this "B" crime melodrama from the mid 50's. This independent film simply adds "USA" to the title (minus "The") of the 1930 prison movie that was way ahead of its time in its depiction of prison violence. That film, along with "Brute Force", remains a classic in the genre of life-after-crime films. This film, however, doesn't have that reputation. It is, however, the genesis of a crime, here a kidnapping gone wrong, that results in the criminal (Ralph Meeker) gaining the nickname "Ice Man" in prison for his cold demeanor in the way he denies having seen the victim, sadly an 8 year old boy he kept hidden while trying to extort money from his wealthy father.Like child molesters, kidnappers of children in prison are considered the lowest of the low, and in this case, Meeker's cell-mates (Broderick Crawford, Lon Chaney Jr., Charles Bronson) ostracize him immediately. But knowing he has ransom money stashed away, they decide to include him in on their escape plans, with the intention of killing him once he leads them to it. This leads them back to the scene of the original crime where there is a sad, ironic conclusion that is unfortunately still too real in crime solving.All of the actors are excellent, even if they are playing totally despicable people. The prison scenes don't begin until half way through the film even though Crawford is top-billed. Meeker is really the focus of the film. There are some genuine horrifying visuals, especially the fate of the asthmatic 8 year old. This is not for ultra-sensitive movie viewers. It is interesting to note that Bronson, pretty much shirtless in his entire time on screen, has a physically amazing torso. Crawford and Chaney's characters are pretty interchangeable. Like most crime dramas or 50's film noir, the film has the typical documentary-like narration that by this time was totally clichéd. The result is a gripping but ultimately depressing film that will leave the viewer speechless.

***SPOILERS*** Even though the movie "Big House U.S.A" runs for a scant 83 minutes it seems like well over two hours watching it and all the side plots that's in it. In fact we never get to see the big man or top star Braderick Crawford, the psycho as well as wimpy sadist killer Rollo Lamar, until almost halfway into the film.The story starts with good natured fisherman Jerry Baker, Ralph Meeker, giving a hand to this runaway boy Danny Lambert, Peter J. Votrian, who checked out of camp when he was about to be giving an injection for his serious asthma condition. As it turned Baker was on to little Danny in that his dad Mr. Lambert, Willis Bouchey, being one of the riches men in the state of Colorado. Holding little Danny hostage for a ransom of $200,000.00 Baker makes the mistake in leaving the kid alone in this dilapidate fire tower in the woods. Trying to escape Danny falls to his death and with that Baker if caught faces the death penalty for, a federal charge, kidnap/murder.Caught by the FBI lead by Special Agent James Madden, Reed Hadley, Baker being a step ahead of the law had disposed of Danny's body and hid the ransom money where he only faced and got a one to five year sentence at the top security Cascaville prison. It's behind bars that Baker got involved, since he had no choice in the matter, with his cell-mates who were serving time for a slew of multiple murders all across the country. Headed by the brains of the outfit Rollo Lamar Baker is forced to break out of jail with Rollo and his fellow cell-mates the worst bunch of convicts in the entire prison system. It's not that Rollo liked Baker but the fact that Baker knew where he stashed the $200,000.00 ransom money was worth saving his life; That's until Rollo got his hands on that cash and then he's history!Worth watching just to see future action star Charles Bronson all pumped up, the guy would give Arnold Schwartznegger a run for his money in a body building contest, and crazy with future District Attorney Berger, William Talman, in the Perry Mason TV show as, this really takes the cake, William "Machine Gun" Mason! In fact three years later Charles Bronson would get the lead role as the real, whom Talman's character was obviously based on, Machine Gun Kelly.P.S There's also horror star Lon Cheney Jr. as the dim witted and lovable convicted murderer Lenny Alamo Smith. It fact it was Lenny that Lon Chaney played in the 1939 film "Of Mice & Men" that made him a star. And talking about Lenny in "Of Mice & Men" it was non-other then Broderick Crawford who originated the role on Broadway three years earlier!

Loosely inspired by a real life case, this gritty little film documents the fate of a ne'er do well drifter who seizes the opportunity to make money off the disappearance of a wealthy child. Meeker plays the stoic (and uncomfortably good-looking) extortionist who locates a missing boy only to hole him up in a condemned ranger station while he attempts to milk $200,000 from the boy's panicked father Bouchey. Bouchey does everything he's told, in an effort to spare his sick wife from even knowing about the boy's ordeal, but it's all for naught when Meeker is caught, but the boy isn't retrieved. Meeker is convicted of extortion (not kidnapping!) and sent to the Big House where he's confronted with some unfriendly cellmates. Crawford is the burly ringleader, Chaney is the more sensitive, lunkheaded one, Bronson is an antagonistic muscle man and Talman is a skittish follower. All of them wish to escape and when they find out that Meeker has some ransom money hidden on the outside, they decide to drag him along with them so they can split it up! They bust out via a fairly elaborately constructed tunnel, but that's hardly the end of their problems. Meeker does a very solid job in a film with few, if any heroes. It's disconcerting for the viewer to see a nice-looking man resorting to some of the things he does here. Crawford, top-billed though he takes quite a while to show up, is savvy and ruthless (and, unfortunately, shows off far more chest that Meeker does!) Talman, infamous as the constant nemesis of "Perry Mason", and Chaney don't get a lot of screen time, but handle what they get effectively. Bronson is rock hard and frequently shirtless, revealing an impressive figure for 1955, a time when most men rarely worked out to that degree. Jack Lemmon's future wife, Farr, amusingly billed as "Randy", plays a nurse. Votrian portrays the little rich boy and it's not without amusement, though there's residual guilt in laughing at someone whose fate is so horrifying. He starts off with a persistent cough, intended to be an asthma attack and can't ever stop hacking UNTIL he has a line, during which he's perfectly fine! This occurs several times. He also has a jaw-dropping hysterical scene when Farr attempts to give him a shot. Saddled with an overbite and toothpick legs jutting out of the planet's shortest shorts, he's a gangly mess and is agonizingly annoying. Still, no one likes to think of any child receiving this type of treatment. This film should really have had a different title since only a small portion of it takes place behind bars. It's a startlingly brutal piece of movie-making for its time with a couple of really rough deaths including a bad fall, a broiling in a steam tank and a hammer to the head, followed by a face-roasting via a flame gun! The worst thing is the horrendous and almost completely unnecessary voice-over narration supplied by Hadley as an FBI agent. It's one of those terrible things in which the events depicted clearly on screen are described by a dry, stony voice when viewers simply could have watched it themselves. One great thing is the use of outdoor locations and the assemblage of interesting cast members. It's certainly worth the 83 minutes it takes to watch it!

It's "The F.B.I." starring Reed Hadley, with an all-star guest cast! The film begins with an accidental (convenient?) kidnapping, which leads to one thing, and another - which doesn't really indicate the main story, which is a "Big House, U.S.A." prison break story. The story is very improbable, to say the least. It's like a TV show, only more "violent" (for the times).BUT - the cast is a trip! Picture this: Ralph Meeker is sent to prison; his cell-mates are the following criminals: Broderick Crawford, Lon Chaney Jr., Charles Bronson (reading a "Muscle" magazine!), and William Talman (reading a "Detective" magazine!). Honest! You should know that, an early scene reveals what happens to the "missing" boy, answering the ending "voiceover." If you don't want to have that hanging, don't miss the opening scenes between the "Iceman" and the boy (Peter Votrian doing well as a runaway asthmatic). *** Big House, U.S.A. (1955) Howard W. Koch ~ Broderick Crawford, Ralph Meeker, Reed Hadley