The Big Knife

The Big Knife is a 1955 American melodrama film directed and produced by Robert Aldrich from a screenplay by James Poe based on the 1949 play by Clifford Odets. The film stars Jack Palance, Ida Lupino, Wendell Corey, Jean Hagen, Rod Steiger, Shelley Winters, Ilka Chase, and Everett Sloane. The story delves into the dark side of Hollywood, exploring themes of corruption, betrayal, and the destructive nature of fame. Jack Palance delivers a powerful performance as a conflicted movie star trapped by his own success and the manipulations of the film industry. The film is noted for its intense atmosphere and sharp critique of the pressures and moral compromises inherent in show business. It received critical acclaim for its direction, screenplay, and strong ensemble cast, cementing its place as a significant work in 1950s American cinema.

Plot
Charlie Castle, a very successful Hollywood actor, lives in a huge home with all the amenities associated with his stardom. Influential gossip columnist Patty Benedict visits him to get the lowdown on his marriage, but Castle refuses to confirm anything for her. His wife Marion has taken their young son and is living separately from him; she is, in fact, on the verge of filing for divorce. She has had enough of his drunken womanizing and of his having relinquished his ideals for lower Hollywood expectations.

Indignant at her rebuff, Benedict threatens Castle that she intends to dig into a certain dark incident in his past. Both know what she is talking about.

Marion does not want Castle to renew his contract with powerful studio boss Stanley Shriner Hoff, and will not agree to a reconciliation with her husband if he signs. An emotionally-tortured Castle wants desperately to win back Marion, who has been proposed to by writer, and friend of Castle's, Hank Teagle. Castle agrees, wanting to be free of the studio's grip on his life and his career, and to be able to do more inspiring work than the schlock films Hoff pushes on him.

He pleads with his needy agent, Nat, to help him be free. However, Nat is aware that Hoff and his right-hand man, Smiley Coy, have knowledge of the truth behind a hit-and-run accident in which Castle was behind the wheel and which resulted in a death. Castle's friend, Buddy Bliss, took the blame for the accident and served time for it.

Hoff and Coy arrive at Castle's house to close the deal. Castle's defiance enrages Hoff, who is willing to do anything, including blackmail regarding the accident, to force the actor to commit to a seven-year deal. After staring the inevitable in the face Castle backs down and signs the new contract.

Buddy's lascivious wife, Connie, comes by; despondent, Castle allows the darker side of his nature to prevail and he sleeps with her. Subsequently, Marion and Hank attend a gathering at Castle's place after which Castle prevails upon his wife to listen once again to his reasoning as to why they should reunite. She eventually leaves with Hank but is actually having second thoughts about Castle.

Meanwhile, Smiley, who has been attending a party at one of Castle's neighbors, drops in to tell the actor that Dixie Evans, a struggling starlet who happens to have been in the car with Castle the night of the accident, is threatening to reveal what she knows about the crash. Smiley suggests Castle invite her over, to talk and see if he can persuade her to keep quiet. Castle does so and is sympathetic to her feelings about being treated shabbily and disregarded as an actress. She wants to damage Hoff, not Castle.

Having had Hank take her back to Castle, Marion arrives while Dixie is there. The actress immediately leaves and the couple have an intense conversation; Marion makes it clear she is at least willing to try again to rekindle their marriage.

Subsequently, Dixie goes to Hoff's office and causes such an upheaval that the studio head and Smiley decide that she must be permanently silenced. Smiley lays out a plan to achieve this to Castle which involves murder. Finally spurred to stand up for his ideals, the actor summons Hoff and Nat and, with Marion present and now aware of Dixie's presence the night of the accident, defies these ruthless men who employ him. He also mandates that nothing should happen to Dixie.

Hoff and Smiley try one more extortion ploy, producing recordings secretly made of Marion with Hank. Neither Marion nor Castle are moved by this attempt and, finally, an outraged Hoff lets Castle go. "You're through," Smiley tells the actor. After a brief, quiet respite, Buddy storms in to reveal that he has discovered Castle's fling with Connie. Rather than take Castle up on his offer to allow himself to be hit, Buddy spits in his face.

Castle asks for a bath to be drawn and, after pledging to Marion "a better future", goes upstairs. Smiley returns to telephone Hoff and let him know that Dixie, staggering out of a bar and into the street, was struck and killed by a city bus.

Despite seemingly redeeming himself in many ways, Castle is devastated by his betrayal of a friend, the sacrifice of his integrity and the anguish he has caused to the woman he adores. Upon realizing water is flowing upstairs and through the ceiling below, Smiley, Marion, and Nat break into the bathroom. As Marion screams, Smiley gets on the phone and tells the studio that Castle died of a heart attack, while also saying to tell Stanley that he slashed himself three times. Marion grieves, as the camera pulls back and reveals we're watching her wails on a cinema screen.

Cast

 * Jack Palance as Charlie Castle
 * Ida Lupino as Marion Castle
 * Wendell Corey as Smiley Coy
 * Jean Hagen as Connie Bliss
 * Rod Steiger as Stanley Shriner Hoff
 * Shelley Winters as Dixie Evans
 * Ilka Chase as Patty Benedict
 * Everett Sloane as Nat Danziger
 * Wesley Addy as Horatio "Hank" Teagle
 * Paul Langton as Buddy Bliss
 * Nick Dennis as Mickey Feeney
 * Bill Walker as Russell
 * Michael Winkelman as Billy Castle
 * Strother Martin as Stillman

Production
In March 1955 Aldrich signed a contract with Clifford Odets to make the film. A script by James Poe had already been written and Jack Palance set to star. The film was made for Aldrich's own company.

Aldrich said in 1972 he was "terribly ambivalent about the Hoff character". When he made the film many old time tycoons were still in power. "We'd had twenty years of petty dictators running the industry, during which time everybody worked and everybody got paid, maybe not enough, but they weren't on relief. Seventeen years later you wonder if the industry is really more healthy in terms of creativity. Are we making more or better pictures without that central control? But when everybody worked under those guys, they hated them. So we took the drumroll from Nuremberg and put it under the Hoff character's entrances and exits. It wasn't too subtle... The Hoff crying came from Mayer, who is reported to have been able to cry at the drop of an option. But the big rebuff that Odets suffered was at the hands of Columbia, so there was more of Cohn in the original play than there was of Mayer."

Aldrich later said he wished he and the writer had cut down Odets' play. "At the time, I thought that kind of theatrical flavoring was extraordinary. I'm afraid neither Jim Poe nor I were tough enough in editing some of Odets' phrases as we should have been."

Critical response
New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther, was disappointed and believed the plot lacked credibility. He wrote: "Actually, it looks as though The Big Knife originally was written and aimed as an angry, vituperative incident of the personal and professional morals of Hollywood. This is the clear implication of what is presented on the screen...But the simple fact is that Mr. Odets—and James Poe, who wrote the screen adaptation—were more disposed to extreme emotionalism than to actuality and good sense. They picture a group of sordid people jawing at one another violently. But their drama arrives at a defeatist climax. And this viewer, for one, was not convinced."

The Chicago Tribune wrote: "This tale of blackmail, intended murder, marital infidelity and eventual suicide boasts some excellent performances. It is laid in Hollywood, and Rod Steiger gives his role—that of a domineering, outwardly emotional but inwardly cold blooded producer—such conviction that it just about carries the film….The basic plot was cunningly conceived, and there are some bluntly effective scenes, but unfortunately the story is turgid with typical Odets dialog. The author seems to be in love with the sound of his verbose and often meaningless prose, and most of the characters are forced to deliver it in long and boring speeches…..The audience accepted these wordy flights stolidly, but reacted definitely to Everett Sloane as a mealy-mouthed agent, to Wendell Corey as an efficient hatchet man for the ruthless producer, and to Jean Hagen and Shelley Winters as a couple of aggressive females."

Film critic Dennis Schwartz wrote in 2004: "Robert Aldrich... directs this intelligent noirish melodrama...The film did not have a good box office according to Aldrich because the public never felt sympathetic to Palance's character and Palance himself didn't have matinee star good looks to make his part believable as a Hollywood star. No major studio would make this exposé on tinseltown, so it was made by United Artists on a low-budget and shot in 16 days...The movie stresses that the struggle is a personal one over survival and redemption rather than idealism, which allows the sparks to fly among the disagreeable leading characters as they trade lines only an insider could pen. The masterful performance by Palance as the tormented artist defies the clichés of his insulated and self-absorbed character. He expresses all his anguish and hurt in the star system he willingly signed on for to reap the benefits of the rewards, and shows the futility that boggles his mind to the point he doesn't realize when he's acting or speaking for real. It was shocking when first released in 1955 but is now considered tame by modern standards.'"

Film critic Jeff Stafford wrote in 2008: "[Of the previous Hollywood-exposé dramas] none...can match the negative depiction of the movie business and its power brokers offered in The Big Knife...The use of long takes by cinematographer Ernest Laszlo adds greatly to the film's claustrophobic tension and the mingling of fictitious names with real ones (Billy Wilder, Elia Kazan, William Wyler and others) throughout the dialogue gives The Big Knife a candid, almost documentary-like quality at times."

Film critic Nathan Rabin wrote in 2022: "The Big Knife is a film of excess. It's over-written, over-acted, overwrought and over-emotional. It's full of bombast and shouting and actorly monologues but the film has the courage of its convictions. It's unrelenting and unsparing in its depiction of the film industry as a hellscape where the worst of capitalism meets the worst of the arts."

Box office
Aldrich later claimed that although the film cost $400,000 and made over $1 million it lost him money because the distributor took the profits.

Awards
Wins
 * Venice Film Festival: Silver Lion, Robert Aldrich; 1955.

Nominations
 * Venice Film Festival: Golden Lion, Robert Aldrich; 1955

Home media
The Big Knife was released to DVD by MGM Home Video on April 1, 2003 as a Region 1 widescreen DVD.

It has been shown on the Turner Classic Movies show 'Noir Alley' with Eddie Muller.