Sunday, February 3, 2008

Movie of the Day





The Big Shot (1942)

The Big Shot is a rarely seen gangster picture starring Humphrey Bogart and Irene Manning. It is not available on DVD or VHS, but luckily I burned it to DVD from Turner Classic Movies, where you can see the movie from time to time.
Bogart stars as three time loser Duke Berne. Recently out of jail for the 3rd time, Duke wants to go straight because he knows his next conviction means life in prison. But as things go when your down and out and in the neighborhood of thugs, Duke gets drawn into one last robbery. Even though he does not make it to the "job", Duke gets thrown in prison thanks to the police forcing his mug shot onto one scared old lady witness.
Even though his lawyer saddles him with a fake alibi for the night of the Robbery, the scam goes wrong when his alibi's girlfriend shows up in the court room and unknowingly exposes the lie.

Photobucket

Back in prison, Duke must now plan a crash out. He does not mind doing life if he committed a crime, but since he did not even attend the robbery, there is no way he is going to do life for it. In prison he is befriended by an amazing eclectic group of characters including "The Dancer", who help him with his plan. One prison variety show later, Duke finds himself on the outside again. But things do not always go as planned. The Big Shot has one of the best endings of a Gangster picture I have ever seen. I hope that this title gets released on DVD soon so more people can find out why the ending is one of the best endings of all the Bogart gangster pictures.

The Big Shot on IMDB.com
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034513/

Thanks for reading.
Be sure to check out www.TCM.com to find out when the next time The Big Shot is scheduled.

For more info:
www.TCM.com
www.myspace.com/kimpunkrock

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