The Big Knife
| The Big Knife | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Robert Aldrich |
| Produced by | Robert Aldrich |
| Screenplay by | James Poe |
| Based on | the play by Clifford Odets |
| Starring |
Jack Palance Ida Lupino Wendell Corey Jean Hagen Rod Steiger Shelley Winters |
| Narrated by | Richard Boone |
| Music by | Frank De Vol |
| Cinematography | Ernest Laszlo |
| Edited by | Michael Luciano |
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Production
company |
The Associates
Aldrich Company |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
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Release date
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Running time
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111 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $460,000 |
| Box office | $1,250,000 220,066 admissions (France) |
The Big Knife is a 1955 film noir 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.
Charlie Castle, a very successful Hollywood actor, lives in a huge home. But his wife Marion is on the verge of leaving him, which he refuses to confirm to influential gossip columnist Patty Benedict.
On his wife's advice, Castle is adamantly refusing to renew his contract, which enrages Stanley Shriner Hoff, his powerful studio boss. Castle wants to be free from the studio's grip on his life and career.
Hoff and his right-hand man Smiley Coy have knowledge of a hit-and-run accident in which Castle was involved and threaten to use this information against him. Hoff is willing to do anything to make the actor sign a seven-year renewal.
Castle's soul is tortured. He wants to win back his idealistic wife, who has been proposed to by Hank Teagle, a writer. And he longs to do more inspiring work than the schlock films Hoff makes him do, pleading with his needy agent Nat to help him be free. But the studio chief's blackmail works and Charlie signs the new contract.
Feeling sorry for himself, the darker side of his nature causes Castle to have a fling with Connie, the flirtatious wife of his friend Buddy Bliss, who had taken the blame for Charlie's car accident.
When a struggling starlet named Dixie Evans threatens to reveal what she knows about the crash, Hoff and Smiley decide to have her silenced permanently. They try to involve Castle in their sinister plot and even extort Charlie's wife, secretly recording her conversations with the new man in her life. That is the last straw for Castle, who finally defies the ruthless men who employ him.
However, having betrayed a friend, lost the woman he loves and sacrificed his integrity, Charlie can no longer live with himself. He has a hot bath drawn, gets into it and ends his own life.
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Wikipedia