Live Life Team
Genre: Drama
Starring Actors: Kirk Douglas, Richard Benedict
Fired from his job at a big newspaper, journalist Chuck Tatum resorts to taking a job on a small New Mexican paper. While travelling to report on a local story, he finds a scoop that could re-launch his failing career and puts in a huge effort to ensure he gains exclusive rights. His subject is the ill-fated Leo Minosa who has been trapped after a cave collapsed rendering him powerless to break out.
The movie seems more relevant today than in the 1950’s. The entire media establishment is taken apart, dissected and damned, together with those who tag along for the ride. When a good story is followed to the detriment of its subject, the rules of universal civility are ignored and the news ceases to be just the news – it becomes entertainment.
This becomes the case in Ace in the Hole. Tatum’s story contains all the human interest ingredients that will provide headline longevity but, in order to maintain the public curiosity and guarantee his career resurgence, Chuck needs Leo to stay trapped in the cave for a little more time. A quick rescue plan is soon scotched in place of a much longer salvage operation; the latter soon starts to risk the health of Leo but keeps the gathered public interested and media very happy.
This splendid movie stands as a brazen dig at the media, which not surprisingly won little praise or acclaim from critics upon release.
