Chuck Tatum (Kirk Douglas) will do just about whatever’s necessary to stay on the front page in Billy Wilder classic
CABARET CINEMA: ACE IN THE HOLE (Billy Wilder, 1951)
Rubin Museum of Art
150 West 17th St. at Seventh Ave.
Friday, July 12, free with $7 bar minimum, 9:30
212-620-5000
www.rmanyc.org
Sandwiched between such hits as The Lost Weekend, Sunset Blvd., Stalag 17, and Sabirna, Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole might just be his lost masterpiece. A major flop upon its release in 1951, Ace in the Hole is a cynical look at Americans and their values. Chuck Tatum (a classic Kirk Douglas) is a ruthless reporter who has been fired in virtually every major city in the nation because of his love of the bottle, his success with the ladies, and his penchant for playing hard and loose with the facts. He demands a job at a small-town paper in Albuquerque, hoping to land a story that will restore his luster and put him back in the big time. He finds his patsy in the person of Leo Minosa (Richard Benedict), a low-rent Indian artifacts hunter who gets trapped in a cave-in at the base of the Mountain of the Seven Vultures. Sharpening his fangs, Tatum makes a deal with the sheriff (Ray Teal), choosing to take the long way to rescue Minosa in order to keep the sheriff’s name in the news and the reporter’s name on the front page for a longer amount of time. Meanwhile, Minosa’s wife, Lorraine (Jan Sterling, with fabulously uneven eyebrows), who was ready to leave her husband, sees a way for her to cash in as well. The whole thing turns into a huge media circus; in fact, the studio changed the name of the film to The Big Carnival upon its release, trying for a more upbeat title. Ace in the Hole is screening July 12, introduced by humorist and journalist Henry Alford, as part of the Rubin Museum’s Cabaret Cinema series “Say a Little Prayer,” held in conjunction with the exhibition “Count Your Blessings,” which opens August 2 and explores the use of prayer beads in various Buddhist traditions. The series continues through August 30 with such other great films as Fred Zinnemann’s A Man for All Seasons, Ingmar Bergman’s The Magician, and Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s Black Narcissus.