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Years before Damon Runyon got Broadway and screen immortality with Guys and Dolls, one of his short stories was adapted for the silver screen concerning the unrequited love of a bus boy for a Broadway entertainer. That story was The Big Street and the title is named for the street that Runyon chronicled, Broadway.

Though The Big Street got good reviews for its stars Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball, the subject matter was way too much of a downer for mass audience appeal. The plot as it is tells the story of Little Pinks who is madly in love with this nightclub entertainer who being the mistress of gangster Barton MacLane, can't see him for beans and wouldn't look up from the table to try.

That all changes when MacLane slaps her so hard she falls down a flight of stairs and becomes paralyzed. All abandon her then and in truth she didn't exactly near and endear herself to too many. That is except for Fonda and the Broadway characters he lines up to give her a helping hand.

A movie like The Big Street could not be made today because we don't have the rich assortment of character players to entertain us. The people Damon Runyon created were made for such performers as Sam Levene, Ray Collins, Millard Mitchell, etc. And of course the two best performers who steal the film from the leads when they're on are Agnes Moorehead and Eugene Palette. Moorehead didn't do too much comedy and her gift for it would not be tapped again until she was Endora in Bewitched.

Lady for a Day and Guys and Dolls enjoyed much greater success because they were done in a comic vein. My guess is that is what people expect when they see Damon Runyon on a theater program credit.

Still The Big Street is nicely-nicely done as Eugene Palette and Stubby Kaye would say.

This interesting story failed to make it big with audiences in its initial release, but is actually a noteworthy picture, nonetheless. This unlikely story has Henry Fonda as Little Pinks, a shy, timid busboy, who's obsessed with Lucille Ball's self-absorbed, mean-spirited torch singer. Despite her poor treatment of him, he continues to worship her. During an argument with her louse of a boyfriend, he (the boyfriend) pushes her down a flight of stairs. Paralyzed and desperate, Gloria moves in with Pinks. The wheelchair-bound diva alienates everyone around her with her anger and venomous commentary. But Pinks doesn't let it bother him. Instead the "odd couple" go on an unusual roadtrip together. He pushes her in her wheelchair all the way to Miami - pretty dumb, really !

Ball is excellent, and in top form. It's great to see her in such an unusual role (see also 1947's "Lured"). Fonda is great, too, as the innocent and smitten young man. And the rest of the cast is good; especially, the always fabulous Agnes Moorehead. Despite a good story and an excellent cast, the plot limps along at points, and the shoddy production value is unignorable. Plus, the whole "Let's push Lucy to Florida in her wheelchair" thing is utterly nuts! However, the final scene is an unforgettable melodramatic moment that is fascinating just for the fact that Ball is the center of it. It makes it worth sitting through the many drawbacks of this film just to see the ending scene.

"The Big Street" was not a major hit when first released but the critics at the time all noted Lucille Ball's superb star-making performance as one of the all-time nastiest women ever to reach the big screen. Lucy was already a minor star thanks to a string of popular B-grade comedies and dramas but this film cemented her stardom and brought her to MGM where she reached an early peak the next year. The film is sentimental and does have some plot points that have to be swallowed but Ball's great acting and chemistry with a splendid Fonda makes this tale of unrequited love work. Fonda plays a kind innocent busboy who falls madly in-love with a crippled chanteuse(Ball). The last scene on the dance floor is unforgettable. Why RKO did not get Lucy an Oscar nomination for this performance is a crime. All the critics at the time hailed her work in this but it just slipped under the rug when the film posted only small profits. This was the kind of role Bette Davis made her own but Ball does it without Davis' habit of falling into mannerisms. Agnes Moorehead is also excellent as Fonda's concerned friend. Beautiful cinematography makes Ball look incredible in her close-ups. Worth a look but overlook the occasional mawkish elements. Lucy makes it a must.

Damon Runyon's short story "Little Pinks" is turned by RKO into a solid acting showcase for Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball, also utilizing a troupe of colorful supporting players to their best advantage. Supper-club singer in New York City is crippled in a fall--and promptly loses her free ticket into high society. The only person who still cares for her is a smitten, well-meaning busboy; he hitchhikes all the way to Miami with the wheelchair-bound chanteuse, where they cross paths again with the well-heeled gangster who caused her unfortunate accident. The melodrama inherent in the main plot is suffused (and some may say strengthened) by the comedic overtures of the character turns, most especially by Eugene Palette and Agnes Moorehead as a couple who love to eat and argue. Ball, floundering at RKO in 1942, was quickly snapped up by MGM after this performance, and its clear why: her narcissistic songbird is self-centered and often ridiculously delusional, but your heart goes out to her anyhow. *** from ****

A busboy (busman, really) so adores a nightclub singer that he devotes his life to caring for her after she becomes paralyzed; she treats him like dirt. It sounds like a good premise for a romantic comedy except that this is a serious drama. Ball plays such a self-centered, ungrateful jerk that it defies logic that anyone would voluntarily cater to her. Fonda loves her so much that he pushes her in a wheelchair from New York to Florida! And remember, this is not played for laughs. The finale is so utterly ridiculous that one figures it must be a comedy. No - still serious. The fine supporting cast features the likes of Palette, Moorehead, and Levene, but the script is lame.

Anyone who has the slightest desire to learn more about the incredible talent of Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda owes it to themselves to see this marvelous movie. Over the years, these two stars built up such powerful images of themselves as star characters, and most of the public came to know them as a result of the cumulative impressions which they made on our individual consciousness. Your strong impression of Lucille Ball is as a comedian, correct? You seldom if ever think of her as a dramatic actress. Can you imagine Lucille Ball playing a role of a vain self-centered and arrogant harridan who seems to live for the sole purpose of tormenting the lowly busboy who is her one true friend in all the world? Few people can imagine Lucy in such a role, but if you watch this movie, you will see it happen. It is also totally believable because, even though Lucy worked primarily as a comedian, she was a great dramatic actress when she chose to accept a role of that type. As for Henry Fonda, who could even conceive of casting this great actor as a busboy? It was early in his career and he is playing a role of the type that he would never have to play again, but he pulls it off. You wonder at times why he is taking so much abuse from this woman. But the answer is incredibly simple. He deeply loves the woman, and his love comes shining through. If you want to see two great stars at work in the early days of their careers, check out this movie.

Two big and popular acting stars: Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball, and one famous writer - Damon Runyan - BUT, who do you have? A very annoying and boring film. Who wants to watch and listen as a nasty, spoiled woman is miserable a nice, adoring fan for almost the whole movie? The real sad thing was that the nastier she (Ball, playing against type) was to him (Fonda, playing a busboy!), the more he seemed to love her. There are people like that, of both sexes, and it's pathetic.

This also wouldn't appeal to most people because almost all of us have such a positive image of "Lucy," so why ruin things and watch her play this role of the opposite: a sadistic. rotten person? No thanks.

Yes, there is an audience for "downers," meaning depressing movies, but I'm not in that group so that's another reason this film did not appeal to me.....and, I assume, to most folks.

The Big Street (1942)

Packed with great actors, major and minor, in a fast fast whirlwind

First of all, Agnes Moorehead and Ray Collins played the previous year in another raging movie of some fame (Citizen Kane, yup), and here they are loaded up against a dozen other great character actors, plus a couple big names. Headlining is the well known Henry Fonda, still young, but fresh off of a couple great films, Grapes of Wrath (1940), and The Young Mr. Lincoln (1939). But in a kind of startling role for those who know Lucille Ball as a brilliant and goofy t.v. comedian a decade later, we have her here as a big-eyed femme fatale, or would-be femme fatale until fate takes a turn.

You might think this one is a screwball comedy the way it starts, but keep watching-- there is violence and trauma soon enough, and the movie takes a turn that Fonda is worthy of. There is a Frank Capra feel-good element amidst the hardship, but it is full of verve, and all these odd characters who really are (were and are) what New York is at its best. The director Irving Reis (with photographer Russell Metty) keeps the scenes snappy, and sometimes moves from a closeup of a face to a background quickly, to let a character make a dramatic point. There are lots of movie tricks, quick fades from scene to scene to show the passing of time, and some tacky back projection, and it really goes along with the fairy tale narrative.

And there really is an unbelievable ending, which you have to take with the whole flavor of the movie, a kind of sincerity/fantasy mixture.

For fans of Lucy, Ball's role here takes real getting used to. "Her Highness" character is shrewish and generally not very likable. Ball does, however, get to show some very real chops outside her usual comedic range. As a result, I've got a new appreciation of her as an actress as well as a comedienne.

The movie itself is undermined by a weak central focus. Neither Ball's Her Highness nor Fonda's servile bus boy is easy to identify with. Thus, it's hard to sympathize with the overbearing HH even after she's crippled. Nor is Little Pink's (Fonda) utterly selfless devotion understandable given the imperious way she treats him. As a result, the movie's core flounders. A charitable view might take the movie as a fairy tale where the unlikely bus boy, a prince in his sudden formal wear, rescues the crippled princess if only for a moment.

Of course, being a Damon Runyon creation, there's the usual number of street-smart Broadway mugs. So the margins shine with such colorful types as Palette, Levene, Collins, et al. Also, catch dragon lady Agnes Moorehead in a rare sympathetic role (Shumberg); plus premier eccentric Hans Conreid as the grumpy headwaiter. And for folks interested in 50's TV, there's Wm. T. Orr as handsome socialite Decatur Reed. This is the same Orr who produced many of the popular hour-long TV shows of the late 50's, such as Maverick, 77 Sunset Strip, Lawman, et al. I've seen his name for years, never thinking he might show up on screen.

All in all, the only reason to catch this 80-minute pastiche is for Lucy's surprising performance and the colorful peripheral characters. Otherwise, it's pretty forgettable, especially for fans of Fonda.

Lucille Ball plays a callous chorine named Gloria Lyons who is undeservedly adored by a busboy named "Little Pinks" Pinkerton (Henry Fonda). She treats him--and most other people--like dirt, but he is willing to take abuse from the woman he worships.

When Gloria faces adversity, Pinks is there to see her through it, but she remains a resolute bitch. Ball never acted better than in this role. Fonda portrays a favorite from his repertoire--the earnest man.

Adapted from a story by Damon Runyon, the film is populated in part by those from the other side of the (race)track. Another reviewer implied that few would be familiar with the patois of Runyan, but any of the millions upon millions who have seen "Guys and Dolls" are already infinitely familiar with his peculiar but lovable vernacular.

How does it all end? Will Pinks finally grow tired of his unappreciative goddess? Will he finally get the girl then regret it? I won't say. But it ends rather nicely nicely.

This must be the only mainstream S&M movie turned out by Hollywood after the Code and before, well, maybe "The Damned." The more cruel to the Henry Fonda character the Lucille Ball character is, the more he loves her. He gives her all his money. He risks his life.

I guess this is meant to be heartwarming, like the far more successful Runyon tale "Lady for A Day." I hadn't seen it in ten years and back then I thought the Ball character unspeakably mean to the Fonda character. Now it seems as if he is, figuratively speaking, lapping it up. And the whole thing is an unpalatable mix of the harsh, the cutesy, and the maudlin.

(The final scenes in which he makes her wheelchair-bound, dying person into royalty are very mawkish.

On the other hand, Fonda is excellent. Ball -- well, she always, even in her TV series, which I like, came across as hard; and here she plays a woman with a heart of pure cast-iron. Eugene Palette is always great to have around and Agnes Moorehead! What a marvelous actress she was. She shows a flair for comedy here. (Guess that wouldn't be surprising to the 99.9% of the public who know her, if at all, as Endora on "Bewitched" rather than for her 1940s roles such as the great performance she gives in "The Magnificent Ambersons.")

On the other hand, Fonda is excellent. Ball -- well, she always, even in her TV series, which I like, came across as hard; and here she plays a woman with a heart of pure cast-iron. Eugene Palette is always great to have around and Agens Moorehead! What a marvelous actress she was. She shows a flair for comedy here. (Guess that wouldn't be surprising to the 99.9% of the public who know her, if at all, as Endora on "Bewitched" rather than for her 1940s roles such as the great performance she gives in "The Magnificent Ambersons.")

...and that's not the movie's fault. Those who've panned The Big Street and this review say more about themselves than the movie.

Damon Runyon was a beloved chronicler of a microcosm that no longer exists - the street life of New York's Broadway district, during its heyday, when it was known as The Great White Way or The Big Street. You will never see characters like Runyon's anywhere else in literature or film. The closest are perhaps to be found in Dickens, say, the souls who populate the London of Mr. Pickwick.

Other comments, who have been put off by the dialog finding it saccharine or phony, don't understand the special language Runyon uses for his characters, the picaresque vernacular of the small-time Broadway hustlers, promoters, racetrack touts and "professors," whose schemes and rackets are cloaked with highfalutin patter.

Among the steady, low-level service people who interface with these demi-mondes is Little Pinks, "the best busboy in the whole wide world". Pinks (Henry Fonda), has a good heart and the misfortune of falling head-over-heels for a gangster's moll, played against type by Lucille Ball, who has none of the former (good heart) and plenty of the latter (misfortune). Devoted to a fault, Pinks acts as her guardian angel, from her pinnacle, all the way to her pitiful decline and fall. Director Irving Reis, knows how to keep his material from becoming mired in bathos by using Runyon's whimsy and humor and the most delightful character players in Hollywood, from Eugene Palette and Agnes Moorehead to Ray Collins, Louis Beavers and Hans Conried.

"The Big Street" faithfully recreates Runyon's world and its inhabitants. Like all of his stories, it is a parable, and like all parables it teaches a lesson. But the lesson is delivered gently, never preaching. The most moving moment comes in the final scene, at once tragic and triumphant. The tragedy is apparent. But the triumph, the triumph of love over all, is apparently lost on the idiots who have panned this gem.

With some casting changes, this could have been a satisfying and interesting movie. Ray Collins, Sam Levene, Agnes Moorehead and Eugene Pallette all perform very well; in fact, they carry the film. Fonda is decent, but never projects any motive for his loyalty and infatuation for the Ball character. Ball does a fairly good job portraying the nasty side of her character, but everything else falls flat; she projects no warmth or style as an orchestra singer, and is not credible as the back stage gold digger. Had Lorraine Day gotten this part, this could have been a very good movie. Ball got it, and really dragged it down.

The beginning of this film is deliciously silly, and I thought I was going to enjoy it enormously. But from Gloria Lyons' first appearance on the scene, the film seems to lurch around the corner into another genre... and it never seems to be quite sure what it is after that.

Overall I found it hopelessly uneven. The vivid life of the 'big street' is sidelined very early on by the constant demands of the character Gloria, who dominates the film with much the same insatiable need as she does the hero -- but unlike, say, in 'Dolores Claiborne', the story all but fails to establish any flashes of sympathy for the cantankerous invalid, and the audience is left largely bewildered by the Job-like endurance of Little Pinks. It could have been done -- perhaps in the original story it was done -- but here shrewish Gloria comes across as simply unlikable rather than, as apparently intended, tragically self-deluded.

For much of the time, after its beginnings in pure comedy, the film seems to be striving for melodrama, although the plausibility rating tends even here to be undermined by the sheer improbability of the situations obtained. The supporting characters, played for laughs, are far more engaging than the would-be urban fairytale of the principals, and it was never clear whether Pinks's predicament was intended to be tragic, life-affirming or simply prat-fall humorous, in the manner of all comedy dependent on humiliation. The set-up is simply too strained and the main characters too one-dimensional to be taken as drama or grand tragedy, but by and large it seems to take itself too seriously for us to be expected to laugh at Gloria either.

If played as outright farce, this could have been a decent, if cruel, slapstick comedy; if played with more depth and more appealing characters, it might have been a two-handkerchief weepie. What it's not is the meaningful street fable it seems to crave to be... and as a heavy-handed morality play its intended lesson left me rather foxed.

I have always been thrilled to see Lucille Ball in the old Hollywood movies in which she starred many years before her stardom in the sitcom "I Love Lucy". She held the grace of the top stars at the time and I can certainly understand why Desi Arnaz fell madly in love with her after seeing this film. I sincerely believe that if you have never seen "The Big Street" then you have not seen Lucille Ball at her best. She was an incredibly talented Hollywood movie actress and I only regret that I hadn't discovered that sooner. This movie made me want to collect all of Lucy's old movies because this one was a real surprise for me! I loved Lucy before, but now I respect and appreciate her even more for being a survivor and holding her own among the likes of Grace Kelly and Greta Garbo. Lucy certainly was a bombshell in her day! See this movie and you will understand why. It will win over even the toughest critic.

The Big Street is one movie that you'll notice Lucille Ball's true acting ability. In this movie, she plays a very bitter and uncaring singer who only thinks about herself as the "heiress." If you watch this movie, you'll probably think she acts quite snobby and self-centered. Although it might get on your nerves, it proves that a true actress can really make you hate her on the big screens, and that's what Lucille Ball has proved.

If you're also a big "I Love Lucy" fan, you'll see a different view of Lucy when she actually cries with real tears- which is a sad version, rather than the crying she does in "I Love Lucy"- which is the funny version. Lucille Ball does a terrific job in the snobby role. The movie is also mainly centered on her as well.

The bad thing about this movie is that the storyline is a little unreal and seems to have been written beyond the normal imagination. If the minor problems would have been done right, this movie, otherwise, is great and a true classic to watch.

Long before LUCILLE BALL took a trip with hubby Dezi Arnaz in THE LONG, LONG TRAILER, she took another kind of cross-country trip to Florida in a wheelchair being pushed by an adoring HENRY FONDA. At least, that's what we're supposed to take from THE BIG STREET in the way of plot development.

It's easy to see why THE BIG STREET never made it big with the critics. First of all, the offbeat casting with LUCILLE BALL as an Agnes Moorehead kind of monster, just doesn't work. Secondly, HENRY FONDA's adoration of her, despite being treated with complete indifference, doesn't hold water unless you want to think of his busboy as being retarded. And lastly, all of the characters have as much depth as cartoon creations in a comic strip--nothing to make them seem even remotely believable.

Not that RKO didn't try. They've got Agnes Moorehead, Barton Mac Lane, Eugene Palette, Ray Collins, Sam Levene, William T. Orr and Ozzie Nelson and His Orchestra all pitching in with supporting roles that outshine the stars.

Any Damon Runyon story has its problems in being transferred literally to the screen. In short story form, this probably worked on paper. But given the sharp eye of a camera and an audience, it simply fell flat at the box-office and for years Lucille Ball vowed never to do any more dramatic roles. Well, here's why.

Summing up: Neither Fonda nor Ball are on display here the way you'd like to remember them.