Le caïd

The Big Shot is a decent crime picture, reminiscent in theme to the previous year's High Sierra, which also featured Humphrey Bogart. Director Lewis Seiler was no Raoul Walsh but handles the familiar plot about the doomed criminal nicely, giving it shadings of atmosphere, urban and rural. The movie is one of the last flowerings of the second major wave of gangster pictures, of which it is a late example. Bogart is excellent, yet one can sense the genre running out of steam despite his performance and the nice pace of the film. There were more pressing issues at hand by the time the movie was made, such as a world war with Germany and Japan, as overall the activity of the criminals in the movie seem small potatoes compared to what was going on elsewhere, in Europe and in the Pacific.

HUMPHREY BOGART once admitted that he had to spend years at Warner Bros. dodging bullets and writhing around on the floor as a bullet-ridden gangster type, before being taken seriously in other roles.

THE BIG SHOT is a prime example. It came at a stage in his career where he was on the verge of becoming one of the biggest stars ever, with CASABALANA giving him the iconic role of Rick and taking him away from gangster roles for awhile. But until then, he was still a full-fledged gangster star.

Basically, it's a grade-B yarn with IRENE MANNING (who starred in "The Desert Song" opposite Dennis Morgan a year later), as his romantic interest in a cast that includes SUSAN PETERS, STANLEY RIDGES, MINOR WATSON and HOWARD DA SILVA.

Bogart is an ex-inmate, a three-time loser trying to go straight and we see his story in flashback as he lies on a hospital bed. Lured back into a life of crime when he can't find a job, he joins Da Silva's gang and has to deal with romantic complications involving ex-girlfriend Manning, married to crime boss Stanley Ridges. He gets accused of being one of the armored car bandits and has to figure a way to get himself clear of a frame-up. Ridges frames him while posing as his lawyer and Bogart gets sent to prison for a life term.

The prison break scene is the highlight of the drama and rescues the film from a slow pace that only steams up toward the conclusion. Bogart has a moral problem. A good guy (RICHARD TRAVIS) who tried to prevent Bogie and friend from making a jail break, gets accused of being mixed up in the escape. When a prison guard dies during the attempt, Travis has to take the blame.

The plot takes a turn when Bogart decides he can't let Travis, an innocent man, take the rap.

Summing up: Worthwhile for Bogie fans, but we've all seen this kind of crime drama before.

A very exciting fast paced gangster saga, It's interesting seeing Bogart reverting back to his 30's style tough guy persona one more time immediately after his acclaim as Sam Spade in "The Maltese Falcon" & just before his next triumph as Rick Blaine in "Casablanca". This was a transitional period in his career when his image was being redefined from gangster to anti hero. This movie was released at the wrong time, it was seen either too late or too early. Had it been made & seen in the 1930's or had it been withheld & shown in the postwar years along side of "White Heat" it might've went over like gangbusters. But not in 1942 during World War II? We had much more pressing concerns & worries with the Japanese & the Germans. This movie is every bit as good as "High Sierra" if not better, the car chase scene down the slippery slope is exciting & well done. This film literally puts the pedal to the metal & never let's up once. The story moves at lightening speed & will blast you right out of your seat. The Big Shot marked the last time Humphrey Bogart would appear as a gangster, he would not play a gangster for another 13 years until he appeared in a television production revival of "The Petrified Forest" recreating his famous Duke Mantee character. Bogart returned to the movies bringing Duke Mantee with him as escaped convict Glenn Griffin in the William Wyler directed suspense thriller The Desperate Hours in 1955. The Big Shot is essential viewing for fans of old gangster movies & for Bogart fans as well, I like both. So get your tommy guns & tear gas out & enjoy this shoot em up farewell send off to an exciting genre!

In this crime drama from Warner Brothers and director Lewis Seiler, career criminal Duke Berne (Humphrey Bogart) is a paroled three-time loser, destined for a life sentence if he gets busted again. He tries to stay clean, but old compatriots coax him into helping out on an armored car robbery. Things go south, and he ends up behind bars, with nothing but escape offering any hope.

This is average material elevated a bit by Bogart's presence. The armored car robbery sequence is excitingly shot, as is the prison escape attempt, and a snowy car chase. The supporting cast is a bit weak, though Irene Manning and Susan Peters are both lovely to look at. This was a bittersweet film for me, as it was the last major Bogart film that I had not seen. Only A Devil with Women (1930) and Body and Soul (1931) remain unseen. I know it's a bit cliche, but Bogart is my favorite actor of the classic film era, so knowing that there are no more major films out there that I have not seen is a little bit sad. On a side note, I notice that this hadn't been shown on TCM until this year, after a 13 year absence from the channel, which is strange since it's a Bogart picture and a Warner Brothers release, with it only having been shown five total times since 1994. This could be due to the blackface performance that happens during the prison show sequence.

Humphrey Bogart, a master-actor of crime, did it again in this 1942 film. Ironically, it's when Bogie tries to go straight that things begin to go awry.

While we have all the familiar elements to a Warner's Gangster Film, this picture is done incredibly well. There are the small time crooks, the fancy lawyer who plots the jobs, two innocent young lovers caught up in this mess and a dame, Irene Manning, who gives a splendid performance.

Manning, the wife of the crooked lawyer, will not allow her lover, Bogart, to participate in a heist. That's when the action begins. Her husband discovers her indiscretion and makes sure that Bogart, who is blamed for being part of the robbery team, goes to prison on a life sentence as it is his third offense.

The lawyer causes more havoc until Bogie breaks out of jail and is finally able to deal with him.

With all his sinister gangster ways, Humphrey Bogart shows that he has a heart and will not let the "kid" take the rap and go to the chair as a result.