Review by The_Blacksheep

Ace in the Hole is one of the most underrated films directed by Billy Wilder. For its time, it has an extremely dark theme and today it could almost be classified as a black comedy. And although Billy Wilder has tackled dark subject matters before (Sunset Blvd.), he is definitely best known for his comedies/collaborations with Jack Lemmon (Some Like It Hot & The Apartment). Ace in the Hole was also not particularly appreciated by its contemporary critics who called it both cynical and merciless. It was also a boxoffice flop and the film failed to attract enough people to even recoup its budget.

The film follows Chuck Tatum (Kirk Douglas), a former great journalist who feverishly fights to find a scoop. When he hears that a man is stuck in a cave, he does everything in his power to prolong the rescue and to get exclusive rights to all interviews with the victim. He does this to get a boost in his stagnant career. The story proves very engaging to the public and the area around the cave becomes the home of a carnival that many curious people visit. However, the story takes a dark turn when the man in the cave becomes seriously ill.

Kirk Douglas is very good in the role of the hungry/unscrupulous journalist and the film feels very relevant even today. It has a lot to say about human greed and that we may not have come that far from the time when public executions were an event. About clickbait articles and that the drive for profit before journalistic press ethics. Ace in the Hole was clearly ahead of its time and if you can handle the difficult subject matter, it's a world-class film that absolutely shouldn't be missed by anyone.