Bigger Than Life (1956)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Nicholas Ray

Writers:

Cyril Hume (story) and
Richard Maibaum (story) ...

Release Date:

2 August 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The story of the handful of hope that became a fistful of hell!

Plot:

A seriously ill schoolteacher becomes dependent on a "miracle" drug that begins to affect his sanity.

Plot Keywords:

Schoolteacher | Cortisone | Abuse | Illness | Miracle Drug

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

James Mason	...	Ed Avery
Barbara Rush	...	Lou Avery
Walter Matthau	...	Wally Gibbs
Robert F. Simon	...	Dr. Norton (as Robert Simon)
Christopher Olsen	...	Richie Avery
Roland Winters	...	Dr. Ruric
Rusty Lane	...	Bob LaPorte
Rachel Stephens	...	Nurse
Kipp Hamilton	...	Pat Wade

Also Known As:

One in a Million (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

95 min | 91 min (FMC Library Print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (optical prints) (Westrex Recording System) | 4-Track Stereo (magnetic prints) (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:12 | West Germany:16 (f) | Finland:K-16

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Playwright Clifford Odets was invited on the set by the director Nicholas Ray, where he worked on re-writing the final scene of the film. Ed Avery (Jamese Mason), still delirious out of his coma, starting to talk about Abraham Lincoln was Odet's contribution.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: 37 minutes into the movie, Ed is at the bathroom sink and has just replaced the pill bottle in the medicine cabinet. As he closes the cabinet door, the director and the camera are reflected in the mirror.

Quotes:

Ed Avery: Childhood is a congenital disease - and the purpose of education is to cure it. We're breeding a race of moral midgets.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "At the Movies: Summer Special 2008/09" (2008)

Drugs And The Man

Nicholas Ray was one of the greatest directors to come out of Hollywood. His movies are always about something and that something has a cinematic flair that makes the experience thought provoking and thoroughly entertaining. Here is Cortisone the excuse for a slap in the face of a society that was getting more complacent and more spoiled with an avalanche of "new" things coming to overwhelm our daily lives. "We're dull, we're all dull" tells James Mason to his wife. Barbara Rush is superb as a Donna Reed type with a monster in the house. James Mason, a few years away from Lolita, also produced this rarely seen classic and gives a performance of daring highs. Highly recommended to movie lovers everywhere.