Ace in the Hole (1951)

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Approved
1h 51min
Drama, Film-Noir
04 Jul 1951 (USA)
Movie

8.1 (39,128)

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A frustrated former big-city journalist now stuck working for an Albuquerque newspaper exploits a story about a man trapped in a cave to rekindle his career, but the situation quickly escalates into an out-of-control circus.

Director:

Billy Wilder

Writers:

Stars:

Awards:

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 4 wins & 2 nominations.
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Reviews:

Photos and Videos

Still of Kirk Douglas (I) in Ace in the Hole (1951)

Still of Robert Arthur (I) in Ace in the Hole (1951)

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189 photos | 1 video

Cast verified as complete

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	Kirk Douglas	...	Chuck Tatum
	Jan Sterling	...	Lorraine Minosa
	Robert Arthur	...	Herbie Cook (as Bob Arthur)
	Porter Hall	...	Jacob Q. Boot
	Frank Cady	...	Al Federber
	Richard Benedict	...	Leo Minosa
	Ray Teal	...	Sheriff Gus Kretzer
	Lewis Martin	...	McCardle
	John Berkes	...	Papa Minosa
	Frances Dominguez	...	Mama Minosa
	Gene Evans	...	Deputy Sheriff
	Frank Jaquet	...	Sam Smollett
	Harry Harvey	...	Dr. Hilton
	Bob Bumpas	...	Radio Announcer
	Geraldine Hall	...	Nellie Federber
	Richard Gaines	...	Nagel
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
	Roy Regnier	...	Nagel - New York Editor (replaced by Richard Gaines) (scenesDeleted)
	Oscar Belinda	...	Barker (uncredited)
	Martin Bendleton	...	Barker (uncredited)
	Timothy Carey	...	Construction Worker (uncredited) (unconfirmed)
	Basil Chester	...	Indian (uncredited)
	Ken Christy	...	Jessop (uncredited)
	Stewart Kirk Clawson	...	Federber Boy (uncredited)
	Iron Eyes Cody	...	Indian Copy Boy (uncredited)
	Francisco Day	...	Photographer (uncredited)
	Lester Dorr	...	Father Diego (uncredited)
	Claire Du Brey	...	Spinster (uncredited)
	Edith Evanson	...	Miss Deverich (uncredited)
	William Fawcett	...	Sad-Faced Man (uncredited)
	John Stuart Fulton	...	Boy (uncredited)
	Joe Gray	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
	Charles Griffin	...	Mr. Wendel (uncredited)
	Larry Hogan	...	Television Announcer (uncredited)
	Frank Keith	...	Fireman (uncredited)
	Bob Kortman	...	Digger (uncredited)
	Martha Maryman	...	Woman (uncredited)
	Stanley McKay	...	Reporter (uncredited)
	Joe J. Merrill	...	Digger (uncredited)
	Paul D. Merrill	...	Federber Boy (uncredited)
	Lee Miller	...	Mover (uncredited)
	Ralph Moody	...	Kusac - Miner (uncredited)
	Bert Moorhouse	...	Josh Morgan (uncredited)
	William H. O'Brien	...	Customer at Minosa's (uncredited)
	Frank Andrew Parker	...	Reporter (uncredited)
	Martin Pendleton	...	Barker (uncredited)
	William N. Peters	...	Photographer (uncredited)
	Bill Ramsey	...	Vocalist (uncredited)
	Jack Roberts	...	Newspaperman (uncredited)
	Bill Sheehan	...	Man (uncredited)
	Bert Stevens	...	Reporter (uncredited)
	John 'Bub' Sweeney	...	Reporter (uncredited)
	Rythem Wranglers	...	Band (uncredited)

Directed by

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Billy Wilder

Written by

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Billy Wilder	...	(written by) &
Lesser Samuels	...	(written by) &
Walter Newman	...	(written by)

Victor Desny	...	(story) (uncredited)

Produced by

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William Schorr	...	associate producer
Billy Wilder	...	producer

A. Earl Hedrick	...	(as Earl Hedrick)
Hal Pereira

Set Decoration by

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Sam Comer
Ray Moyer

Costume Design by

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Edith Head

Makeup Department

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Wally Westmore	...	makeup supervisor
Hal Lierley	...	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management

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Richard Blaydon	...	assistant production manager (uncredited)
Hugh Brown	...	production manager (uncredited)
Don Robb	...	assistant unit production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director

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Charles C. Coleman	...	assistant director (as C.C. Coleman)
Francisco Day	...	assistant director (uncredited)
Al Mann	...	assistant director (uncredited)
Jason Rosenberger	...	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department

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Maurice Goodman	...	set dresser (uncredited)
Cline Jones	...	prop maker (uncredited)
Martin Pendleton	...	set dresser (uncredited)
Tom Plews	...	props (uncredited)
Will Williams	...	movie poster artist (uncredited)
Harold Worthington	...	props (uncredited)

Sound Department

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Gene Garvin	...	sound recordist
Harold Lewis	...	sound recordist
Bob Carr	...	sound (uncredited)
A.D. Cook	...	cableman (uncredited)
John Cope	...	sound (uncredited)

Visual Effects by

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Farciot Edouart	...	process photography
Irmin Roberts	...	transparency camera (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department

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Guy Bennett	...	camera operator (uncredited)
Frank Carroll	...	grip (uncredited)
William Collins	...	grip (uncredited)
Don English	...	still photographer (uncredited)
Cliff Hartley	...	grip (uncredited)
Al Lipsey	...	grip (uncredited)
Kenneth Meade	...	assistant camera (uncredited)
Jess Miller	...	electrician (uncredited)
William Rand	...	camera operator (uncredited)
Dominic Seminerio	...	grip (uncredited)
George Sherman	...	grip (uncredited)

Casting Department

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William Poole

...

location casting (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department

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Ed Fitzharris	...	wardrobe (uncredited)
Hazel Hegarty	...	wardrobe (uncredited)

Music Department

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Sidney Cutner	...	orchestrator (uncredited)
George Parrish	...	orchestrator (uncredited)
Leo Shuken	...	orchestrator (uncredited)
Van Cleave	...	orchestrator (uncredited)

Script and Continuity Department

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Lupe Hall

...

script supervisor (uncredited)

Additional Crew

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Francis J. Abdo	...	medical technical advisor (uncredited)
Henry Giles	...	technical advisor: teletype (uncredited)
Harry F. Hogan	...	dialogue director (uncredited)
Sally Hunt	...	technical advisor: teletype (uncredited)
Irene Martin	...	stand-in (uncredited)
Kenny Miner	...	auditor (uncredited)

Crew verified as complete

Production Companies

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Paramount Pictures

Distributors

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Paramount Pictures (1951) (United States) (theatrical)
Paramount Film Service (1951) (Canada) (theatrical)
Paramount British Pictures (1951) (United Kingdom) (theatrical)
Paramount Film Service (1951) (Australia) (theatrical)
Film AB Paramount (1951) (Sweden) (theatrical)
Paramount-Films (1951) (Finland) (theatrical)
Filmaktieselskapet Paramount (1951) (Norway) (theatrical)
Paramount Films of Argentina (1952) (Argentina) (theatrical)
Lii-Filmi (1965) (Finland) (theatrical)
Paramount Italiana (1952) (Italy) (theatrical)
Espectáculos Rivus (1970) (Portugal) (theatrical) (re-release)
Yleisradio (YLE) (1973) (Finland) (tv)
Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (1985) (Finland) (tv)
TV3 (1988) (Finland) (tv)
Paramount Home Entertainment (2006) (United States) (DVD)
The Criterion Collection (2007) (United States) (DVD)
Paramount Home Entertainment (2008) (Finland) (DVD)
Terminal Video (2013) (Italy) (DVD)
Eureka Entertainment (2014) (United Kingdom) (Blu-ray) (DVD)
The Criterion Collection (2014) (United States) (DVD)
Cargo Records (2018) (Germany) (DVD)
Endless Classics (2018) (Germany) (DVD) (label)
375 Media (2019) (Germany) (DVD)
The Criterion Channel (2019) (United States) (tv) (digital)
HBO Max (2020) (United States) (video) (VOD)
9Gem (2020) (Australia) (tv)
Danaos (2021) (Greece) (theatrical) (re-release)
Paramount Channel (2023) (France) (tv)

Special Effects

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Other Companies

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Western Electric (sound recording)

Storyline

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Plot Summary	Charles Tatum, a down-on-his-luck reporter, takes a job with a small New Mexico newspaper. The job is pretty boring until he finds a man trapped in an old Indian dwelling. He jumps at the chance to make a name for himself by taking over and prolonging the rescue effort, and feeding stories to major newspapers. He creates a national media sensation and milks it for all it is worth - until things go terribly wrong. Written by John Oswalt Plot Summary Plot Synopsis
Plot Keywords	burial-ground navajo-indian zuni-indian national-film-registry territory See All (234) »
Taglines	Rough, tough Chuck Tatum, who battered his way to the top ... trampling everything in his path - men, women and morals ! See more »
Genres	Drama Film-Noir
Parents Guide	View content advisory »
Certification	Argentina:16 Brazil:12 Finland:K-16 France:Tous publics Greece:K-12 Iceland:L Italy:T Netherlands:12 Netherlands:12 Norway:16 Spain:A (ICAA) Sweden:15 United Kingdom:A United States:Approved United States:TV-14 (TV rating) West Germany:16

Additional Details

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Also Known As	The Big Carnival (United States) The Human Interest Story (United States) The Big Carnival (South Africa, English title) Le gouffre aux chimères (France) Reporter des Satans (Germany) See more »
Runtime	111 min
Country	United States
Language	English Spanish Latin
Color	Black and White
Aspect Ratio	1.37 : 1 See more »
Sound Mix	Mono (Western Electric Recording)
Filming Locations	Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico, USA See more »

Box Office

Budget

$1,800,000 (estimated)

Did You Know?

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Trivia	After the film was released, it got bad reviews and lost money. The studio, without Billy Wilder's permission, changed the title to "The Big Carnival" to increase the box office take of the film. It didn't work. On top of that, Wilder's next picture, "Stalag 17 (1953)," was a hit and he expected a share of the picture's profits. Paramount's accountants told him that since this picture lost money, the money it lost would be subtracted from the profits of "Stalag 17". See more »
Goofs	Rattlesnakes will not eat bubble gum, in or out of the wrapper. See more »
Movie Connections	Featured in AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Billy Wilder (1986). See more »
Soundtracks	The Hut-Sut Song See more »
Quotes	Charles Tatum: Bad news sells best. Cause good news is no news. See more »

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