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| Ace in the Hole (1951) |
| Plot Synopsis (continued)
Tatum entered the crowded trading post and pushed his way through the hordes of people (who were yelling unanswered questions at him) to enter the back bedroom where he had set up his temporary office. The room was in unkempt condition with clothes strewn about. He removed his jacket - revealing his shiny deputy badge. He reached for one of the bottles of whiskey to pour himself a stiff drink (a sign of his own uneasiness) - when he stopped, turned and noticed a surprise visit from his boss Boot, standing in the far corner of the room: "Go ahead. I guess you need a drink." Tatum was undoubtedly worried about whether the slowly-deteriorating Leo would survive the next few days - long enough for a successful rescue. The very principled Boot had come to both praise and chastise Tatum for his unethical and crooked operation to monopolize the news - he also knew that Tatum was in cahoots with the local and corrupt Sheriff, and threatened to expose their scheme:
Tatum was actually relieved that Boot didn't appear to know the whole truth about his maneuverings. They were interrupted by the first of three phone calls from big-city editors - Tatum agreed to an interview with a Chicago news outlet - but in half an hour. He then announced to a regretful Boot that he had already sent a wire about quitting his job because he wasn't the right fit for an office with the motto "TELL THE TRUTH":
A second phone call came in from Philadelphia that Tatum also postponed, as Herbie burst into the room excitedly: "I had that medicine man stage a whole ceremonial." As the voice of reason, Boot urged Herbie to pack up and return to Albuquerque with him to avoid Tatum's corrupting influence - hinting that the young impressionable apprentice wasn't up to playing in the "big leagues" with his acquired role model - Tatum. According to Tatum, however, Herbie was "old enough to make up his own mind" - since the young apprentice wanted to "stick with" him. A third call came from New York - the most important one that Tatum was waiting and hoping for: ("Sure, I'm ready to talk to New York. Put them on"). Before taking the call, Tatum reinforced Herbie's decision to remain with him:
Merchandizing the Disaster For Tatum's Personal Gain: Tatum responded to the call from the New York Daily from his former editor-in-chief boss Mr. Nagel (Richard Gaines) who had once fired him. Nagel was angling to get his hands on the Minosa story - with exclusive rights: "What about that Minosa story?...Come on, Tatum! How much for the Minosa story? Exclusive!" Tatum bargained for more - as he took another swig of whiskey:
Nagel succumbed to Tatum's pressure and offered a grand a day: "So you think you've got me over a barrel? All right, maybe you have! Give you $1,000 a day. As long as it lasts." But Tatum then divulged her real intent - he also wanted his former job back:
Nagel agreed to send a contract by wire, after which Tatum confirmed his end of the deal: "You'll get the first story in an hour. Oh, one more thing. See that there's some flowers on my desk with a little ribbon. 'Welcome Home.'" After removing his suspenders and tossing them aside, throwing caution to the wind, Tatum gloated to himself (and to Herbie) with a baseball metaphor: "We're rounding third." The starstruck Herbie was supportive: "I'm right behind you, Chuck." At the end of the sequence as they were congratulating each other (with Tatum's small neck grab of young Herbie) on their personal gains and plans to go East together, Mama Minosa quietly entered the room with two new votive candles, to replace the burned out ones on the ledge below the Madonna statue on the wall. She lit the candles - as the scene faded to black - a harsh reminder that Tatum's unscrupulous bargaining held a man's life in the balance. The Frenzied, Commercialized Disaster Site - The Film's Best Set-Piece: The area around the trading post was now swarming with more people and cars, surging toward the entrance gate where admission was now $1 dollar/car. On site, a five-piece, western-costumed country group Bill Ramsey and the Rythem Wranglers were on a stage platform singing the folksy, cheerful song: "We're Coming, Leo" - it referred to the exploited Leo's imprisonment, and the 'gropin' of Tatum and Lorraine above-ground - with both implicit and explicit meanings (and sexual innuendo). Sheet music of the song was being sold for $.25 cents a copy by a young female in a black cowgirl outfit:
The Federbers were eager and insatiable consumers and recipients of the sheet music - exemplifying the archetypal, parasitic American middle-class family of 'vultures' that were circling the mass media event. The father's profession (the insurance business) was very apt, since insurance companies have been known to feed off the misfortunes or accidents of others. Afterwards as a crane shot moved above the crowd, the family made their way to the midway of the carnival, arranged for and hired by Lorraine. S&M provided giant tents, concession stands selling food (chicken and hamburgers), a rotating Ferris Wheel, and a prominent sign that read:
The Sheriff was delivering a self-serving speech to onlookers in the crowd that was being broadcast by Albuquerque's KOB-TV (with a camera set atop a bus) over loudspeakers - he thanked everyone for their support:
The Federber family's ferris wheel chair-carriage rotated around - the two happy children were still wearing their Indian headdresses and each had a balloon on a stick. In the background atop the mountain where Smollett and his sweaty, hard-working crew were drilling, Papa Minosa delivered bottles of soda pop and sandwiches. As he looked out below, he became overwhelmed and bewildered by the sight of the crass commercialization extending as far as the eye could see. In the far distance, a steam locomotive spewing smoke pulled into view - labeled with banners: LEO MINOSA SPECIAL. The train (even before coming to a complete stop) disengorged passengers who raced moronically toward the tragic spectacle at the cliff-dwelling, drawn to the site of the sensational calamity and imperceptibly ignoring Native Americans in authentic Indian finery. Corraling In Lorraine - With a Kiss: In Tatum's back bedroom, a large tele-typewriter machine had been installed to both receive and send exclusive news bulletins to Mr. Nagel in New York. He reached into a bowl for some ice for his half-consumed glass of whiskey, but it was empty. He rose and entered the outer trading post lunch-room to inquire for ice, but was ignored by busy waitresses tending to the near-capacity crowd. He noticed Lorraine huddled at a booth with his newspaper rivals: McCardle, Jessop, and Morgan, and nodded for her to join him. It was becoming clear to him that she was his own monomaniacal self's mirror-image - reflecting his own cold callousness, selfishness, shamelessness and venality by always angling for the best set-up for herself - she was even making plans on joining him in New York! In his makeshift bedroom-office, he cautioned Lorraine to be wary of his long-time opponents who he considered "sharpies":
In a startling close-up, Tatum's fist grabbed the back of Lorraine's bleached hair as he drew her close to him - their only kiss in the film was obscured by the violent thrust of his controlling hand. The scene faded to black. The 5th Night of Drilling at the Rescue Site - Leo Nearing Death: Bob Bumpas from radio station KOAT in Albuquerque was continuing to broadcast from on-site in Escudero - it was the fifth night of the drilling efforts (Sunday through Thursday night) atop the cliff dwelling, and the lights of the carnival sparkled in the darkness:
However, Leo's health was rapidly deteriorating - he was having respiratory difficulties with shallow breath and a worsening cough, and stubble growth covered his face. The incessant pounding of the drilling operation was ever-present, as the doctor (with Tatum at his side near the aperture) encouraged Leo to breathe. He was ready to give up - and begged for a priest: "Get me Father Diego....Chuck, don't, don't let me die without the priest." Tatum encouraged Leo to hang on just a little longer: "You don't need a priest. You're not going to die," but the entombed man was resigned to his fate for his sacrilegious act of stealing the ancient spirits' artifacts: "They'll never let me go. They're gettin' even with me for robbin' their tomb." After listening to his lungs with an extended stethoscope, the doctor diagnosed (secretly to Tatum) that Leo was suffering from pneumonia and would be dead in about 12 hours if not rescued by then: "You can't lie down here five days and five nights in the same position....We can get him some oxygen and help him breathe....Unless we get him in a hospital tomorrow morning, he'll be dead." Leo sensed that he had only a few short hours left to live, and told Tatum to curtail the rescue effort: "Tell them to stop the drill. It's no use. They'll never make it." Tatum didn't want Leo to surrender: "Get those ideas outta your head. You're talking crazy. You'll be out of here by tomorrow morning." But Leo believed it was futile: "No, I won't. They'll never reach me by tomorrow morning. I figured it out myself." When Tatum zealously assured him he would be rescued in 12 hours, Leo was still blindly trusting in him:
Desperation in the Final Hours of the Rescue Operation - Thursday Evening: Sweaty and dirty, Tatum returned to his bedroom headquarters later that night where Sheriff Kretzer was again amusing himself by feeding chewing gum (with the silver wrapper on it) to his pet baby rattlesnake in a cardboard box. He was inattentive to Kretzer's self-important musings about how to personally benefit at the moment of Minosa's liberation the following evening - with a speech: "I think we ought to get together about tomorrow night. The kid will be out, so let's make a big thing of it. Now, the moment they bring him up, I wanna shake hands with him. But I gotta be the first one. Then I wanna make a speech from the top of the hill. I want you to write it for me. Something nice and simple." Feeling remorseful about the turn of events, Tatum sent out an exclusive press-release on the teletypewriter machine to Nagel about a "new development":
Scrambling to resuscitate his plan for personal glory, Tatum was desperate to save the dying Leo as soon as possible - his idea was that the rescuers could reinstitute the original plan of rescuing the trapped Leo by shoring up the cave supports, in order to release him in just 12 hours: "We'll have Leo out by tomorrow morning. We're going the other way....The way we could have gone in the first place, the easy way." As he washed his face in a bowl at the wash stand, Tatum confessed his change of plans to save his own reputation and possibly avoid criminal prosecution:
The Sheriff realized a quick and drastic remediation effort of the sort would resurrect suspicions and far too many questions, but Tatum insisted on saving Leo's life (and his own neck to avoid recrimination for master-minding a fatal disaster):
Smollett had been summoned by Tatum, but the Sheriff stubbornly argued that he was still the commanding officer and wouldn't be bullied by Tatum ordering him around. After a brief fistfight, the Sheriff found himself sprawled on the ground where he was ordered to follow Tatum's new strategy: "Tell him to go in through the cliff dwelling, shore it up and get him out fast." During the fight, Smollett had entered the room and overheard Tatum's most recent demands. He divulged an unfortunate fact - after committing to the top-of-the-mountain drilling plan, it would now be impossible to switch back to the initial plan. The vibrations from the drilling had made the cave too unstable:
It was a stunning revelation - and Smollett didn't want to take the blame for following orders - under pressure: "Don't look at me like that. I never wanted to use the drill in the first place. I never wanted to go in on this at all. You know that." It was clearly apparent that Leo would not survive in time for the rescue. The pounding of the teletype machine spit out a response from Nagel to Tatum's most recent transmission - but the machine was unattended. The Final Day - Friday Morning: After a short dissolve, it was now morning-time, as sunlight streamed through the bedroom window behind the teletype machine. Herbie was on the phone speaking with Mr. Nagel in New York, unaware of Tatum's whereabouts and trying to make excuses for not responding to Nagel. All night, Tatum had been at Leo's side struggling to keep him alive, with an oxygen tank and attached mouthpiece-breathing apparatus. As Leo gasped for air, Tatum yelled at him: "Leo, you have to breathe that oxygen!" The exhausted and feverish, ready-to-give-up Leo challenged the drillers above - and the heavens to take him: "Come on, up there. Make all the noise you want. Hurry up. I'm all set." Leo recalled that it was his 5th year-marriage anniversary to Lorraine: "I hope she hasn't found the present. I want to give it to her myself. I hid it in a good place. In the cupboard of our room, in my old barracks bag. She'll never find it there. I want her to wear it. She'll look like a million." He was imagining freeing his legs and walking down the hill to his home, to climb up the stairs and personally give Lorraine his gift. His last words were: "Up the stairs. Up the stairs. Up the stairs. Up the stairs." The Five-Year Anniversary Gift: After a dissolve and clever sound transition, Tatum climbed 'up the stairs' to Lorraine's upstairs apartment in the trading post. To surprise Tatum, she was in front of her washstand and mirror, clipping her bangs after dying her hair a light brown color to please him after recent criticisms: "I'm changin' my type. Goin' light brown again. That's the color it was before I started foolin' around with it." He proceeded over to the cupboard to retrieve Leo's hidden anniversary present stuffed in a duffel bag. He handed Lorraine the gift-wrapped box with ribbons - emphasizing her marital status as "MRS":
She snidely rejected the gift of a stringy, cheap mink stole wrap, and tossed it onto the floor: "Honey, you wouldn't want me to wear a thing like this...I got enough money to buy me a real fur, a silver fox...I hate it, Chuck...It's like him touching me," but Tatum picked up the wrap, slung it around her neck, and insisted that she wear it as he pulled it tighter and began to strangle her: "He wants you to wear it...Don't take it off!" Tatum reminded Lorraine that Leo still loved and cared for her:
She struggled to free herself and complained that she couldn't breathe, when he tightened his grip on her even more: "He can't breathe, either." Suddenly in self-defense, in the film's most shocking moment, she stabbed him in the lower right side of his gut with the pair of scissors in her hand.
Tatum released his grip on her as she stood up to confront him. His last words to her before he left were: "Now keep it on." Last Rites and the Aftermath: As Tatum descended the stairs, he held his jacket - while applying pressure - over his wounded and aching right side. With a siren blaring, he sped away in the Deputy Sheriff's car to the local adobe, white-stucco church in Escudero where he parked and went inside to summon Father Diego (Lester Dorr). Curious, presumably poor young neighborhood boys loitering outside gathered around the vehicle in Tatum's absence. They fled when the siren accidentally activated and Tatum appeared with the priest. The two returned to the crowded cliff-dwelling mesa area and immediately entered the narrow, twisting, and dark passageway to reach the dying Leo. On the way, Tatum stuffed a handkerchief under his waistband as a makeshift wound bandage. The pounding drill incessantly reverberated through the cave, sending showers of dirt and rocks from the disintegrating walls in a minor rock-slide. When the two came upon a delirious Leo who was faintly singing his favorite military tune - "The Hut-Sut Song," and seemed barely alive. He inquired about Lorraine's present ("How does she like it? Does she look pretty in it?"), and Tatum assured him that she was wearing it. After six days of being unnecessarily trapped in the cave-in, the pneumonia-stricken Leo was prepared to die and told them: "I'm ready." Last rites were administered by Father Diego, to absolve Leo of his sin as he confessed: "Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. I'm sorry." The priest extended a stick with a wad of cotton (dipped in holy oil) on the end of it, to reach out to Leo's forehead, to anoint him, and to make the sign of the cross. He also intoned a blessing in Latin. At the same moment, with the camera squarely placed on Tatum's face, the mortally-wounded reporter was also utterly remorseful and "sorry" - and seeking absolution for his own sins. Outside the cave, a devastated Tatum heard Smollett on top of the mountain yelling orders to his crew: "What's holding up those oil drums? Send them up!" With great strain, Tatum jumped onto an open cage (holding the oil drums) being hoisted upward - and when deposited on top of the cliff, he ordered Smollett to immediately stop the drilling. He then turned to speak to the crowds (with the assist of a PA system). He ordered that the rides and carnival music cease, and after announcing Leo's death, he told the crowds to go home:
There were varied reactions to Tatum's grim announcement:
Inside the trading post (mostly cleared out), the contemptuous trio of rival big-city newspapermen - McCardle, Jessop, and Morgan - were waiting for Tatum's arrival - they were ready to turn the tables on him. Mama Minosa was crying. In the downstairs trading post bedroom, Herbie informed Tatum that the enraged Nagel in New York had ordered the removal of the teletypewriter. Herbie was astounded that Tatum had neglected to send exclusive copy to Nagel about Minosa's death. In the meantime, the story had been leaked to all the other papers, and Nagel had fired Tatum: "Where were you? What's the idea of not protecting your own paper? You had it all for yourself. You had it first. He told me to tell you you're fired." As the numbed and drained Tatum laid on the bed in pain and took a drink of whiskey, the gloating newspapermen mocked his failure: "Had everything sewed up, didn't you, Tatum? Everything but the payoff. What slipped up?...Booze yourself out of another job, fan? The great Tatum....Where do you go from here, Tatum? Maybe the kid can get you a job on a high school paper." They mercilessly tormented and ridiculed Tatum - and told him how the unscrupulous Sheriff was still planning a celebratory funeral for Minosa:
Tatum pushed the men out and slammed the door behind them before speaking to Nagel. Transmogrified, he valiantly attempted to confess his failure and his personal complicity in Minosa's orchestrated death (or 'murder') - he now stressed that there was a 'real story' (or another 'ace in the hole') behind the story:
Nagel was exasperated with Tatum and disbelieving of his new angle on the story:
Tatum attempted to convince Nagel of his truthfulness, and suggested a new sensational "Tatum special" headline to publish:
But ironically, Nagel refused to understand and listen to Tatum's revised explanation after being hood-winked so many times by him. Nagel abruptly hung up - missing the real scoop. Now with Tatum's strength and power entirely drained, he was uncertain about everything and asked Herbie (whose face was darkened with Tatum's dark shadow): "You believe me, don't you?" Herbie was the only person left to "believe" in Tatum, and responded: "Yes, I do, Chuck." As they left the bedroom, Tatum stated that contrary to his promise to re-elect the Sheriff, his main intention was to ruin the Sheriff's political ambitions - if he was able to deliver and reveal his version of the truth in time:
The two were about to drive away from the deserted and desolate trading post in their PRESS vehicle. They glanced over at the forlorn and tragic figure of Papa Minosa, who was slowly moving across the flat and dusty mesa, now completely devoid of people. He looked up at the "PROCEEDS GO TO LEO MINOSA RESCUE FUND" sign after everyone's departure - with litter blowing by him in the wind. The Conclusion - Back in the Sun-Bulletin Office: After a subdued but speedy trip back to Albuquerque, arriving at around 10:30 pm, Herbie assisted Tatum into the bustling office of the Sun-Bulletin. Tatum's former employees were feverishly getting ready to go to press and paid little attention. During their dramatic entrance, Tatum purposefully pushed Herbie toward his desk area: "Sit down. That's your desk. Now go to work." He turned to face everyone and asked: "What's the matter with everybody? Haven't you ever seen me before? Go on! It's getting late! Your paper starts printing in an hour." Weakened and in pain, he then stumbled toward and approached his former boss' open office door and called out his name: "Mr. Boot! Boot! Mr. Boot! Where's Boot?" but the office was empty. The bleeding and defeated journalist Tatum heard Boot call his name from the press-room. Tatum turned toward Boot and with the last bit of his strength that he could muster, he walked toward Boot with another cut-rate, sacrificial proposition - similar to the one he offered Boot at the start of the film:
The final low-angled shot was a close-up of Tatum's face on the floor. He had collapsed after falling forward toward Boot's feet - he was frozen and staring straight at the condemned audience, complicit in his dirty dealings.
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A Surprise Visit From Mr. Boot: