The Big Night

Strong noir that Losey uses to explore the father/son relationship and social perceptions of masculinity with a nice twist. The ending is a bit messy, but otherwise it's very nicely done.

A young man suffers a crisis of masculinity related to his father. Filmed in noir style, but clearly with some kind of intention to explore class, race and intergenerational problems, where not only does everyone have to take a beating sometime, but one gets the impression that they almost prefer it that way. Speaking of Scorsese, the mirror scene anticipates TAXI DRIVER (1976), and the scene with Mauri Leighton (murdered in 1969) seems even more clearly to have influenced MEAN STREETS (1973).

Another great movie in the "our fathers are not the men we think they are or capable of being the men we need" series. Like all Losey dripping with social satire

A pretty solid and interesting exploration of masculinity and manhood. As a noir, it stands out for its protagonist being so young. It's not always a positive because John Barrymore is both great and terrible in this; his whining comes off as prepubescent at times, but there are moments where he does look like a child playing grown-up and it works wonders. The ending kinda screeches to a halt and everyone "acts" until the credits start, but the first 60 minutes are strong.

Someone is really banking on the Barrymore name throwing young and inexperienced newcomer John Drew Barrymore (son of John Sr. and father of Drew) in leading roles. Not really ready, and Quebec (1951) was close to a disaster, but in The Big Night (1951) he's awkward in all the right ways. This confused desperation, along with that uncontrollable youthful energy, captured the story of a son out for revenge for hos his dad's been treated. And he came out the fool I suppose he was supposed to be.

has a slimy philip marlowe energy, even tho protag is but a nip, the way it rolls around different parts of the city, picking up filth, tension.