Possibly film historians and Bogie biographers regard The Big Shot as a step in the wrong direction following the actor's career-rejuvenating performance in High Sierra the year before. In The Big Shot Bogie plays his last gangster role (though not his last convicted felon), which perhaps some considered a throwback to the kind of mostly supporting parts in which Bogie had languished during his 1936-40 period. His character in The Big Shot is even named "Duke," an obvious reference to Bogie's first big success, as Duke Mantee in The Petrified Forest (1936).

Stylistically, however, The Big Shot emphatically reflects Warner's uniquely early ‘40s house style rather than the look of their 1934-1939 gangster melodramas. Indeed, one of the best things about The Big Shot is its sweep and crackling pace. It's a fast-moving, action-packed film, with several outstanding moments. And Bogie's role is also a lot closer to his shaded Roy Earle from High Sierra than his ruthless Duke Mantee.

Warner Archive's manufactured-on-demand DVD is pretty good, and includes a trailer featuring original narration by Bogart.

On his deathbed in a prison hospital ward, Duke Berne (Bogart) recalls the events leading up to his demise. (This is clumsy structuring. Not only does it inform and strongly hint at the fate of several characters, Duke's narration as his life flashes before his eyes seems rather unnecessary.)

A three-time loser, Duke knows another arrest will land him a lifetime prison term, so he decides to go straight. (Apparently the state has a four strikes law!) Jobless, broke, and living like a tramp with no prospects owing to his jailbird status, Duke is approached by known associates Frenchy (Joe Downing) and Sandor (Howard da Silva). They engage him for an armored car robbery bankrolled by wealthy lawyer Martin T. Fleming (Stanley Ridges).

Fleming, it turns out, is married to Duke's former girlfriend, Lorna (Irene Manning). Duke agrees to lead the daring robbery, but at the last minute Lorna talks him out of it. The robbery attempt proceeds without him: it's a complete disaster and Sandor is killed.

In an unlikely bit of irony, a witness briefly held hostage by a fleeing Frenchy misidentifies Duke as one of the would-be robbers. As Duke had spent the night with Lorna, he turns to Fleming for an airtight alibi while keeping mum about Lorna's infidelity. (This doesn't make a lot of sense, either. Duke would rather trust a crooked lawyer he barely knows than risk damaging his lover's reputation, a lover anxious to clear Duke's name?)

Fleming hires young car salesman George Anderson (Richard Travis), who needs money to marry his sweetheart, Ruth (Susan Peters), to file a false statement that he'd been test-driving a car with Duke at the time of the attempted robbery. However, when Frenchy spills the beans about Lorna and Duke, Fleming sabotages Duke's trial, helping to produce a witness for the prosecution, Ruth, who reveals George was with her up in the mountains the same time the caper ran aground.

Despite its predictability, unlikely coincidences, and awkward plot points, The Big Shot is nonetheless an exciting crime meller with many terrific moments. Early on, for instance, Frenchy mercilessly goads Duke, telling him that he's washed up, and for a long time Duke bides his time, taking Frenchy's absuse. However, when Frenchy drops a lit cigarette into Duke's glass of milk, Duke announces, "I want Frenchy's chair," pulls it out from under him and, in a flash, hurls the glass of milk back in Frenchy's face.

The armored car robbery attempt is unusually violent by 1942 standards, resembling more a pre-Code gangster film. Bullets fly and, at one point, Sandor rams his car headlong into two guards who have Frenchy pinned down. Later on, there's an ahead-of-its-time chase with Duke and Lorna in one car, pursued by a patrol car and two motorcycle cops. Recalling High Sierra's snow-capped locales, the chase follows them recklessly speeding down slick, icy mountain roads with several feet of snow on either side of them. The sedans and motorcycles perilously slide and crash into snow banks and one another in a very exciting sequence with far more stunt driving than was usual for a 1940s Hollywood film.

The movie also has a bit of a Pre-Code feel in that most of the police officers seen in the picture are either totally incompetent (when Duke, with an APB dragnet out for his arrest, shows up at a precinct to turn himself in, nobody pays any attention to him) or wildly unethical (they badger a witness, an elderly lady, into fingering the innocent Duke).

One of the reasons The Big Shot may be less known and until now less available on home video may have to do with political correctness. In the movie, Duke plots a prison escape with fellow convict "Dancer" Smith (Chick Chandler). Basically, their plan has Duke causing an electrical outage during Smith's blackface performance at a prison talent show. Not only does Smith "black-up," his dancing partner is a life-size gollywog, or black rag doll. Though clearly not deliberately racially insensitive, PC-sensitive Warner Bros. might have considered this small part of the movie reason enough to suppress it more than other Bogie titles.

Irene Manning and Stanley Ridges might not carry the weight of a Lauren Bacall or Claude Rains, but their performances are fine. Bogie, for his part, rises above the material, clearly giving a lot of thought to and embellishing the kind of role he might just as easily have walked through.

Video & Audio

The black-and-white film is presented in original 1.37:1 format, and considering its age looks reasonably good. The mono audio, English only with no subtitle or alternate audio options, is also fine, and the disc is region-free. The lone Extra Feature is an original trailer, which includes original narration by Bogart.

Parting Thoughts

Derivative and predictable but most entertaining, The Big Shot is packed with action and deserves to be better known. Highly Recommended.

Stuart Galbraith IV is the Kyoto-based film historian and publisher-editor of World Cinema Paradise. His credits include film history books, DVD and Blu-ray audio commentaries and special features.