Ace in the Hole

Dir. Billy Wilder. 1951, 111 mins. 35mm from Park Circus. With Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling, Bob Arthur, Porter Hall. Made one year after Sunset Boulevard, Wilder’s acid satire of the American media is a joltingly grim drama about a former big-city newspaper reporter named Chuck Tatum (a ferocious Douglas) who wields his lack of ethics with cynical glee. Stuck in dead-end Albuquerque, Tatum discovers a terrible incident he can exploit: a local shopkeeper is trapped in a mine. However, Tatum soon finds out that if he prolongs the man’s ordeal, the juicier and more sellable the story gets. This jaundiced amoral tale (originally released as The Big Carnival) has proven influential to generations of filmmakers, including Spike Lee, and inspired Anderson and production designer Adam Stockhausen in their conceptions for Asteroid City, another film set in a small, dusty town that becomes an overnight news sensation. 

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / discounted for MoMI members ($7–$11). Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission. Review safety protocols before your visit.