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Movies / Upcoming / Bigger Than Life
Bigger Than Life

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Bigger Than Life (1956)

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93 %
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Reviews Counted: 15

Fresh: 14

Rotten:1

Average Rating: 8.2/10

Rated: Not Rated

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Unable to pay the bills as a school teacher, Ed Avery (James Mason) has a double life as a taxi dispatcher. He hides this second job from his family, as well as a far graver secret: he's suffering... Unable to pay the bills as a school teacher, Ed Avery (James Mason) has a double life as a taxi dispatcher. He hides this second job from his family, as well as a far graver secret: he's suffering from a painful illness that may claim his life. In a last-ditch effort at survival, Ed begins a regimen of cortisone injections that turn him into a crazed drug addict, tearing his cookie-cutter world apart. Nicholas Ray (REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE) directs this trenchant drama about 1950s suburbia; James Mason has rarely been better--or more intense. [More]

Starring: James Mason, Barbara Rush, Christopher Olsen

Starring: James Mason, Barbara Rush, Christopher Olsen

Director: Nicholas Ray

Director: Nicholas Ray

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Bigger Than Life

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1 - 16 (sorted by date)
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A commercial flop at the time, Ray's 1956 film, made right after Rebel Without Cause, is nonethless one of his most poignant and visually compelling critiques of American suburban life, featuring James Mason in top form.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
03/17/09
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
12/31/08
Scott Foundas
Village Voice
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The suits wanted a torn-from-the-headlines melodrama; what they got was the director at his expressionistic best, subverting the suburban fantasy and leaving nothing but tattered gray flannel and scorched earth in his wake.

Full Review Source: Time Out New York | comment Comment
12/25/08
David Fear
Time Out New York

It was as much undervalued and misunderstood as the films Douglas Sirk was making at the time.

Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | comment Comment
10/23/07
Philip French
Observer [UK]

An extraordinarily rich study of mid-1950s malaise.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
10/23/07
TV Guide's Movie Guide

James Mason has picked a powerful subject for his first 20th-Fox production and delivers it with quite a bit of dramatic distinction in carrying out the supervisory duties and as the male lead.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
10/23/07
Variety Staff
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's hard to think of another Hollywood picture with more to say about the sheer awfulness of 'normal' American family life during the 50s.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
10/23/07
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Recognized by many as one of the better films ever made.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
05/20/07
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Jean-Luc Godard ranked this among the finest US films ever made. Recommendation enough.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
12/30/06
Patrick Peters
Empire Magazine

This is Rebel Without a Cause for the grown-up world.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Time Out

Those who remember the creeping terror and eeriness of Mr. Roueché's real-life yarn will be sorry to learn that there is little terror or eeriness in the film.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
06/24/06
Bosley Crowther
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A heady assault on the repression, complacency and frustration of 1950s America.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
06/24/06
Daniel Etherington
Channel 4 Film

The house perfectly reflects and strains against Mason's masterful performance as the good-natured man turned bad.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
06/24/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

This is an outstanding movie, remarkable for its seriousness and daring.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
06/24/06
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]

A superbly shot critique of the suffocating conformity, repression and materialism at the heart of middle-class life.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
06/24/06
Tom Dawson
BBC

A tragicomic epic that invites you to laugh uneasily.

Full Review Source: Goatdog's Movies | comment Comment
06/13/06
Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Goatdog's Movies
 
 
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