Bigger Than Life
1956, Drama, 1h 35m
32 Reviews 1,000+ RatingsYou might also like
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Movie Info
After schoolteacher Ed Avery (James Mason) faints and is hospitalized, doctors diagnose him with a fatal arterial illness and tell him he has a few months to live. Ed agrees to an experimental treatment with cortisone, and makes what appears to be a miraculous recovery. However, upon his return home, his wife, Lou (Barbara Rush), notices severe mood shifts in him. His friend and coworker Wally (Walter Matthau) also perceives the changes, and discovers that Ed has been abusing the cortisone.
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Genre: Drama
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Original Language: English
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Director: Nicholas Ray
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Producer: James Mason
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Writer: Cyril Hume, Richard Maibaum
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Release Date (Theaters): wide
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Release Date (Streaming):
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Runtime:
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Distributor: 20th Century Fox
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Sound Mix: Mono
Cast & Crew
Critic Reviews for Bigger Than Life
Audience Reviews for Bigger Than Life
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Bigger Than Life is far more than a tale of a man turned insane by drugs. Rather, Bigger Than Life is an amazing, often times disturbing critique of social class, conformity, and traditional roles in America. Bigger Than Life is an underrated masterpiece. It's a film that is not only powerful in the context of its release, but it is one that remains every bit as powerful today because its themes, sadly, still remain relevant. This is a movie that everyone should see.
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One of the earliest and powerful discussions on mental illness and how it impacts the typical 50s suburban family. James Mason is wonderful under Nicholas Ray's direction. Kudos as well to a supporting cast that does it's best to keep the family norms together as the patriarch slowly descends into madness.
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The film is a striking portrait of the rampant paranoia running through peoples mind in the 1950s, but James Mason's powerful performance as a man reaching breaking point and Barbara Rush as the put-upon wife can a strike a chord with audiences anytime today.
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An unnerving, fervently cinematic masterpiece from Nicholas Ray.
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