Journalism film series looks at the dark side of reporting ‘Ace in the Hole’ examines fake news, ethics, and sensationalism, at the Latchis Theater, Sunday, November 19, 2017 at 4 pm.
The history of journalism hasn’t always been honorable. It is littered with the stories of scoundrels willing to do anything for a story — anything at all.
Perhaps the best portrayal of an amoral, anything-for-a-scoop reporter is found in the filmic one-two punch that is Billy Wilder’s 1951 Ace in the Hole, starring Kirk Douglas.
The Journalism Film Festival will show this witty yet brutal film at the Latchis Theatre on Sunday, Nov. 19, at 4 p.m. Admission is free, and donations are welcome.
Ace in the Hole was the film Wilder made after his Oscar-winning Sunset Boulevard, and the first one he wrote as well as produced and directed. What he sets out to show is that not
every journalist is a hero. Some of them cross the line — and then some — to get a scoop.
Douglas plays Chuck Tatum, a down-on-his-luck big time reporter who has been reduced to writing for a sleepy little paper in Albuquerque, N.M. When he hears about a man trapped alive inside a cavern, he sees a story that could be his ticket back to the big city.
“There’s not a soft or sentimental passage [in Ace in the Hole]
