The Big Carnival
User Score
9.4 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 7 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7

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  1. GilbertMulroneycakesIn:"CurseOfTheRedIguana!&
    Oct 28, 2003
    10
    Billy Wilder knew how to end a film. Even if it had nothing else going for it, Ace In The Hole would be worth sitting through just for the immense closing scene and final image. It'll stay with you. But it's irrelevant anyway, because Ace In The Hole (or "The Big Carnival", to give it its real, and rather more stupid, title - Wilder renamed it posthmously a while later) is still a brilliant movie: alternating between funny and horrible until finally settling on the latter quite late in the day. You'll never get that song out of your head, but by the end of the film, you will want to. Not as good as Some Like It Hot or Double Indemnity, but that's like criticising "After Hours" because it isn't Marty's best film. Highly reccomended.… Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
72 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 6 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 6
  3. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Phil Hall
    40
    So ham-handed and relentlessly overbaked that it is easy to see why audiences initially stayed away from it. Just when and how did anyone come to see this as a classic?
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  2. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: A.O. Scott
    80
    Ace in the Hole is an acquired taste -- and an unforgettable one.
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  3. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Staff (Not credited)
    100
    A searing example of writer-director Billy Wilder at his most brilliantly misanthropic. An uncompromising portrait of human nature at its worst, the film was so far ahead of its time in its depiction of a media circus and the public's appetite for tragedy that it was a commercial disaster when first released, but now stands as one of the great American films of the 1950s.
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