The Great Man

"Everybody loved the Great Man except those who hated his guts!"

1956 1h 32m EN

😐

5.0

MID

★5.0TMDB · 8

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Joe Harris, preparing a eulogy for popular radio commentator Herb Fuller, finds that nobody has a good word to say about him.

“Everybody loved the Great Man except those who hated his guts!”

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Cast

José Ferrer
Joe Harris
Dean Jagger
Philip Carleton
Keenan Wynn
Sid Moore
Julie London
Carol Larson
Joanne Gilbert
Ginny
Ed Wynn
Paul Beaseley
Jim Backus
Nick Cellantano
Russ Morgan
Eddie Brand

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: José Ferrer
Writers: José Ferrer, Al Morgan
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

70 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Directed by José Ferrer, shot by Harold Lipstein. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Sherman Todd shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

CAST

Did you know

José Ferrer and Dean Jagger and Keenan Wynn carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Everybody loved the Great Man except those who hated his guts!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0049280 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

Only 8 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

José Ferrer directs. Harold Lipstein behind the camera. Sherman Todd cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

170 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Directed by José Ferrer, shot by Harold Lipstein. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Editor Sherman Todd shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
4José Ferrer and Dean Jagger and Keenan Wynn carry the top of the cast.
5Marketing tagline: "Everybody loved the Great Man except those who hated his guts!".
6IMDB entry: tt0049280 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
7Only 8 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Harold Lipstein
Editing: Sherman Todd
Costume design: Bill Thomas
Makeup / hair: Bud Westmore
Runtime: 92 min · 1h 32m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: The Great Man (1956)

Also by

José Ferrer

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-01-07
★ 7/10
When national treasure "Fuller" dies, it falls to his erstwhile radio colleague "Joe"(José Ferrer) to put together the traditionally adulatory obituary programme, and so he routinely sets about gathering information and comments from the man's contemporaries. Quite quickly, though, he begins to discover that maybe this man wasn't as pure as the driven snow after all. Indeed, though people don't wish to speak ill of the dead to a microphone, there are soon no shortage of detractors assessing his character and posing quite a quandary for "Joe". Meantime, there's some internal politicking going at the station as his boss (Dean Jagger) sort of promises him the man's shoes if he delivers a positive, glowing, hour of tribute so "Joe" has to choose. Does he go with the flow or does he expose the man? Ferrer delivers competently enough here and the story is one that resonates quite potently across a society that never really feels comfortable being unkind to the dead - however fake their façade they'd presented. It all comes to an head using a conversation between "Joe" and "Beaseley" (Ed Wynn) who delivers us the best, most insightful, ten minutes of the film and poses some interesting questions about where we might draw our own lines. When it comes to the broadcast, what will "Joe" do?

Production companies