Bigger Than Life

"The story of the handful of hope that became a fistful of hell!"

1956 1h 35m EN

👍

7.2

SOLID

🔥

91%

CERTIFIED FRESH

⭐

7.4

IMDB

★7.2TMDB · 188🍅91%Rotten Tomatoes★7.4IMDB · 8,357

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A friendly, successful suburban teacher and father grows dangerously addicted to cortisone, resulting in his transformation into a household despot.

“The story of the handful of hope that became a fistful of hell!”

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Cast

James Mason
Ed Avery
Barbara Rush
Lou Avery
Walter Matthau
Wally Gibbs
Robert F. Simon
Dr. Norton
Christopher Olsen
Richie Avery
Roland Winters
Dr. Ruric
Rusty Lane
Bob LaPorte
Rachel Stephens
Nurse

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Nicholas Ray
Writers: Cyril Hume, Richard Maibaum, Cyril Hume
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

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Nicholas Ray, shot by Joseph MacDonald. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by David Raksin. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

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

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

James Mason and Barbara Rush and Walter Matthau carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The story of the handful of hope that became a fistful of hell!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0049010 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Nicholas Ray directs. Joseph MacDonald behind the camera. David Raksin scores. Louis R. Loeffler 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 Nicholas Ray, shot by Joseph MacDonald. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by David Raksin. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Louis R. Loeffler shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5James Mason and Barbara Rush and Walter Matthau carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "The story of the handful of hope that became a fistful of hell!".
7IMDB entry: tt0049010 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Classified under 15 themes, including "husband wife relationship", "paranoia", "drug addiction", "hallucination".
9Released under 12 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Joseph MacDonald
Original score: David Raksin
Editing: Louis R. Loeffler
Costume design: Mary Wills
Makeup / hair: Ben Nye
Runtime: 95 min · 1h 35m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Bigger Than Life (1956)
Rotten Tomatoes: 91% 🍅 Fresh
IMDB rating: 7.4/10 · 8,357 votes
MPAA: Approved

Awards

2 nominations

Also by

Nicholas Ray

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Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Godaray2012-12-21
The movie deals with serious topics pertaining to life and drug abuse. Ed Avery (James Mason) has a serious condition which can only be controlled with cortisone, a still experimental drug leaving consequences in the human psyche. In the movie, Ed is describes as an intelligent, vibrant and happy man. He lives a mediocre, but happy life, he has financial problems just like any other man, and in the start of the movie we can see how much he loves his family, and would do anything for his wifes and sons safety. Then, he becomes addicted to cortisone, and almost everything changes, it leaves a scar which changes their quality of life. As any other addictive prescription drug, he becomes obsessed with having to take it. He even impersonates a doctor in order to get it, his son and wife are deeply affected by his actions, and his son, who has almost gone out of his mind looking at his father grow more and more depressed and vulnerable tries to steal his pills, Ed catches him in the act and leaves his child in the room so that he could contemplate about the level of his punishment, he is then affected with the Bible, exactly , the passage with Abraham and his son Isaac. He gets it into his head that, to make things right he needs to murdor his son, and than his wife and himself, of course, he is stopped in the act and the movie ends happily with him getting back to normal and his happy family life.

Production companies