Shattering Drama
There's more going on here than just a father/husband abusing a prescription drug.What drove him--a full-time schoolteacher--to secretly moonlight as a cab dispatcher?What motivated his quest to clothe his wife beyond their means or drive his young son to the breaking point to shine in football and math? For that matter, what urged his over indulgence in Cortisone in the first place?
Could it be a deep-seated depression in trying to measure up in mid-50s suburbia, to keep up with the Joneses and gain acceptance with the in-crowd through posturing assuperior--all the while wrestling in elitist middle class values?
Nicholas Ray's "Bigger Than Life" is a scathing expose of the underbelly of this period and lifestyle.Things certainly weren't as cozy as previously painted, and the insatiable drive toward peer acceptance may be the underlying cause of the hero's problems.
James Mason offers a powerful portrait of a very pathetic suburban victim; Barbara Rush is his dutiful wife, and Christoper Olsen his sympathetic son.
score 9/10
harry-76 16 August 2004
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0057264/35005
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