I had a brief happy moment (about ten seconds) yesterday afternoon when I was looking at a list of upcoming DVD releases and saw Ace in the Hole. Turned out it was not the Ace in the Hole made in 1951 by Billy Wilder. It was a new documentary of the same name about Saddam Hussein.
Someone ought to put out the Wilder film, which starred Kirk Douglas and Jan Sterling, and was also released under the title, The Big Carnival. It was a cynical endeavor…one of those movies where you honestly can't find anyone to root for. Douglas plays a reporter who has sunk from the Big Time to working a dead-end beat at a rinky-dink New Mexico newspaper. When he stumbles across a mine disaster, he sees his chance to promote the accident into a story of national interest, and does so. In a time when every missing Caucasian woman is cause of 24/7 cable news coverage, the movie's message is more timely than ever before.
I have a tape from the one time I've seen it run on cable, but I'd really like a DVD. Surely someone who reads this website has the power to make that happen.