I love this movie so much

Lack of good storyline.

I'll tell you why so serious

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

How is it that I'd never heard of this movie before? "Bigger Than Life" is a dream come true for those movie fans (I count myself among them) who love the decade of the 1950s for its total cinematic schizophrenia. I can't think of another decade that created whole omnibuses of films more strongly opposed to one another. It seems that half of the filmmakers of the 50s were churning out earnest Technicolor pap that tried to sell the American public a version of the 50s that simply didn't exist yet which everyone so desperately wanted to believe did, while the other half were making movies about everything that was wrong with the very version of America the other half was clinging to. If you're a fan of subtext in films, and especially interested in seeing how filmmakers could work within the conventions of a genre while turning those conventions against themselves, the 50s are your decade. And for the ultimate master of subtext, look no further than Nicholas Ray.There isn't a Ray film I've seen that isn't dripping in subtext, socio-political, sexual, gender-based, you name it. "Bigger Than Life" stars a towering James Mason as a family man who's turned into a literal monster when he becomes addicted to a drug that helps keep a life-threatening medical problem at bay. The film goes to some jaw-dropping places, especially toward the end, as Mason's character evolves from protector to worst nightmare and the picture-perfect family life depicted in the earlier parts of the film dissolve before our very eyes. However, Ray's point all along is that that picture-perfect family never really existed in the first place, and the drug on which Mason gets hooked brings out the "id" in him and the family dynamic that's been lurking there all along.Ray was the rare director who could make the saturated Technicolor and massive Cinemascope aspect ratios of 1950s filmmaking work to his advantage and serve his artistic purposes, rather than simply be used to photograph pretty gowns and landscapes. In fact, despite its Cinemascope grandeur, "Bigger Than Life" is all about cramped interiors -- offices, bedrooms, one's own feverish mind -- and the skeletons in the closets, real and imagined, that are hiding there.Grade: A

Nicholas Ray is one of those classic 50's directors who has a huge cult, even though he only made a handful of excellent films. Experimenting with drugs, a study of the patriarch family and of boring suburban people and mid-life crises, Ray weaved an extremely controversial, yet superb and disenchanted melodrama. Memorable for many brilliant expressions of terrifying drama, lurid colour, a cult director at one of his greatest points, a risqué story which mounts the devastating critique on the materialistic, middle-class society during post-war America, and showing off the brilliant British actor Mr. James Mason, (who also produced such a fascinating time period study) who in a perfectly cast role, gives one of his greatest performances.Before I dig into the pros, which I will likely explain Ray and Mason's perfect touches, and cons, which the film does have, I must first explain the harrowing and interestingly risqué dramatic story, which Cyril Hume and Richard Maibaum controversially put together.Bigger Than Life stars the brooding James Mason (perfectly cast, in a role only he could play that strong) as a small-town teacher beset by worries about money and middle-age. He suffers from a rare disease and is prescribed cortisone, a type of steroids, but he becomes addicted to the sense of well being and bigger than life feeling it brings. The overdose of the drug and the inability to stop taking it, turns him into a neurotic, megalomaniac tyrant to his loving and sensitive wife, (played with warmth by Barbara Rush) scared, innocent son (Christopher Olson) and everyone else around him.A profoundly radical Hollywood movie, the distinguished not only by its distaste for suburban notions of 'normality' but by the change of society and middle-class life during the postwar 50's. The film has an unbelievably raw and dramatic darkly moving score by David Raskin, and the beautifully nightmarish clarity of Bigger Than Life's intense colour scope and realistic dark colourful imagery is always a pleasure to watch. An extremely controversial film, the lighting, sets make the middle- class and small-town 'normal' community and family realistically shown, as well as heighten the melodramatic terrifying drug story and script.Inspired by a New Yorker article by Berton Roueche, the screenplay warns against quick-fix solutions like the cortisone that transforms Mason's ailing teacher into a psychotic tyrant. The dialogue is fine and the film has some brilliantly scripted melodramatic moments and terrifying sequences. Sure, the films beginning is quite slow and the movie may wander off and grow too dramatic at some points, but its still such a provocative and extremely important study on middle-class suburban life and the effect of drugs and overdoses on a perfectly normal man.James Mason gives such a terrifying, dark performance as Ed Avery. Barbara Rush is great, playing off warm and sensitivity and Walter Matthau is also well-casted in a rare dramatic role. Yet the supporting cast, screenplay and technical aspects are all out shined by the brilliant inventive performance from Mr. Mason. Perfectly showing the before and after character and emotion of Ed Avery, Mason is perfect in every sequence, both a sensitive and pitiful hero, as well as a vicious and tyrannical villain, tearing apart his and his family's life by his improper use of a dangerous drug. In every scene, mason gives just the perfect amount of touching emotion, terrifying Hyde-like power and memorable freed from inhibitions raw power, dominating the screen.One of the most intriguing and raw filmmakers ever to be out in Hollywood, Nicholas Ray's follow-up to Rebel Without a Cause may not be as consecutively entertaining, brilliant or versatile to watch, but it's equally as important. In Bigger Than Life, Ray uses the lush and lurid horrifying colour cinematography, to show a realistic nightmare. Perfectly composing the suburban community and notions of 'normality,' Ray gives some terrific angles, terrific set-ups and excellent movement to show the story and develop the raw Mason. Collaborating together, Mason and Ray are perfect together and put together a controversial, yet extremely important and entertaining raw melodrama, which is in fact a masterpiece.

Nicholas Ray's Bigger Than Life was released a year after his explosive, sensational Rebel Without A Cause and the two share a lot in common thematically. Both films present a main character who is at a conflict with the state of the world, busting at their seams trying to escape the walls that confine the daily life of the American family. Where Rebel featured James Dean's now iconic symbol of troubled youth Jim Stark, Bigger Than Life gives us James Mason's Ed Avery, the every man father with a beautiful wife and bright-eyed young son.Avery is a schoolteacher who suffers from mysterious and severe physical pains that come at him out of nowhere, a literal symbolism of the ache to escape the confines of the home. There are a lot of subtle devices used throughout the film to further implement this theme, like the family having pictures of exotic locations hung up on the walls to symbolize their desire to get out and away. When his pains cause him to finally collapse in his home he makes the decision to go and see a doctor, where they inform him that he only has a few months to live, but good news comes in the convenience of a new "miracle drug" that is supposed to cure his every ailment. The miracle of it all is that the drug works, he is cured and his pains suffer him no longer, but the ache to escape from the home is turned on it's head as the side effects of the drug produce a psychosis that turn this grinning father into the family's worst nightmare.Based on a "New Yorker" article about a real life case, Ray uses the film mostly in the context of dissecting the American home, but there's also a small dose of condemnation of the medical practice that is intriguing. He has always said that he wished he was able to attack the doctors more directly, but even still he found a way to shed a negative light on them almost literally, shooting them as if they were the villains of the picture and giving an ominous tone to whenever they appear on screen. Still, his focus is certainly on the domestic strife that occurs when Avery's mood is turned and this is where the film shines most resoundingly. In making the transition into psychosis, James Mason's warm, delightful performance becomes appropriately sinister, giving the picture an ominous and intimidating tone.The shot framing and lighting has to be commended a great deal here, with Ray shooting the characters mostly from the ground up, giving a very open and empty feeling to the home above them, along with using shadows in a striking way to create a looming effect that was very impressive. I have to say, it's one of the most well shot films I've seen in quite some time. As Avery's psychosis deepens, he takes the traditional family values of raising a good son and brings them to the extreme, truly becoming the nightmare definition of what the American father archetype is.It's a fascinating study by Ray, with one hell of an ending. Ray uses an interesting technique of blending tones in the final act that I found left a strong impression. A dark, terrifying experience of a father trying to sacrifice his son turns into a rather caricature-esque romp of a fight between him and a co-worker. The ending appears happy at first, but when it sits with you it becomes more chilling than anything else in the picture. The blissful, serene image of the American family coming together again is contrasted with this sensation that the experiences the film put them through could in all likelihood just repeat themselves again the moment the camera stops rolling.

The casting of this film is strange. After all, James Mason playing a simple American school teacher is a stretch--especially when he had such a gorgeous British accent. And, when he talks about his great college football career, I couldn't help but laugh (perhaps he meant cricket)! But despite this, it's still a pretty exciting film to watch."Bigger Than Life" is a tale about a normal guy (Mason) who's been diagnosed with a rare and very painful disease. However, with Cortisone therapy prescribed for the rest of his life, he once again appears happy and functional. But, beneath his happy veneer, he's a changed man--full of wild self-confidence and truly full of himself. He's very obnoxious and his family suffers as a result of his odd personality change. But, without the drugs (which the family can ill-afford) he'll die. What they don't know is that the pills fill him with this confidence...and he's been taking more than was prescribed. Only when it's too late does the severity of his drug abuse become all too apparent.I enjoyed this film, as Mason was dynamite in this role. The film is very worth seeing but there was one problem about the film that detracted, a bit, from Mason's great performance. In contrast, his wife (Barbara Rush) was a complete and total wet noodle of a character and was simply too weak and too ineffectual in the movie. So, while Mason's character became crazier and crazier, she just stood back and did nothing (the worst was at the end). And, when Mason became abusive to the boy, she once again did nothing--just hoping, as if by magic, he'd become his sweet old self. Still, aside from that, it's a pretty exciting film to watch.