IMDb RATING
6.6/10
1.2K
YOUR RATING
Gerry Barker finds a lost boy whose rich father is extorted into paying a ransom for his return but the boy accidentally dies and Gerry goes to prison.Gerry Barker finds a lost boy whose rich father is extorted into paying a ransom for his return but the boy accidentally dies and Gerry goes to prison.Gerry Barker finds a lost boy whose rich father is extorted into paying a ransom for his return but the boy accidentally dies and Gerry goes to prison.
Lon Chaney Jr.
- Alamo Smith
- (as Lon Chaney)
Felicia Farr
- Emily Evans
- (as Randy Farr)
Willis Bouchey
- Robertson Lambert
- (as Willis B. Bouchey)
Peter J. Votrian
- Danny Lambert
- (as Peter Votrian)
William Boyett
- Ranger at Park Exit
- (uncredited)
Nelson Leigh
- Madden's FBI Supervisor
- (uncredited)
Gregg Martell
- Accomplice on Fishing Boat
- (uncredited)
Bill McLean
- Dipsy
- (uncredited)
Jan Merlin
- Tommy
- (uncredited)
Joe Ploski
- Convict
- (uncredited)
Stafford Repp
- Prison Warden Machek
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThere are two actors who played Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer (and both share a scene together): Robert Bray in My Gun Is Quick (1957), and the most famous, that came out the same year as this movie, Ralph Meeker in Kiss Me Deadly (1955).
- GoofsWhen they're fishing, the fish Rollo has on his line when he pulls it out of the water is obviously already dead.
- Quotes
Rollo Lamar: Any of you geniuses know what "apparently" means?
Alamo Smith: "Apparently?"
Rollo Lamar: Yeah.
Benny Kelly: Yeah, it means that something that ain't, looks like it is.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Kain's Quest: The Stone Killer (2015)
Featured review
I'm gonna kidnap a kidnapper for the money he kidnapped for.
Big House, U.S.A. is directed by Howard W. Koch and written by John C. Higgins, George George and George Slavin. It stars Broderick Crawford, Ralph Meeker, Reed Hadley, William Talman, Lon Chaney Jr., Charles Bronson and Felicia Farr. Music is by Paul Dunlap and cinematography by Gordon Avil.
A Kidnap, A Ransom and A Prison Break = Powder Keg.
Out of Bel-Air Productions, Big House, U.S.A. is a relentlessly tough and gritty picture. Beginning with the kidnapping of a young boy from a country camp, Howard Koch's film has no intentions of making you feel good about things. Deaths do occur and we feel the impact wholesale, tactics and actions perpetrated by the bad guys in the play punch the gut, while the finale, if somewhat expected in the scheme of good versus bad classic movies, still leaves a chill that is hard to shake off.
Split into two halves, we first observe the kidnap and ransom part of the story, then for the second part we enter prison where we become cell mates with five tough muthas. Crawford, Chaney, Meeker, Bronson and Talman, it's a roll call of macho nastiness unfurled by character actors worthy of the Big House surroundings. The locations play a big part in the pervading sense of doom that hangs over proceedings, Cascabel Island Prison (really McNeil Island Federal Penitentiary) is every bit as grim as you would expect it to be, and the stunning vistas of Royal Gorge in Colorado proves to be a foreboding backdrop for much of the picture.
Although it sadly lacks chiaroscuro photography, something which would have been perfect for this movie and elevated it to the standard of Brute Force and Riot in Cell Block 11, Avil's photography still has the requisite starkness about it. While Dunlap scores it with escalating menace. Not all the performances are top draw, more so on the good guy side of the fence, and some characters such as Chaney's Alamo Smith don't get nearly enough lines to spit, but this is still one bad boy of an experience and recommended to fans of old black and white crims and coppers movies. 8/10
A Kidnap, A Ransom and A Prison Break = Powder Keg.
Out of Bel-Air Productions, Big House, U.S.A. is a relentlessly tough and gritty picture. Beginning with the kidnapping of a young boy from a country camp, Howard Koch's film has no intentions of making you feel good about things. Deaths do occur and we feel the impact wholesale, tactics and actions perpetrated by the bad guys in the play punch the gut, while the finale, if somewhat expected in the scheme of good versus bad classic movies, still leaves a chill that is hard to shake off.
Split into two halves, we first observe the kidnap and ransom part of the story, then for the second part we enter prison where we become cell mates with five tough muthas. Crawford, Chaney, Meeker, Bronson and Talman, it's a roll call of macho nastiness unfurled by character actors worthy of the Big House surroundings. The locations play a big part in the pervading sense of doom that hangs over proceedings, Cascabel Island Prison (really McNeil Island Federal Penitentiary) is every bit as grim as you would expect it to be, and the stunning vistas of Royal Gorge in Colorado proves to be a foreboding backdrop for much of the picture.
Although it sadly lacks chiaroscuro photography, something which would have been perfect for this movie and elevated it to the standard of Brute Force and Riot in Cell Block 11, Avil's photography still has the requisite starkness about it. While Dunlap scores it with escalating menace. Not all the performances are top draw, more so on the good guy side of the fence, and some characters such as Chaney's Alamo Smith don't get nearly enough lines to spit, but this is still one bad boy of an experience and recommended to fans of old black and white crims and coppers movies. 8/10
helpful•121
- hitchcockthelegend
- Aug 6, 2013
- How long is Big House, U.S.A.?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Runtime1 hour 23 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.75 : 1
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