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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 | |
Kipp Hamilton | Pat Wade | |
Lee Aaker | Joe | |
David Bedell | X-Ray Doctor | |
Virginia Carroll | Mrs. Jones | |
Mary Carver | Saleslady | |
Betty Caulfield | Mrs. LaPorte | |
Lewis Charles | Dr. MacLennan |
Director |
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Producer | James Mason
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Writer | Nicholas Ray
Richard Maibaum |
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Cinematography | Joseph MacDonald
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Musician | David Raksin
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Though ignored at the time of its release, Nicholas Ray's Bigger Than Life is now recognized as one of the great American films of the 1950s. When a friendly, successful suburban teacher and father (James Mason, in one of his most indelible roles) is prescribed cortisone for a painful, possibly fatal affliction, he grows dangerously addicted to the experimental drug, resulting in his transformation into a psychotic and ultimately violent household despot. This Eisenhower-era throat-grabber, shot in expressive CinemaScope, is an excoriating take on the nuclear family; that it came in the day of Father Knows Best makes it all the more shocking - and wildly entertaining. |
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