Kirk Douglas leads with his chin in this bitter expose of the media, which is also known as The Big Carnival. Well, he always leads with his chin. He can't help it. Anyway, he plays Charles Tatum, a cynical newsman who shows up in Albuquerque looking for a job. He is hired by an honest editor, Boot (Porter B. Hall), and sent out to cover a rattlesnake hunt with young, impressionable photographer Herbie Cook (Bob Arthur). They stop for gas at Minosa's curio shop, find nobody home, and investigate. They discover that a man, Leo Minosa (Richard Benedict), is trapped inside a Pueblo cliff dwelling due to a tunnel collapse. Tatum quickly realizes that this is the stuff of fame, and sets up a chain of events that will lead to a media circus.

He cons the crooked sheriff into keeping the rest of the press away. He and the sheriff browbeat the engineer, Smollet (Frank Jacquet), into drilling down through the cliff instead of taking the easy way out and shoring up the tunnels. He threatens Lorraine (Jan Sterling), the not-so-unhappy wife of Minosa, who wants to take the opportunity to flee the desert. I like how the movie doesn't allow there to be any chemistry between them: even when she comes on to Tatum, it's clear that she's not really interested in anything aside from a way out of Escudero, and he isn't interested in satisfying any desires except his desire for fame. Besides, if the immense crowds of people saw them together, it would wreck the human interest.

This film is the Network of the newspaper age. It has gained poignancy in this age of reality television, where programs showing crimes in progress and people being attacked by wild animals are ratings boosts. Charles Tatum is the epitome of the modern media: a soulless crook who is so bent on giving the public what they want that he is willing to manufacture reality when reality doesn't sell enough papers. His seeming change of heart when he realizes the extent of what he is doing is offset by the brilliant Billy Wilder, who does not allow him to set his crimes right. Wilder seems to be saying that the story had become bigger than the man who invented it. Another way of looking at it is as an indictment of modern journalists, who propagate sensational news under the weak excuse that "It's just the way the media works." Tatum constantly says "I don't make the news, I just report it!" This film shows how much control they do have, until they lose it completely.

Both leads are pretty darned great. Douglas seems to hate his character with a passion, and it comes out in every expression. Tatum realizes that he's a slimeball, but he isn't strong enough to do anything about it. I don't really think he wants to. Sterling, as Lorraine, is among the coldest characters I have seen. She feels absolutely nothing for her husband, and she tries to seduce Tatum merely because he represents a ticket out of the desert. You get the impression that she would pounce on anyone with a car pointed out of town.

Watch this film, and realize that some people saw the late 20th century coming a long way off. It ranks up with Network among the best denunciations of the modern media.