The Big Street

Buy This Item The Big Street by Turner Home Ent  Available from Amazon  $17.99  on 11-15-2008     With a curious mix of comedy and melodrama, <i>The Big Street</i> features Lucille Ball in one of the best roles of her big-screen career. Playing up her image as a brassy gal who knows what she wants, Lucy's got a hard shell and a soft heart as Gloria Lyons, a self-centered nightclub singer who looks down upon the "little people" who enthusiastically support her career--none more than Augustus "Little Pinks" Pinkerton (Henry Fonda), a doting busboy so smitten with Gloria that he's willing to put up with her dismissive and blustery behavior. (If the movie has a major weakness, it's Pinkerton's puppy-like devotion; this is an unusually wimpy role for Fonda, whose character seems a little <i>too</i> tolerant of Gloria's abuse.) When Gloria is paralyzed after her mobster boss (Barton MacLane) knocks her down a flight of stairs, "Little Pinks" does all he can to speed her recovery, aided by friends and colleagues played by a fine supporting cast of RKO regulars including Agnes Moorehead, Ray Collins, and Eugene Pallette.<p> Lucy's character may be unlikable but her performance is not; it's refreshing to see the future TV sitcom queen as a sassy and selfish diva, and Lucy gives the role a subtle dimension of sympathetic appeal. And while the movie's pitiful depiction of disability is typically maudlin from a more enlightened present-day perspective, <i>The Big Street</i> is noteworthy as a Damon Runyon production, based on Runyon's short story "Little Pinks" (originally published in <I>Collier's</I> magazine) and featuring several of the characters (like Pallette's Nicely-Nicely Johnson) who were later immortalized in <i>Guys and Dolls</i> and other tales of Runyonesque folly. With a strangely downbeat ending, <i>The Big Street</i> may not be a crowd-pleaser, but it's certainly worth watching as an unconventional showcase for its popular costars. Also available in <i>The Lucille Ball Film Collection</i>, this DVD includes two Warner Bros. short subjects from 1942: "Calling All Girls" is a 19-minute Vitaphone showcase for the lavish choreography of Busby Berkeley, featuring highlights from several major Broadway and Hollywood musicals; and "The Hep Cat" is a typically wacky "Merrie Melodies" cartoon, in which the title character will do just about anything to impress the kittenish object of his feline desires. <i>--Jeff Shannon</i> Reader Reviews I loved this movie! This was a Lucy I was not used to and she was great in it. Henry Fonda was his usual excellent self. I totally recommend this movie to all die hard Lucy fans!!!

The Big Street Available from Amazon Price: $17.99 Updated on 11-15-2008.

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