January Jumble: The Big Operator (1959)

In the collections of every classic movie fan languish neglected films that we’ve had for ages but never quite gotten around to. This January, we tackle a quartet of films that we’ve owned and been meaning to get around to for quite some time.

RODNEY BOWCOCK: “Little” Joe Braun (Mickey Rooney) has a problem. His activities as a crooked union leader have caught up to him and he is facing questioning from a Senate committee. Not one to learn lessons, the power hungry Braun embarks on a last minute crime wave to intimidate anyone who stands against him. Soon in his cross-hairs are a couple of midlevel factory workers, Bill Gibson (Steve Cochran) and Fred McAfee (Mel Torme), who may have the confidence to take him out.

SAMANTHA GLASSER: The movie opens ambiguously. We see Mickey Rooney, the big star, and assume we are meant to side with him, but it soon becomes apparent that even though he is a union leader, he is corrupt and self-serving. I think the other reason I was confused was because the last movie I saw Steve Cochran in was Storm Warning where he is definitely the bad guy.

RB: Cochran definitely played a lot of bad guys over the course of his long career, but he also played other parts, such as the lead to Ann Sheridan in Come Next Spring, a film that he also produced. After this film, he mostly worked in television. While he was a good actor, his private life, full of tabloid scandals and affairs with starlets likely hampered his career. They didn’t take kindly to that sort of thing in those days.

SG: The cast is an eclectic embarrassment of riches. Jackie Coogan has a small part as one of the union leaders. Jay North of Dennis the Menace fame plays the son. Charles Chaplin Jr. is also cast.

RB: The cast is what made me excited to see this movie. Coogan is also billed as a “dialogue coach” which is fascinating.

SG: I'll bet that was so he could earn a larger paycheck.

RB: Other notables include Jim Backus, frequent Rooney collaborator and Borscht Belt comedian Joey Forman, and Vampira (as a beatnik club proprietor). Gold, all around.

SG: Backus is an Ohio-guy; kudos to him. Mamie Van Doren is such an interesting actress. She has a reputation for being a rival to Marilyn Monroe which lumps her into the sexpot category, but my impression of her on screen has always been as a sweet-natured, lovely woman who doesn't overtly flaunt her body, especially in comparison to Jayne Mansfield. In this film she is a good wife and mother who works as a team with her husband to guide their son through tough parts of life, and they both show a lot of love to him, and each other. They are a happy little family in a cute mid-century home, modest but sufficient. When Joe targets them, it is excruciating.

RB: Van Doren seems to have done her best work before she had fully allowed herself to be cast into B (or lower) sex comedies, of which this would’ve been one of the last. I agree that her performance in this film is more than serviceable and if you only know her from her 60’s (or later) output, you’ll be surprised at the range that she exhibits here. Her then husband, bandleader Ray Anthony (still with us at 102) also has a supporting role.

SG: She and Anthony and Cochran made The Beat Generation for Albert Zugsmith, and later she worked with Rooney and Torme in The Private Lives of Adam and Eve. The company tended to use the same actors again and again.

The Big Operator has moments of comedy, like when Fred comes over to his neighbor and co-worker Bill's house during breakfast and is offered a waffle and coffee. He declines, having already eaten, but proceeds to take his friend's food right off his plate and then asks for a coffee refill.

RB: This was actually one of my favorite scenes in the movie as it shows the close-knit relationship between Bill and Fred’s families. It’s warm and human.

SG: The violence in this film is shocking. The pre-credits scene made me gasp, and later a character is set on fire. Disturbingly, Photoplay magazine categorized this as a family film, but called it, "high in violence and low in substance." The film was banned in Memphis for being, "inimical to the public welfare."

RB: Even today, I would not categorize this as a family film in any sense of the word. You mentioned a couple of scenes that, like you, I found shocking and audibly gasped. Not the sort of thing that I’d ever imagine gathering the kiddos together to watch.

SG: The photography is crisp and beautiful to watch. Walter Castle used creative shots, like in the prosecutor's office where a wire is revealed.

RB: Budget movie making at its finest. The film was shot on a miniscule budget and while that shows, there is a lot of creativity that makes it work. Compare this to Hi De Ho and you can see how important this is.

SG: My biggest quibble is the ending. Although they work hard to make it plausible that they could retrace the route from Bill's home to the kidnapper's hideout, the idea that police officers would break and enter and have a brawl with the criminals and in doing so completely jeopardize their case and credibility is ludicrous. Further, they fight against guns with furniture and mops, and one man with an injured hand throws punches with zero pain reaction.

RB: Yes, all of this was completely bonkers. I couldn’t help but laugh that the police used the flimsy evidence provided to bust into a house into a fight rivaled by Republic serials, complete with Mamie Van Doren busting people over the heads with beer bottles. This is a film that seemed to rely on realism until the last 20 minutes or so, when it became completely outlandish.

SG: The Big Operator uses the perfect amount of screen time to tell the story, throw in some character development, but maintain the action throughout. Four stars.

RB: Independently produced, and a loose remake of the 1942 MGM B Joe Smith American, this film pulls no punches with its views of labor unions, but I agree that it’s a well-done film with a powerhouse performance by the Mickster and a surprisingly sweet and heartfelt performance by Van Doren. Three and a half stars.