Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Ace in the Hole

In complete charge of his destiny, Wilder followed the triumph of Sunset Boulevard with Ace in the Hole, perhaps his most personal movie—certainly his darkest. But the movie bombed, giving Billy Wilder his first taste of failure and changing the course of his career. Like what we do here on the Filmographers? Then please consider joining our Patreon! Patreon.com/TheFilmographersPodcast Social media Instagram @thefilmographers Bluesky @thefilmographers.bsky.social Letterboxd @filmographers YouTube @TheFilmographersPodcast Website https://filmographerspodcast.com/ Credits Keir Graff & Michael Moreci, hosts Kevin Lau, producer Gompson, theme music Cosmo Graff, graphic design Time Stamps 3:52 – Wilder unchained 9:14 – The Human Interest Story / Origins 17:10 – Casting 22:20 – Production 28:17 – Plot summary 31:39 – Is it a personal movie? 41:48 – An underrated visual stylist 45:06 – Recurring themes 54:33 – Release & reception 1:04:13 – Filmographers Five: Movies about Journalists 1:05:08 – #5: “Broadcast News,” dir. by James L. Brooks (1987) 1:05:41 – #4: “Network,” dir. by Sidney Lumet (1976) 1:06:16 – #3: “All the President’s Men,” dir. by Alan Pakula (1976) 1:06:49 – #2: “Spotlight,” dir. by Tom McCarthy’s (2016) 1:07:29 – #1: “The Insider,” dir. by Michael Mann (1999)