Big Town

For a cheap B-movie, "Big Town" is very good. But I must warn you, this material might seem very similar as the film seems much like a reworking of the genius film, "Five Star Final" from 1931. And, since "Five Star Final" was first and better, there isn't a lot of reason to watch "Big Town"...whether a pleasant film or not.

The films is about the newspaper business and the seedy side. It seems that a big city paper is doing poorly, so the owner brings in a hot-shot editor to shake things up. This guy now is concerned with readership revenues first...whether the paper behaves ethically or not. Much of the film, the editor bangs heads with his reporters, particularly a lady reporter, over what is and what isn't ethical regarding their stories.

While I enjoyed the film, I do think the film gives a somewhat mixed message about yellow journalism. In some ways, it seems to condemn it and at other times it doesn't. And, as I mentioned before, it's not the most original plot. Still, it does show you that the ethics of newspaper headlines hasn't really changed that much over the years!

By the way, this film apparently did pretty well as it had two sequels...which, like this film, are currently posted on YouTube.