Patterns

"I didn't hire you to like me!" shouts Walter Ramsey (Everett Sloane) at Fred Staples (Van Heflin) at the climax of Rod Serling's "Patterns." Those seven words pretty much sum up the whole film.

Ramsey knows no one likes him, but he couldn't care less. He'd rather play to win than play nice. He knows that it's time for nice old boy Bill Briggs (Ed Begley) to go and he's found just the man to take his place in Staples, who'd been managing his plant in Ohio. The only problem is that Staples genuinely likes Briggs and detests Ramsey.

You'll hate Walter Ramsey too, but you'll see that he built his company not merely through intimidation but by being an excellent judge of character. He recognizes that Staples, who seems clueless when it comes to office politics, is immensely talented and actually very ambitious. Ramsey sees that the fact Staples will never like him is really an asset. He doesn't want a groveling yes-man, he needs someone who will fight him.

Of course Briggs also fights with Ramsey, but his punches never land. His arguments are easily brushed aside and only serve to make Ramsey even angrier. Briggs refuses to accept that he's washed up, which reflects either his stubborn nature or his lack of professional vision. In any case, it's a fatal flaw and Ramsey mercilessly carves him up.

This is painful to watch and all your sympathy is with Briggs, but from a business perspective you have to accept that Ramsey is right. Gradually, Staples sees this as well and that Ramsey understands him better than he understands himself. At the end, Fred Staples hates Walter Ramsey more than ever but he can't resist his boss' challenge. And Ramsey knows that though the price was high, he finally has the man he wants as his vice president.

"Patterns" offers many solid performances, especially Sloane's and Heflin's. Ed Begley is hardly my image of a corporate executive (he was much more credible as the cop turned crook in "Odds Against Tomorrow"), but he certainly looks the part of a sick man. Watching Beatrice Straight I couldn't help but recall her role in "Network" and wonder if her Nancy Staples would suffer the same fate in the 1970s. Straight had a rare combination of intelligence and beauty, and it's a shame she made so few films.

"Patterns" is quick (about 85 minutes) because it has to be. Were it any longer Ramsey's bullying of Briggs would be unbearable and the film's real point would be lost.

Today we flatter ourselves when we think that characters like Ramsey went out with the Edsel. It's a different world, but it's still a cruel one. Working women are no longer called "girls" and some may have moved into executive suites, but the corporation imperatives are the same as they were in 1956: know your people, know your product, make money, cut your losses.

None of this was lost on Walter Ramsey. We may hate him, but as much as we hate to admit it, we still need him. That's not the way we like it but that's the way it is.

Van Heflin, Everett Sloane, Ed Begley, Beatrice Straight, and Elizabeth Wilson star in "Patterns," a 1956 film written by Rod Serling and directed by Fielder Cook. The drama had previously been written for television and starred Richard Kiley in the Heflin role.

Heflin plays a young man named Fred Staples, a small-town manager who is brought into a large firm by the President, Ramsey (Sloane). It's apparent to the viewer (and everyone but Staples) that he's been hired to replace one of the vice presidents, Bill Briggs (Begley). Staples admires Briggs and the humanity that he brings to his job, but he's the last of the old firm back when it was run by Ramsey's father, a compassionate man who cared about the workers. This Ramsey only cares about dollars and cents and efficiency. He's determined to force Briggs out.

Back in the '50s, big business movies were all the range, with films like "Women's World" and "Executive Suite" tackling the subject. The interest in the subject was possibly due to all of the postwar expansion in this country. "Patterns" is the best of the lot, realistic in its tone and with tremendous acting. The women are mere accompaniment - wives and secretaries - and certainly reflect the times.

Richard Kiley brought a naivete to the role of Staples that Van Heflin, because he's older, doesn't have, but he's still very effective as an honest, smart and decent man who's ambitious but doesn't like Ramsey's tactics. Ed Begley is sympathetic as a man past his prime who can't let go but whose job and daily battles are killing him. Everett Sloane does a great job as the ruthless Ramsey, who won't allow emotion into his business sense. We get a hint that he's not as unfeeling as he appears, but he's never going to let anyone else see it.

A really strong film, highly recommended.

Having spent a good part of my working life in large corporations, I appreciated that writer Rod Serling never fell into the trap of shallow stereotypes and superficiality in his treatment of this company and the people who worked within it and who were dependent upon it for their livelihoods. Having grown up as a Twilight Zone junkie (original series) during the early 1960's, Rod Serling as a writer has never disappointed me. His original screenplay here only demonstrates the wide range of his writing ability far beyond the science fiction and horror genres with which he is usually associated. The script is crisp, intelligent, and quite powerful.

Van Heflin, who plays the lead role as Fred Staples, is an actor who I never appreciated until late in my movie viewing life. Shame on me. I can't explain this other than the fact that I didn't see either "3:10 to Yuma" or "Act of Violence" until well into middle age, and I can thank Turner Classic Movies for finally introducing me to these films, to Van Heflin, and to much, much more than that. Heflin is a very natural, often understated professional. When I see him in a movie, his portrayals appear very real to me, as if he isn't reading the lines of a script written by someone else but rather speaking his own words very credibly and seamlessly. I think that this is what excellent acting is all about. Ed Begley, Sr. also appears in one of the best roles of his career, if not the very best, as Bill Briggs, the corporate executive who is being replaced by Staples and who is humiliated and degraded as a human being during the ugly process. Everett Sloan is perfectly cast as Mr. Ramsey, the egotistical, ruthless CEO who brutally intimidates any subordinate who stands in the way of his corporate goals and vision. Elizabeth Wilson, as the loyal secretary awkwardly transferred from Briggs, her beloved, longtime boss, to Staples, the new darling on the block, and Beatrice Straight, as Staples' sympathetic, sensible wife, both provide outstanding support.

I also liked how the director, Fielder Cook, created the fast pace of the corporation, at least at the height of its activity during normal business hours. I'm sorry that I missed Richard Kiley as Staples in the original play written for television. He is an actor who successfully played a wide range of characters from the very naive, inexperienced teacher in "Blackboard Jungle", to the crime-busting lawyer in "The Phenix City Story", and finally to the charismatic Don Quixote in the musical "Man of La Mancha".

The nightmarish view from the straining eyes of a stricken Biggs as his colleagues helplessly peer over him is very distressful. I recognize Mr. Serling's very distinctive influence here at a very critical moment in the film. Beyond this movie, the writer was among the most brilliant and creative contributors to the much missed "golden age of television".

Even though I missed the first few minutes of this film on TCM, I was completely hooked as soon as I attempted to scroll past it. Terrific immorality play complete with simplified characters purely drawn, acid dialogue and a sterling cast of character actors. Van Heflin does an amazing turn as a basically moral person who is drawn into the morass of not just corporate survival but domination. The entire cast has great fun with Serling's intense screenplay, complete with scenery-chewing of the highest order. The final confrontation between Heflin and Sloane is simply delicious. Why hadn't I heard of this film before? It brings to mind certain segments of Citizen Kane (and not because of Sloane's presence) and The Sweet Smell of Success. Highly reccomended.

Patterns centres around the fierce and dog eat dog world of an executive conglomerate company. Written by Rod Serling (he of The Twilight Zone fame) and based on his own play, it's a stunning picture that relies (and succeeds) on spiky dialogue and a trio of superlative acting performances. Not containing any music at all and filmed primarily within the confines of an interior setting, Serling and his on form director, Fielder Cook, have crafted probably the essential picture dealing with the harsh and at times brutal realities of big business ladder climbing.

Everett Sloane, Ed Begley and Van Heflin really provide the viewers with an acting tour de force. Sloane as the big boss Walter Ramsey, creates a strutting despotic character that is as memorable as it is harsh, here's a man who will not "pattern" a sacking of an employee, he would rather break him into resignation!, a totally vile and cruel "pattern" tactic. Begley (superbly playing weary emotion) plays the genial and honest William Briggs, who upon welcoming Van Heflin's Fred Staples to the company, realises it's likely to be at his own cost. This giving the film a deep emotional "pattern" as Staples (Heflin to me, donning a career high) gets conflicted about his role in this company, this leads us to a truly excellent finale as Heflin and Sloane go at each other with a gripping intensity that many modern actors could do no worse than to take note of, it really is something to behold.

A fabulous movie that comes highly recommended to anyone who appreciates dialogue driven films with intelligence pouring from every frame. 9/10