Patterns

I happened to stumble on this on TCM while channel surfing (I had seen the blurb in their program guide and had given it short shrift) and, although ten minutes or so into the movie I was immediately gripped by the acting. I stayed for the whole thing and was amazed at the quality of this practically forgotten movie with script by Rod Serling and superb performances by Van Heflin, Everett Sloane, Ed Begley and Beatrice Straight. Anyone who has been in the business world in even an incidental way will be taken by the way in which Serling has so effectively captured the machinations and power ploys in the corporate world. A bald description of the plot - ceo grooms upcoming exec to replace a company veteran - gives no idea of how exciting the realization is on screen (which is why I skipped past the program guide listing); it is simply gripping. Director Fielder Cook's work subsequent to this has been primarily in television.

If you're fortunate to find this rarity scheduled, by all means don't miss it.

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.

"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.

This tight, intense little film has been rarely seen in recent years (although the original teleplay on which it is based was a huge hit.) It's impact has been dulled slightly (mostly because it's ideas have been stolen for other countless TV shows and movies), but it's basic story is still as relevant as ever. Heflin is a small town plant manager whose company has been swallowed up by Sloane's conglomerate. Sloane moves him up to the executive level of the conglomerate and sets him up with a beautiful home, a fancy office and a top secretary. Soon, however, Heflin realizes that his promotion may have more to do with leverage against one of Sloane's adversaries, his vice president, Begley. Straight is Heflin's materialistic wife who urges him to succeed no matter what the moral cost. Wilson is Begley's secretary who finds herself torn between personal loyalty and company loyalty. The film is a curt 83 minutes and wisely unpadded with excess subplots. The acting is uniformly strong. Heflin is able to display a wide range of emotion. Begley, often cast as overbearing boors, is able to show a more vulnerable side. Sloane is the one who almost goes over the top. He shouts wildly at the drop of a hat and doesn't allow anyone to finish a sentence. One hopes that his type of management wouldn't be tolerated in today's world, but it very well may be. Wilson comes across very solidly in one of her better screen roles. She's given many quiet moments that display her internal struggle. (She would later put a comedic spin on the whole office thing with her wondrous turn in "9 to 5".) Straight is good, but isn't really a focal point of the story. The film has a dim view of corporate America and the unsettling feelings in the office begin right away. Though the times have changed, this story still holds value today and is an arresting work to watch.

This is a movie version of an acclaimed TV production. I can't imagine that it made any money. Would people pay to see a downer with no real action, no romantic sub-plot, or worse, with a story-line all about the cut-throat ethics of big business which people generally hold in low regard anyway. I don't know if the movie made money, but as pure drama, the film's absolutely riveting. Understandably, the story and script put Rod Serling on the literary map in a big way. As several of his Twilight Zone scripts also show, Serling viewed the emerging corporate world of the 1950's with considerable doubts.

Except for a brief use of subjective camera, director Cook films in a straightforward manner, letting the strong story carry events. I like the way he sets up the world of big business in the opening shots-- the cathedrals of capital towering over Wall Street pedestrians, the church bells signaling the sanctity of the mission, the subtle pecking-order among the secretaries based on who their boss is. It all smacks of industrious efficiency, revealed later on, however, as a very ruthless efficiency. The upwards shot of Heflin standing in the over-arched hallway tells us right away he's a man big enough to compete in this demanding environment.

Heflin is great as the small-town success suddenly promoted to the big city headquarters. Trouble is he's also brought a down-home sense of ethics, which handicaps his ability to survive the bloody board meetings presided over by CEO Everitt Sloane, aptly described as a human "barracuda". Unlike the other characters, Sloane's Walter Ramsey comes perilously close to a one-note caricature in his cold-hearted drive, salvaged only by a single-minded respect for competency and a desire to encourage full business potential. It's this latter that makes an otherwise implausible ending somewhat believable-- (I'd still like to know if the movie's compromised ending was Serling's original intent).

The cast is outstanding for their skill rather than for their looks, no small development in the glamor-obsessed 50's. Ed Begley's Bill Briggs makes for a tragic figure, an affecting left-over from the world of small business where an owner could address every employee by name. He and small town Heflin hit it off immediately, thereby heightening Heflin's predicament, the film's dramatic centerpiece. That post-war decade didn't provide many big roles for middle-age or plain-looking women. Both Wilson and Straight show how much the talent pool extended beyond the bosomy young things. Watch Wilson pause over the little potted plant that adorns her desk as she quits her job. Should she take it or not. Of course she takes it, because she's loyal not only to the needy Briggs, but to a tiny thing that would otherwise not survive the intense environment. It's a slight character touch like this that makes a movie stand out from the rest.

The key scene in the library is well handled. There, Heflin's wife (Straight) demonstrates her own wifely ambition, routed in typical 50's fashion through the success of her husband. When he hesitates, she insists on grabbing the brass ring, thereby forcing him to face his own suppressed ambition within the Darwinian world of corporate executives. As a result, I'm not sure I buy her sudden willingness at the end to "start over" away from the big house and fancy car. In fact, as good as the script is, there are a number of softening concessions to both people and plot.

Note Sloane's rationale for laying off employees in a distant plant-- By increasing efficiency through layoff, he asserts, new opportunities will eventually open up that will improve everyone's lot down the line. Some such version amounts to textbook theory and no doubt is sometimes true. But I wonder how true it is for millions of laid-off Americans whose good jobs have now been shipped overseas, and whose prospects now don't extend much beyond the local Mac Donald's. How true is it for them. No doubt, in Sloane's book, I'm indulging in rank sentiment and not the hard-headed principles that make capitalism continue to expand (but perhaps, not "grow"). That's the movie's crux and one that continues to press 50 years later. Patterns presents a somewhat hopeful 50's look at the big corporation; I'm not sure that a 21st century view would be quite so hopeful.