Patterns

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.

...Rod Serling is recalled today almost exclusively for his speculative fiction television series "The Twilight Zone" and "Rod Serling's Night Gallery." Perhaps that's understandable, given the out-of-sight-out-of-mind nature of today's audiences, and the fact that the generation Serling first impressed with this lean but powerful work in 1955 on the "Kraft Television Theater" is now well into the process of dying out. Still, the kinetic nature of PATTERNS, either in this theatrical film or in the kinescoped original TV broadcast, is not lost on today's first-time viewers. It helped that two of the three leads in this picture, Everett Sloan and Ed Begley, were carried over from the TV productions (Richard Kiley was replaced in this film by Van Heflin, giving perhaps his single greatest performance). But Serling's screenplay has not lost one bit of its relevance; in fact, I'm surprised nobody's thought of remaking this one...

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.

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".