IMDb RATING
6.6/10
1.2K
YOUR RATING
Gerry Barker finds a lost boy whose rich father is extorted into paying a ransom for his return but the boy accidentally dies and Gerry goes to prison.Gerry Barker finds a lost boy whose rich father is extorted into paying a ransom for his return but the boy accidentally dies and Gerry goes to prison.Gerry Barker finds a lost boy whose rich father is extorted into paying a ransom for his return but the boy accidentally dies and Gerry goes to prison.
Lon Chaney Jr.
- Alamo Smith
- (as Lon Chaney)
Felicia Farr
- Emily Evans
- (as Randy Farr)
Willis Bouchey
- Robertson Lambert
- (as Willis B. Bouchey)
Peter J. Votrian
- Danny Lambert
- (as Peter Votrian)
William Boyett
- Ranger at Park Exit
- (uncredited)
Nelson Leigh
- Madden's FBI Supervisor
- (uncredited)
Gregg Martell
- Accomplice on Fishing Boat
- (uncredited)
Bill McLean
- Dipsy
- (uncredited)
Jan Merlin
- Tommy
- (uncredited)
Joe Ploski
- Convict
- (uncredited)
Stafford Repp
- Prison Warden Machek
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThere are two actors who played Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer (and both share a scene together): Robert Bray in My Gun Is Quick (1957), and the most famous, that came out the same year as this movie, Ralph Meeker in Kiss Me Deadly (1955).
- GoofsWhen they're fishing, the fish Rollo has on his line when he pulls it out of the water is obviously already dead.
- Quotes
Rollo Lamar: Any of you geniuses know what "apparently" means?
Alamo Smith: "Apparently?"
Rollo Lamar: Yeah.
Benny Kelly: Yeah, it means that something that ain't, looks like it is.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Kain's Quest: The Stone Killer (2015)
Featured review
Big House USA sounds like a prison picture, but only in part of the film is the setting a maximum security prison. There is the part how Ralph Meeker got there and the last part about his escape with several other solid citizens, residents of Big House USA.
A young boy with one rich father is kidnapped by Meeker and dies while in his custody. Not that he killed him, but kidnapping alone as per the Lindbergh law gets him the gas chamber. Father Willis Bouchey pays the ransom, but gets no child back.
Meeker is arrested, but all he's charged with is extortion, without a body dead or alive, the authorities can do no more. But with the reputation as a child killer, Meeker's not going to be a popular guy even in the maximum security federal penitentiary he's sent.
But cell-mate Broderick Crawford has other ideas about the ransom money never recovered and buried in a national park. He and confederates Lon Chaney, Jr., William Talman, and Charles Bronson escape with Meeker. They had an escape plan in the works already, a quite ingenious one which costs another prisoner his life during a dry run.
A chance to see all these guys in a film is never to be passed up. Crawford we're told is a smart guy. Personally if he were that smart he'd have realized that the authorities would know full well he was heading for the park and go anywhere else. But greed overtakes intelligence.
There's also a nice role here for Felicia Farr as Meeker's accomplice. FBI man Reed Hadley and chief forest ranger Roy Roberts represent the law.
Big House USA spends more time in the wide open spaces than in a maximum security prison. Still it's a tight little noir film with a fine cast of players.
A young boy with one rich father is kidnapped by Meeker and dies while in his custody. Not that he killed him, but kidnapping alone as per the Lindbergh law gets him the gas chamber. Father Willis Bouchey pays the ransom, but gets no child back.
Meeker is arrested, but all he's charged with is extortion, without a body dead or alive, the authorities can do no more. But with the reputation as a child killer, Meeker's not going to be a popular guy even in the maximum security federal penitentiary he's sent.
But cell-mate Broderick Crawford has other ideas about the ransom money never recovered and buried in a national park. He and confederates Lon Chaney, Jr., William Talman, and Charles Bronson escape with Meeker. They had an escape plan in the works already, a quite ingenious one which costs another prisoner his life during a dry run.
A chance to see all these guys in a film is never to be passed up. Crawford we're told is a smart guy. Personally if he were that smart he'd have realized that the authorities would know full well he was heading for the park and go anywhere else. But greed overtakes intelligence.
There's also a nice role here for Felicia Farr as Meeker's accomplice. FBI man Reed Hadley and chief forest ranger Roy Roberts represent the law.
Big House USA spends more time in the wide open spaces than in a maximum security prison. Still it's a tight little noir film with a fine cast of players.
- bkoganbing
- Apr 13, 2014
- Permalink
- How long is Big House, U.S.A.?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Runtime1 hour 23 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.75 : 1
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