A brilliant, early 50s film by Billy Wilder, Ace In the Hole, is the kind of film that you know is not made anymore. A satire that is not glib and not too polished. Kirk Douglas is Charles Tatum, a big city reporter wasting in a small town in New Mexico. When he sees a potential story in the fate of a cave-in victim, Leo Minosa, he decides to milk it to his way back to the big press in New York. A modern, sharp-witted classic Billy Wilder film that failed originally is a darling among critics now and for good reason. It has so much to offer. Kirk Douglas is fantastic as a big-city reporter lusting for his 15 minutes, Jan Starling as the cold-blooded wife of Leo is a classic Hollywood sharp-talking-babe. Mr. Wilder's story leaves no man standing except the poor father and the hapless mother of the victim. The rest of the characters end up in the kind of circus that would put today's over-the-top all-pervasive media to shame.

Tatum seems to have amazing journalistic insights -- yellow or not. One of his classics that will live in my memory is:

"Good News is No News"