Bigger Than Life (1956)

Director
Nicholas Ray

Main cast
James Mason; Barbara Rush; Walter Matthau; Robert F. Simon; Christopher Olsen

Genres
Drama

Description
Bigger Than Life is an American film made in 1956 directed by Nicholas Ray and starring James Mason, who also co-wrote and produced the film, about a school teacher and family man whose life spins out of control upon becoming addicted to cortisone.


Similar movies

A dedicated schoolteacher spends her nights cruising bars, looking for abusive men with whom she can engage in progressively violent sexual encounters.
A sex-addicted con-man pays for his mother's hospital bills by playing on the sympathies of those who rescue him from choking to death.
The hopes and dreams of four ambitious people are shattered when their drug addictions begin spiraling out of control. A look into addiction and how it overcomes the mind and body.
When transplanted Texan Bob Seton arrives in Lawrence, Kansas he finds much to like about the place, especially Mary McCloud, daughter of the local banker. Politics is in the air however. It's just prior to the civil war and there is already a sharp division in the Territory as to whether it will remain slave-free. When he gets the opportunity to run for marshal, Seton finds himself running against the respected local schoolteacher, William Cantrell. Not is what it seems however. While acting as the upstanding citizen in public, Cantrell is dangerously ambitious and is prepared to do anything to make his mark, and his fortune, on the Territory. When he loses the race for marshal, he forms a group of raiders who run guns into the territory and rob and terrorize settlers throughout the territory. Eventually donning Confederate uniforms, it is left to Seton and the good citizens of Lawrence to face Cantrell and his raiders in one final clash.
Undercover cop Jim Raynor (Jason Patric) is a seasoned veteran. His partner, Kristen Cates (Jennifer Jason Leigh), is lacking in experience, but he thinks she's tough enough to work his next case with him: a deep cover assignment to bring down the notoriously hard-to-capture drug lord Gaines (Gregg Allman). While their relationship turns romantic during the assignment, they also turn into junkies, and will have to battle their own addictions if they want to bring down Gaines once and for all.
De 12-jarige Gilles droomt ervan om profvoetballer te worden en als Rode Duivel in het Koning Boudewijnstadion te spelen. Vader Bert steunt Gilles door dik en dun: hij is niet alleen Gilles' trouwste supporter, maar ook zijn persoonlijke trainer. Maar dan, totaal onverwacht, sterft Bert en het leven van Gilles stort in elkaar. Niet alleen verliest hij zijn vader, zijn vriend, zijn supporter en zijn trainer, er komen ook nogal wat financiële lijken uit de kast vallen...
A romantic comedy that brings together three disparate characters who are learning to face a challenging and often confusing world as they struggle together against a common demon: sex addiction.
An operative for an elite private intelligence firm finds her priorities irrevocably changed after she is tasked with infiltrating an anarchist group known for executing covert attacks upon major corporations.
Love and injury in time of war. Attilio de Giovanni teaches poetry in Italy. He has a romantic soul, and women love him. But he is in love with Vittoria, and the love is unrequited. Every night he dreams of marrying her, in his boxer shorts and t-shirt, as Tom Waits sings. Vittoria travels to Iraq with her friend, Fuad, a poet; they are there with the second Gulf War breaks out. Vittoria is injured. Attilio must get to her side, and then, as war rages around him, he must find her the medical care she needs. In war, does love conquer all?
Film adaptation of street tough Jim Carroll's epistle about his kaleidoscopic free fall into the harrowing world of drug addiction.
French drama, the debut film from writer-director Eléonore Faucher. Teenager Claire (Lola Naymark) discovers she is pregnant and decides to keep it a secret. Abandoning her dead-end supermarket job, she is taken on as an apprentice by couturiere Madame Mélikian (Ariane Ascaride), who is grieving over the death of her own child. As the two women work together, they soon develop a supportive and fam
Schoolteacher Hisako Oishi struggles to imbue her students with a positive view of the world and their place in it, despite the fact that she knows full well that most of them will die in the war.
This movie is a stark portrayal of life among a group of heroin addicts who hang out in Needle Park in New York City. Played against this setting is a low-key love story between Bobby, a young addict and small-time hustler, and Helen, a homeless girl who finds in her relationship with Bobby the stability she craves.
A top Hollywood talent agent finds his cushy existence threatened when he discovers that his wife is cheating on him and that his journal has been swiped by a reporter out to bring him down.
Hudson Milbank is a successful Hollywood screenwriter who suddenly and strangely finds himself without any emotional feelings. He tries doctor after doctor and shrink after shrink, but nothing works. The Golf Channel, lesbian exercise classes and a dizzying variety of pills get him through the day, but don't quite solve his problem. His writing partner tries everything to get him back to normal, but it's not until Hudson meets Sara that he finds a real motivation to get better and to actually start feeling again. From the writer of Deuce Bigalow, comes NUMB, a romantic comedy following an unusual man looking for strange love.
A young man struggles to become a boxing champ, but success blinds him. It is only through the love of his girlfriend that he is brought back to reality.
Renton is living the dream and that dream is Heroin. As Renton struggles with the agony and ecstasy of his life we follow him and his increasingly unstable mates. Drinking, fighting, drugs, sex and the most disgusting toilet in Scotland. Choose Trainspotting.
Shuhei Horikawa, a poor schoolteacher, struggles to raise his son Ryohei by himself, despite neither money nor prospects.
While waiting for the brain surgery of his daughter Angela, victim of a motorcycle accident, the surgeon Timoteo recalls his torrid affair with and passion for Italia, a simple woman from slums in the periphery of the big city where he lives. The ghost of the beloved and sexual object of desire Italia chases him in his memories.
In the 1940's South, an African-American man is wrongly accused of the killing a a white store owner. In his defense, his white attorney equates him with a lowly hog, to indicate that he didn't have the sense to know what he was doing. Nevertheless convicted, he is sentenced to die, but his godmother and the aunt of the local schoolteacher convince school teacher go to the convicted man's cell each day to try to reaffirm to him that he is not an animal but a man with dignity.
A high school kid (Sumpter) develops an addiction to Internet porn so intense that it begins to destroy his life and tear his family apart.
An Irish sports journalist becomes convinced that Lance Armstrong's performances during the Tour de France victories are fueled by banned substances. With this conviction, he starts hunting for evidence that will expose Armstrong.
Bilbao. The commander of the Guardia Civil, Evaristo Torrecuadrada discovers that his son Paco of 17 years old is a heroin addict. His hope was to see him in the Military Academy. Paco, by differences with his father, runs away from home with a pistol. The commander begins his quest aided by co-Body, using the means at its disposal to achieve its objective. Lt. Alcantara, an expert on drugs, will be one of the most prominent in this quest. The Civil Guard Commander begins to discover a world that knew nothing. Urko's father, nationalist leader with a heroin adict son, helps in some way to find out. His principles, his life, his struggle, fall into a deep crisis, exacerbated by the developments ...
The victims of an encephalitis epidemic many years ago have been catatonic ever since, but now a new drug offers the prospect of reviving them.
A gallerist risks her family and flourishing career when she enters into an affair with a talented painter and slowly loses control of her life.
A troubled young man, Li faces pressure at work and problems at home with his moody wife. Chuck, rescues Li from the brink of despair and becomes an unlikely mentor. But who is Chuck really?
Beloved schoolteacher reflects back on her life and former students when she is hospitalized...
Every nation gets the heroes it deserves. A man with a special blood type is used as a device for human doping athletes skiing national team.
Stefania, works in a bookshop. Shortly before she wants to close for holidays, Andrea, who is left behind by his fiance, enters the store.
A female doctor returns from the city to her home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Appalachia in the 1930s, intending to bring modern medical care to the area's impoverished and ill-educated residents. However, she finds herself going against the local "medicine woman," who believes that her simple, backwoods remedies and methods are sufficient and distrusts the new doctor's "big-city" ways.
Joe Pendleton is a quarterback preparing to lead his team to the superbowl when he is almost killed in an accident. An overanxious angel plucks him to heaven only to discover that he wasn't ready to die, and that his body has been cremated. A new body must be found, and that of a recently murdered millionaire is chosen. His wife and accountant, the murderers, are confused by this development, as he buys the L.A. Rams in order to once again quarterback them into the Superbowl.
In New York City, Brandon's carefully cultivated private life which allows him to indulge his sexual addiction is disrupted when his sister Cissy arrives unannounced for an indefinite stay.
Tabloid reporters are sent by their editor to investigate after the paper recieves a letter from a woman claiming an angel is living with her.
Based on the stage play by Michael V. Gazzo, this noir-stained drama provides a searing look at the emotional carnage of a drug addicted ex-G.I. (Don Murray) along with his family and friends. Perhaps the harshest and most realistic perspective of a grim topic that holds up better than any other film of its type.
The Morgans, a loving and strong family of Black sharecroppers in Louisiana in 1933, face a serious family crisis when the husband and father, Nathan Lee Morgan, is convicted of a petty crime and sent to a prison camp. After some weeks or months, the wife and mother, Rebecca Morgan, sends the oldest son, who is about 11 years old, to visit his father at the camp. The trip becomes something of an odyssey for the boy. During the journey he stays a little while with a dedicated Black schoolteacher.
Minor leaguer Carlton Garret takes an unexpected road trip to track down his estranged father, legendary baseball player Kyle Garret when Carlton’s mother becomes sick. Once reunited, Carlton struggles to deal with the series of misadventures caused by his father’s antics. Attempts at bonding come to a head as the mismatched duo make their way from Ohio back home to Houston to reunite the family.
There were five Marines and one Navy Corpsman photographed raising the U.S. flag on Mt. Suribachi by Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945. "Flags of Our Fathers" is the story of three of the six surviving servicemen, John "Doc" Bradley (Ryan Phillippe), Pvt. Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford), and Pvt. Ira Hayes (Adam Beach), who fought in the battle to take Iwo Jima. "Flags of Our Fathers" is the American viewpoint of Eastwood's diptych on the battle of Iwo Jima, the other being "Letters From Iwo Jima", which tells the same story from the Japanse point of view.
Frankie is a heroin addict and sits in prison. He wants a different life but the rehabilitation isn’t as easy as he had thought. Director Otto Preminger films one of the first social studies of an addict in this 1955 film.
In small-town Texas, high school football is a religion, 17-year-old schoolboys carry the hopes of an entire community onto the gridiron every Friday night. When star quarterback Lance Harbor suffers an injury, the Coyotes are forced to regroup under the questionable leadership of John Moxon, a second-string quarterback with a slightly irreverent approach to the game.
Khaila Richards, a crack-addicted single mother, accidentally leaves her baby in a dumpster while high and returns the next day in a panic to find he is missing. In reality, the baby has been adopted by a warm-hearted social worker, Margaret Lewin, and her husband, Charles. Years later, Khaila has gone through rehab and holds a steady job. After learning that her child is still alive, she challenges Margaret for the custody.
Ben Quick arrives in Frenchman's Bend, MS after being kicked out of another town for allegedly burning a barn for revenge. Will Varner owns just about everything in Frenchman's Bend and he hires Ben to work in his store. Will thinks his own son, Jody, who manages the store, lacks ambition and despairs of him getting his wife, Eula, pregnant. Will thinks his daughter, Clara, a schoolteacher, will never get married. He decides that Ben Quick might make a good husband for Clara to bring some new blood into the family
When a PhD student decides to document a real life sex addict for her dissertation in sex psychology, she becomes much more than a curious observer.
Set in Montreal during the disco phenomenon some 35 years ago, Funkytown follows the life of a group of colorful characters. We follow their lives and tribulations as everyone converges on a regular basis at Montreal's hot disco spot: Starlight. Along the way, several events take place that change these characters' lives. As these characters' lives unfold, the Parti Québécois takes power changing the cultural landscape in Quebec while the disco craze slowly fades. While we keep up with these various characters - it is Bastien who is a central part of this story. His drug addiction, dreams to become an actor and womanizing - make him the "bigger than life" typical 70s character around which the whole story revolves.
Based on her acclaimed autobiographical book, THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD tells the story of Novalyne Price, an attractive feisty West Texas schoolteacher and her bittersweet, romantic and turbulent relationship with Robert E. Howard, the great pulp fiction writer of the 1930's.
Screenwriter Paul Javal's marriage to his wife Camille disintegrates during a film production as she spends time with its producer.
The true story of The Temptations, the Soul vocal group of the 1960s, as seen from the viewpoint of the last surviving member, Otis Williams. Beginning from their humble origins in the late 50s and continuing through the 90s and the deaths of the other 4 members.
The story follows 19-year-old Renee who has always loved fairy tales: the idea of a princess, a hero and a happily ever after. But Renee’s life is that of a darker tale: she’s a young woman battling addiction, depression and self-injury. In a creative blend of artistic fantasy balanced with harsh reality, the movie follows Renee on her courageous journey towards recovery.
A teenage girl accuses her primary schoolteacher, Jean Doucet (Jacques Brel), of trying to rape her. The police and the mayor investigate, but Doucet denies the charges. Two other students come forward to reveal more of Doucet's misconduct – one confessing to be his mistress. Doucet faces trial and hard labor if convicted.
Through out six different and yet parallel stories that take place during the corrupted goverment during the 90s in Peru, Lombardi tells the moral decomposition that ran through all classes and generations of the peruvian society.
A shocking story about addiction and attempts to overcome it. The script is based on Jerzy Plich’s excellent novel “The Mighty Angel” (alternative title: "The Strong Angel Inn"). Jerzy (Robert Więckiewicz) is a writer and a heavy drinker. We meet him at the point when he believes that he can beat his addiction. He falls in love with a young girl (Julia Kijowska) and finally feels that he has got the person and the reason to live for. But soon he yields to his addiction.
A schoolteacher (John Waters) becomes obsessed with the idea that his wife (Joy Bell) did not die in a car accident, as everyone else thinks.
The story of the first cloned human being - told in her own words: At the age of thirty the world-famous composer Iris Sellin learns that she has an incurable illness. She - a person who wanted to live for ever - does however not give in. In order to preserve her art and also herself, beyond death, for all posterity, she has herself cloned. Her daughter Siri, whom, in this way, she turns into her virtual twin, learns as a child that she is the world's first cloned human being. In fact a blueprint: a blueprint of her mother. From that moment on nothing is as it was before...
Marcia always thought her overachieving daughter Zoey was the dream child. But then she discovers that her perfect teen has a not-so-perfect drug addiction. Marcia and her ex-husband go through plenty of denial as their daughter spirals out of control. It's a true-to-life tale that parents and their kids should watch together.
When a schoolteacher is sacked, he projects his bad mood at his troubled teenage son. The son, in turn, buys a CD player from a pawnshop with counterfeit money. This starts a chain reaction of misery as every victim projects his problems on to another person.
A man receives a mysterious e-mail appearing to be from his wife, who was murdered years earlier. As he frantically tries to find out whether she's alive, he finds himself being implicated in her death.
Patti Petalson is a promising writer, but her marriage and conventional job keep her from her dream. She longs to return to her writing, especially after running into her first love Brian Callahan, a successful crime novelist. Kate is Patti's best friend since college; she's a tough-talking schoolteacher who plays therapist to all Patti's problems, while she's got a few of her own.
A vampiric doctoral student tries to follow the philosophy of a nocturnal comrade and control her thirst for blood.
Thursday morning, Jerusalem. Nira goes to work. Ahmad in London does the same, Ralf in Cologne and a priest in Prague too. Matija, Croat, goes to work as well. Ok, he doesn't, but he acts as if he does. Ahmad is taking his routine red bus journey. Out-of-breath young man comes in and interrupts it. Schoolteacher Nira is also interrupted - her pupil jumps out and performs a love rap song he wrote for her. The priest in Prague doesn't feel like singing today, he is in the mood for (over)sleeping instead. Someone falls asleep, someone else - Ralf - falls in love. All five mentioned above are listening to the top-news about the disappearance of bees. And trying their best, each one of them in his or her own 'hive': Zagreb, Jerusalem, London, Cologne, Prague...
Rille, an ostracized and bullied teenager, who only excels in the ping pong room, descends into a life-and-death struggle with his younger, more popular brother when the truth about their father surfaces during their spring break.

© Valossa 2015–2024