''The Big Guy'' is a 1939 American

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed by

Arthur Lubin Arthur Lubin (July 25, 1898 – May 11, 1995) was an American film director and producer who directed several ''Abbott & Costello'' films, ''Phantom of the Opera'' (1943), the ''Francis the Talking Mule'' series and created the talking-horse TV se ...

starring

Victor McLaglen Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen (10 December 1886 – 7 November 1959) was a British boxer-turned-Hollywood actor.Obituary ''Variety'', 11 November 1959, page 79. He was known as a character actor, particularly in Westerns, and made se ...

and

Jackie Cooper John Cooper Jr. (September 15, 1922 – May 3, 2011) was an American actor, television director, producer, and executive, known universally as Jackie Cooper. He was a child actor who made the transition to an adult career. Cooper was the first ...

Plot

A prison warden (

) can either keep loot for his family or save an innocent youth (

) condemned to die.

Cast

as Warden Bill Whitlock *

as Jimmy Hutchins *

Ona Munson Ona Munson (born Owena Elizabeth Wolcott; June 16, 1903 – February 11, 1955) was an American film and stage actress. She starred in nine Broadway productions and 20 feature films in her career, which spanned over 30 years. Born and raised in ...

as Mary Whitlock *

Peggy Moran Peggy Moran (born Mary Jeanette Moran, October 23, 1918 – October 24, 2002) was an American film actress who appeared in films between 1938 and 1943. Early years Born in Clinton, Iowa, Moran was the daughter of Earl Moran, an artist wh ...

as Joan Lawson *

Edward Brophy Edward Santree Brophy (February 27, 1895 – May 27, 1960) was an American character actor and comedian, as well as an assistant director and second unit director during the 1920s. Small of build, balding, and raucous-voiced, he frequently ...

as Dippy *

Jonathan Hale Jonathan Hale (born Jonathan Hatley; March 21, 1891 – February 28, 1966) was a Canadian-born film and television actor. Life and career Hale was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Before his acting career, Hale worked in the Diplomatic Co ...

as Jack Lang *

Russell Hicks Edward Russell Hicks (June 4, 1895 – June 1, 1957) was an American film character actor. Hicks was born in 1895 in Baltimore, Maryland. During World War I, he served in the U.S. Army in France. He later became a lieutenant Colonel in the Cali ...

as Lawson *

Wallis Clark Wallis Hensman Clark (2 March 1882 – 14 February 1961) was an English stage and film actor. Biography Clark was born in Bolton, Lancashire, England, the son of William Wallis Clark (1854 - 1930), an engineer. Prior to acting, Clark was an en ...

as District Attorney * Alan Davis as Joe *

Murray Alper Murray Alper (January 11, 1904 – November 16, 1984) was an American actor. He appeared in numerous television series, films, and Broadway productions. Biography Born in New York City in 1904, Alper worked on Broadway from 1927 to 1940 in a nu ...

as Williams *

Edward Pawley Edward Joel Pawley (March 16, 1901 in Kansas City, Missouri – January 27, 1988 in Charlottesville, Virginia) was an American actor of radio, films and Broadway. The full name on his birth certificate is Edward Joel Stone Pawley; he never ...

as Buckhart * George McKay as Buzz Miller

Production

Universal had been looking for a project to team Victor McLaglen and Jackie Cooper for some months. This was the script chosen. It was originally called ''No Power On Earth'' and it was announced in September 1939. Filming started in October 1939 and ended in November. Lubin's work on the film got him the job of ''Black Friday'' which started shooting in December.DRAMA: Orson Welles to Star in 'Smiler With Knife' Los Angeles Times 14 Dec 1939: 13.

References

External links

*
The Big Guy
at BFI
Review of film
at Variety Teehee 1939 films 1939 crime drama films American crime drama films Films directed by Arthur Lubin American black-and-white films Films scored by Hans J. Salter 1930s English-language films 1930s American films {{1930s-crime-drama-film-stub