Perry Kate Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Lawbolisted Powerful

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Michael_Elliott Big Shakedown, The (1934) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Here's yet another Warner crime picture but this one here is about as far-fetched as you can get. A young pharmacist (Charles Farrell) isn't making too much cash in his store, which means he can't marry the girl (Bette Davis) he loves. At the same time a gangster (Ricardo Cortez) realizes there's no market for beer so he gets the bright idea of making fake toothpaste, female products and eventually medicine and hires to pharmacist to make it for him. Before long the gangster has the pharmacies by the neck and soon a tragedy happens. This film runs a very quick 62-minutes and if you're a fan of "B" movies then there's quite a bit to enjoy here. Yes, the story itself is rather silly at times and the final "message" included in a three paragraph newspaper report that we're forced to read is even sillier. I think fans of Warner and the terrific cast are going to enjoy what's on display here as long as they don't go in expecting THE PUBLIC ENEMY or anything of that quality. Farrell is pretty good in his role, although I'm sure many would argue that he's a bit too laid back in part. I thought this actually helped because his character really wouldn't be the type to do anything else than what he goes through here. By this time in his career Cortez was already a master at playing low-level hoods and he's fun to watch as usual. The supporting cast includes Glenda Farrell playing the gangster's mole and we get Allen Jenkins in for a few laughs. Davis isn't the Davis that is now a legend but I always enjoy seeing her in these early movies where she's yet to really hit her stride. Her performance is just fine so fans will have fun here. The director at least keeps the film moving at a fast pace and thankfully it doesn't go on too long because there's really not enough story here for much more. THE BIG SHAKEDOWN is a "B" movie all the way but as long as you don't expect too much it's not too hard to not have fun with the cast.

overseer-3 I am sure it was not just Miss Bette Davis who was appalled at having to try and breathe life into poor screenplays like this, for the appropriately titled "The Big Shakedown" (1934). Here with her were two major stars of the silent era, Charles Farrell and Ricardo Cortez, who had some of the most successful silent film credits to their names, and they were forced by the studio to endure mediocre, uninspiring roles in talkies like these, with implausible plots which border on the ludicrous. Perhaps this film might have had more bite to it if it had been a precode, perhaps not. However it isn't fair to blame the actors for a bad script. It's just horrible, folks. If Einstein were an actor even he couldn't have figured out how to breathe life into this one.They all try to do the best they can under the circumstances. Bette brings some sympathy to her good girl role; Charles Farrell is still unbelievably handsome, but his character makes some bad decisions out of greed for quick wealth, therefore his position is tenuous at best, and Ricardo Cortez tries to bring some taut dimension to a thankless role of yet another gangster type. I'm used to seeing him die at the end of talkies, however this ending takes the cake: he's shot AND falls into a tub of acid. Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle! Watch Ricardo fry! Creepy!Silent film fans and Bette fans should give it a wink, just don't be surprised if your winks turn into a complete shut-eye. Snore...........5 out of 10.

e_imdb-64 Although this is typical of the low-budget quickies that Warners churned out like hotcakes in the Thirties it offers Bette Davis in her most youthfully appealing "down-to-earth platinum blonde girl" phase. You can find the same character in THREE ON A MATCH, THE GIRL FROM 10TH AVENUE, THE PETRIFIED FOREST and others. She exudes an innocent but intelligent, unaffected femininity that seems to have evaporated by the time she hit her stride with JEZEBEL, so it's good that this phase of her career is preserved - if only to track her evolution as an actress. Note the energy and vitality she injects (perhaps effortlessly) into a supporting role as the girlfriend-wife, stealing every scene she's in - without relying on conventional beauty. It's kind of fun also to see how the scenarists managed to leap from one implausible, contrived plot development to the next - but that's a secondary matter because most of these films were beyond belief. The point was to make a moral point, not to be narratively convincing. The point here being: evil gangsters, beware of the authorities because they'll get you!

MartinHafer This is a low-budget and sloppily acted film with many plot problems--but it somehow redeems itself with a snappy ending.Charles Farrell is an owner of a corner drug store. He seems like a decent man but is pulled into the seedy world of knock-off products posing as the originals. At first, it's innocent enough--no one got seriously hurt buying fake tooth paste that was essentially the same as the original. But later, the gangsters he works for insist into diversifying and make cheap and ineffective versions of drugs. Then, people start to die (including Farrell's own unborn son). So far, this is all VERY over-the-top and difficult to believe--and it's hard to care one bit about Farrell. After all--what do you EXPECT when you work with gangsters?! Duh! However, despite the quality of the movie to this point, there are several sensational plot twists at the end and the movie becomes really gritty and exciting. I really don't want to fill you in on it because it would spoil the surprises. But rest assured, this was a pre-Hays Code film and it's doubtful such a messy conclusion would have been done just a few years later! Now on to the biggest complaint about the film. Bette Davis was simply one of the greatest actresses that lived. However, here in this film and many others of the day, her roles were barely hashed out and her characters could have been played by any semi-competent actress of the day. Here in this movie, she is given practically no depth to her character and those expecting to see a Bette Davis film will be greatly disappointed. Fortunately, by the late 30s, she WAS finally consistently given good material that allowed her talents to shine. This movie, unfortunately, was not her finest moment.