Themes: Boss from Hell, Fighting the System, Labor Unions
Main Cast: Michael Moore
Release Year: 1997
Country: US
Run Time: 95 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Comedic documentary filmmaker Michael Moore takes his film crew throughout the U.S. for The Big One, a behind-the-scenes video diary of the promotional tour for his book Downsize This! He appears at several chain bookstores throughout the nation, signing autographs and delivering wicked political commentary to audiences. Along the way, he stops at various small-town parking lots and malls, gathering brief interviews with assorted Americans. Some of his interview subjects include an ex-convict who was hired as cheap labor for TWA airlines while in prison and a group of Borders employees who organize a union. Brief celebrity appearances include Garrison Keillor, Studs Terkel, and Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen. In his typical ambushing fashion, Moore makes several cleverly unexpected visits to people in powerful positions. One attempt finds Moore bringing laid-off working mothers to visit a local government official with the intent of cleaning his office to show that they want a job. In Centralia, IL, Moore visits the Leaf candy company, who plans to move their factories to Mexico, resulting in massive layoffs. The camera crew heads into their administrative offices and attempts to meet with the CEO in witty trademark fashion. Other corporate targets include Johnson Controls, Pillsbury, and, finally, Nike, where CEO Phil Knight grants Moore some dialogue. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Review
After the success of the satiric documentary Roger & Me, the indefatigable Michael Moore makes another humorous attempt to physically critique corporate America. While his first film moved in a direction with a clear goal in mind, The Big One lacks any singular purpose. It is essentially a behind-the-scenes look at Moore's book tour for Downsize This!, interspersed with occasional unannounced visitations at various corporate headquarters and brief interviews with laid-off employees. There are glimpses of the labor and management conflicts in middle-American companies, but then it shifts back to the book tour shenanigans, with Moore trying to dodge his pesky media escorts (who are, in fact, working people, too) and cracking up audiences at book-signing appearances. Throughout the film, Moore is shown on-stage, delivering his amusing political commentary, certainly positioning himself as a celebrity icon. This star status is a curious position for Moore, who, as the champion of the underdogs, was more effective as the outspoken outsider in Roger & Me. The final corporate assault of the film is an interesting meeting with Nike CEO Phil Knight, but without any lead-in information, this hardly can be called a conclusion. While smart and funny, yet missing a clearly defined topic, the focus of The Big One lands on Moore himself, which would set the tone for his Bravo TV series The Awful Truth. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Michael Moore - Director, Meg Reticker - Editor, Jeremy Gibson - Executive Producer, David Mortimer - Executive Producer, World Famous Blue Jays - Composer (Music Score), Brian Danitz - Cinematographer, Chris Smith - Cinematographer, Kathleen Glynn - Producer, Sarah Price - Sound/Sound Designer
The Big One is a movie filmed in 1996—and released in 1998 by Miramax Films—by Michael Moore during his promotion tour around the United States for his book Downsize This!. Through the 47 towns he visits, Moore discovers and describes American economic failings and the fear of unemployment of the American workers.
Background
Although much of the film features Moore unsuccessfully chasing the heads and chief executives of major corporations, he is eventually able to talk with Nike CEO Phil Knight on his company's labor practices. The movie also takes potshots at PresidentBill Clinton, and the three other major presidential candidates of the 1996 election, although it is in large part directed at Clinton's "betrayal" of progressive economic ideals.
