"The story of the handful of hope that became a fistful of hell!"

1956

1h 35m

7.2(174 votes)

Drama

Overview

A friendly, successful suburban teacher and father grows dangerously addicted to cortisone, resulting in his transformation into a household despot.

Links & Resources

IMDbView

Social & External

IMDb

Production Companies

Videos & Trailers

2 videos

Cast & Crew

28 members

Acting

James Mason

Ed Avery

Acting

Barbara Rush

Lou Avery

Acting

Walter Matthau

Wally Gibbs

Acting

Robert F. Simon

Dr. Norton

Acting

Christopher Olsen

Richie Avery

Acting

Roland Winters

Dr. Ruric

Acting

Rusty Lane

Bob LaPorte

Acting

Rachel Stephens

Nurse

Acting

Kipp Hamilton

Pat Wade

Acting

Betty Caulfield

Mrs. LaPorte (uncredited)

No Image

Acting

Virginia Carroll

Mrs. Jones (uncredited)

Acting

Renny McEvoy

Mr. Jones (uncredited)

Acting

Billy Jones

Mr. Byron (uncredited)

No Image

Acting

Dee Aaker

Joe (uncredited)

Acting

Jerry Mathers

Freddie (uncredited)

Acting

Portland Mason

Nancy (uncredited)

No Image

Acting

Natalie Masters

Mrs. Tyndall (uncredited)

No Image

Acting

Richard Collier

Milkman (uncredited)

Acting

Lewis Charles

Mr. McLennan (uncredited)

Acting

Gus Schilling

Druggist (uncredited)

No Image

Acting

Alex Frazer

Clergyman (uncredited)

No Image

Acting

Mary McAdoo

Mrs. Edwards (uncredited)

No Image

Acting

Mary Carver

Saleslady (uncredited)

Acting

Eugenia Paul

Saleslady (uncredited)

No Image

Acting

Gladys Richards

Lab Nurse (uncredited)

No Image

Acting

David Bedell

X-Ray Doctor (uncredited)

No Image

Acting

Joseph Mell

Dispatcher (uncredited)

Acting

George Chester

Janitor (uncredited)

No Image

Similar Movies

7.4

1958

The Magician

A traveling magician and his assistants are persecuted by authorities in 19th century Sweden. Their capture, however, didn't bring victory to those in power.

Movie

7.2

1976

Face to Face

Two psychiatrists' marriage is tested when one suffers a mental breakdown.

Movie

5.4

1998

Fögi Is a Bastard

15-year-old Beni falls in love with Fögi, a singer in a Rock band. As Fögi seduces him, he is only willing to follow him where ever Fögi wants to. But Fögi is a drug addict and pulls Beni deeper and deeper into the hell of drug addiction.

Movie

6.2

1997

Soul Food

Traditional Sunday dinners at Mama Joe's (Irma P. Hall) turn sour when sisters Teri (Vanessa L. Williams), Bird (Nia Long) and Maxine (Vivica A. Fox) start bringing their problems to the dinner table in this ensemble comedy. When tragedy strikes, it's up to grandson Ahmad (Brandon Hammond) to pull the family together and put the soul back into the family's weekly gatherings.

Movie

6.5

1929

Why Be Good?

A flapper unwittingly falls for the boss' son.

Movie

7.0

2020

Thappad

A young woman's life is shattered into pieces when her husband slaps her at a party, causing her to question what this relationship stands for.

Movie

3.0

1999

A Gift of Love: The Daniel Huffman Story

All his life, teenager Daniel Huffman and his grandma have dreamed of Daniel playing college football. After Daniel is cut from his high school team, his grandmother's encouragement and coaching get him a second chance at that dream. He works hard and becomes so good his coach believes he has a shot at making a top-ranked college team. But now Daniel faces a heart-wrenching choice that could force him to forever give up his dream.

Movie

7.2

2005

A History of Violence

An average family is thrust into the spotlight after the father commits a seemingly self-defense murder at his diner.

Movie

7.6

2000

Billy Elliot

County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with the lower classes suffering. Caught in the middle of the conflict is 11-year old Billy Elliot, who, after leaving his boxing club for the day, stumbles upon a ballet class and finds out that he's naturally talented. He practices with his teacher Mrs. Wilkinson for an upcoming audition in Newcastle-upon Tyne for the royal Ballet school in London.

Movie

7.0

2002

Open Hearts

Cecilie and Joachim are about to get married when a freak car accident leaves Joachim disabled, throwing their lives into a spin. The driver of the other car, Marie, and her family don’t get off lightly, either. Her husband Niels works in the hospital where he meets Cecilie and falls madly in love with her.

Movie

7.8

2001

Donnie Darko

After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.

Movie

6.4

1995

Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead

Five different criminals face imminent death after botching a job quite badly.

Movie

7.7

1999

The Straight Story

A retired farmer and widower in his 70s, Alvin Straight learns one day that his distant brother Lyle has suffered a stroke and may not recover. Alvin is determined to make things right with Lyle while he still can, but his brother lives in Wisconsin, while Alvin is stuck in Iowa with no car and no driver's license. Then he hits on the idea of making the trip on his old lawnmower, thus beginning a picturesque and at times deeply spiritual odyssey.

Movie

6.6

1998

Short Sharp Shock

Gabriel, Bobby and Costa are old friends from Altona, a multicultural hood in Hamburg. Just out of prison, Gabriel wants to turn his back on crime, but the others continue to operate as petty criminals. Friendships are tested as the trio navigate a dark world of mafia bosses and deals gone wrong.

Movie

7.0

2005

Caché

George, host of a television show focusing on literature, receives videos shot on the sly that feature his family, along with disturbing drawings that are difficult to interpret. He has no idea who has made and sent him the videos. Progressively, the contents of the videos become more personal, indicating that the sender has known George for a long time.

Movie

7.9

2001

A Beautiful Mind

From the heights of notoriety to the depths of depravity, John Forbes Nash Jr. experiences it all. As a brilliant but socially awkward mathematician, he made a groundbreaking discovery early in his career and stands on the brink of international acclaim. But as the handsome and arrogant Nash accepts secret work in cryptography, he becomes entangled in a mysterious conspiracy. His life takes a nightmarish turn and he soon finds himself on a painful and harrowing journey of self-discovery.

Movie

7.3

1955

Sissi

The young Bavarian princess Elisabeth, who all call Sissi, goes with her mother and older sister Néné to Austria where Néné will be wed to an emperor named Franz Joseph, Yet unexpectedly Franz runs into Sissi while out fishing and they fall in love.

Movie

7.1

1956

Sissi: The Young Empress

Sissi is now the empress of Austria and attempts to learn etiquette. While she is busy being empress she also has to deal with her difficult new mother-in-law, while the arch-duchess Sophie is trying to tell the emperor how to rule and also Sissi how to be a mother.

Movie

7.2

1957

Sissi: The Fateful Years of an Empress

After a wonderful time in Hungary Sissi falls extremely ill and must retreat to a Mediterranean climate to rest. The young empress’ mother takes her from Austria to recover in Madeira.

Movie

7.1

1991

My Own Private Idaho

In this loose adaptation of Shakespeare's "Henry IV," Mike Waters is a hustler afflicted with narcolepsy. Scott Favor is the rebellious son of a mayor. Together, the two travel from Portland, Oregon to Idaho and finally to the coast of Italy in a quest to find Mike's estranged mother. Along the way they turn tricks for money and drugs, eventually attracting the attention of a wealthy benefactor and sexual deviant.

Movie

Recommended Movies

7.6

1958

Elevator to the Gallows

A self-assured businessman murders his employer, husband of his mistress, which unintentionally provokes an ill-fated chain of events.

Movie

6.9

1933

Three Little Pigs

The two pigs building houses of hay and sticks scoff at their brother, building the brick house. But when the wolf comes around and blows their houses down (after trickery like dressing as a foundling sheep fails), they run to their brother's house. And throughout, they sing the classic song, "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?".

Movie

6.2

1983

Brainstorm

Two brilliant research scientists have invented a device capable of recording and playing back sensory experiences only to have devastating results when one of them records their own death.

Movie

7.4

1965

I Knew Her Well

A young woman from the Italian countryside experiences the dark side of the business after she moves to Rome to become a star.

Movie

6.0

1913

The Student of Prague

Prague, Bohemia, 1820. Balduin, a penniless student, falls in love with Countess Margit, a wealthy noblewoman whom he has saved from drowning.

Movie

6.5

1978

Killer of Sheep

An African-American man working at a slaughterhouse in the Watts area of Los Angeles leads a dissatisfied and listless existence.

Movie

6.2

1956

Michael Strogoff

When Emir Feofar Khan, leader of the Tartar hordes, takes up arms and invades the steppes of Eastern Siberia, Czar Alexander II of Russia entrusts the brave officer Michael Strogoff with a dangerous mission.

Movie

The Birth of the Goalie of the 2001 F.A. Cup Final

6.0

1982

The Birth of the Goalie of the 2001 F.A. Cup Final

A slow-witted couple decide to start a family.

Movie

7.5

1956

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

A small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.

Movie

7.6

1971

Harold and Maude

The young Harold lives in his own world of suicide-attempts and funeral visits to avoid the misery of his current family and home environment. Harold meets an 80-year-old woman named Maude who also lives in her own world yet one in which she is having the time of her life. When the two opposites meet they realize that their differences don’t matter and they become best friends and love each other.

Movie

6.9

2008

Valkyrie

Wounded in Africa during World War II, Nazi Col. Claus von Stauffenberg returns to his native Germany and joins the Resistance in a daring plan to create a shadow government and assassinate Adolf Hitler. When events unfold so that he becomes a central player, he finds himself tasked with both leading the coup and personally killing the Führer.

Movie

6.4

2024

The Watchers

A young artist gets stranded in an extensive, immaculate forest in western Ireland, where, after finding shelter, she becomes trapped alongside three strangers, stalked by mysterious creatures each night.

Movie

8.0

2023

Oppenheimer

The story of J. Robert Oppenheimer's role in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.

Movie

8.2

2010

Shutter Island

World War II soldier-turned-U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane, but his efforts are compromised by troubling visions and a mysterious doctor.

Movie

8.1

2019

Joker

During the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.

Movie

7.4

2019

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood

Los Angeles, 1969. TV star Rick Dalton, a struggling actor specializing in westerns, and stuntman Cliff Booth, his best friend, try to survive in a constantly changing movie industry. Dalton is the neighbor of the young and promising actress and model Sharon Tate, who has just married the prestigious Polish director Roman Polanski…

Movie

8.1

2024

Dune: Part Two

Follow the mythic journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the Fremen while on a path of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, Paul endeavors to prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.

Movie

7.9

1997

Titanic

101-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater tells the story of her life aboard the Titanic, 84 years later. A young Rose boards the ship with her mother and fiancé. Meanwhile, Jack Dawson and Fabrizio De Rossi win third-class tickets aboard the ship. Rose tells the whole story from Titanic's departure through to its death—on its first and last voyage—on April 15, 1912.

Movie

7.0

2025

Companion

During a weekend getaway at a secluded lakeside estate, a group of friends finds themselves entangled in a web of secrets, deception, and advanced technology. As tensions rise and loyalties are tested, they uncover unsettling truths about themselves and the world around them.

Movie

7.9

1972

Cries and Whispers

As Agnes slowly dies of cancer, her sisters are so immersed in their own psychic pains that they are unable to offer her the support she needs.

Movie