Popular reviews

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  Review by russman ★★★

  Back when I was a toddler, my mother took me to an audition for a commercial where I supposedly had to stretch my arms out and say "So Big".

  I didn't get the part.

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  Review by Hannah ★★★

  This film more or less made me realize that I could live with not being true to myself if it meant I was comfortably rich...or maybe that's the fact that I only have $30 to my name.

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  Review by AstaCharles ★★★

  So much wheat and emerald against a velvet backdrop.

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  Review by Toyiah ★★★

  The script could have used some finessing to tell its story with more emotional depth and energy. Steve Forrest is terribly wooden and boring when he's on screen, but in his defense, it may just be all he had to work with. Jane Wyman is fantastic though. I mostly enjoyed how this whole story highlighted strong women working to shape these half decent men into great thinkers and businessmen.

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  Review by Jeffery Petrone ★★½

  This 3rd adaptation of Edna Ferber's "So Big" isn't that griping although there are some endearing qualities to this film.

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  Review by David Pousak ★★★

  This has a lot going through it, from a great source material, a fine cast (and Richard Beymer), and a great director. Sadly, it doesn't automatically make a great movie. It tries to cover over a quarter of a century of material in less than two hours, with awkward pacing, and several cast members don't work well at all (Beymer especially, and poor Sterling Hayden is miscast, for example), but the material and decent direction (though not up to the normal Robert Wise standard) keep this afloat, with Jane Wyman delivering a great performance. There is this pleasant feeling to the movie that kept me quite invested even if I was never astonished.

  It's a shame that it's only a solid movie and not a great movie, as I wanted to see this for quite some time now.

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  Review by Luka ★★★

  One thing I appreciate about this is how patiently the story is told. Unfortunately it isn't a terribly interesting one. In fact, I'd seen it before (the 1932 version) only a few months ago and simply forgotten all about it. That pretty much says it all.

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  Review by flora_finching ★★★

  Now I can't unsee it: Sally Field IS Jane Wyman.

  I loved Wyman's character in this film. Her kindness, strength, and play-the-hand-you're-dealt, can-do spirit was admirable, and she played it well. It seemed to take awhile for all the pieces of her story to come together, and I'm not sure it was done as well as it might have been. There was a strong Oedipal feeling that was a little icky, and could have been downplayed a bit. But the other, more intentional theme of emeralds and wheat was a memorable one.

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  Review by Jeromest ★★★½

  Melodrama that follows four stages of Selina (Jane Wymans) life: princess, pauper, matron, queen.   It’s all Wyman, and she defines indefatigable.  

  Sterling Hayden has a brief part, which is disappointing because I wanted to see the combo of Director Wise/Hayden like Wise/Ryan (The Setup) or Wise/Tierney (Born to Kill).  Instead Sterling belts out monosyllabic exhortations.  

  However, the plot turns to capitalism like Thieve’s Highway (Dassin 1953) and Wyman’s crushed dreams of being an artist, and her expectations passed on to her son Dirk, who moves to Big City and quickly  trapped by  his impatience. 

  Hints of modernistic angst and greed, a little Good Will  Hunting, Wyman loves vegetables, and the beginning of a noir for Dirk.

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  Review by Kenny ★★½

  “So Big” is the worst nickname i’ve ever heard for a human person

  decent movie tho. Richard Beymer was a fun little sadboi brat, and Jane Wyman was great. kinda lost interest halfway through though

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  Review by Richard Doyle ★★★

  Jane Wyman is an affluent young schoolgirl in late 19th century Chicago whose father manages to lose his fortune and his life in one afternoon. Destitute, she is forced to accept a job as a school teacher in a nearby farm town, moving in with the family of local farmer Roland Winters.

  His son Richard Beymer doesn't attend school because he needs to work on the farm, but Wyman realizes he has a taste for literature and music. She gives him private lessons after school, and soon he's developed a crush on Wyman. But Wyman has fallen for local farmer Sterling Hayden and they soon marry.

  Wyman and Hayden have a son whom she nicknames "So Big" due to his…

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  Review by AbandonChimp ★★½

  A mostly dull melodrama that only perks up when Hayden is on the screen.