PATTERNS of behavior sometimes seem unfair -Devo

PATTERNS (1956, Fielder Cook) is a forgotten classic of the "big business noir" sub-genre. One could point to the lesser EXECUTIVE SUITE or the brilliant SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS for poor comparisons, but a more apt one would be to NETWORK, which - peculiarly - also happens to co-star the amazing Beatrice Straight as a businessman's firebrand wife.

Rod Serling adapted his own teleplay, originally aired on the Kraft Television Theater, with Richard Kiley replaced in the lead by the always-reliable Van Heflin. Heflin is Fred Staples, a businessman from Ohio transplanted to New York for a plum job at a big manufacturing firm, headed by Everett Sloane (CITIZEN KANE) in an absolutely stunning performance. In the middle, though, is Ed Begley as the 40-year veteran of the company reduced to being the boss' whipping boy.

In an unbelievably harsh, nail-biting narrative, we watch as "patterns" of big business are repeated and perfected, just like the ornate tiles in the office tower's foyer (shots of which repeatedly begin key sequences) - patterns of behavior intended to do nothing but further the aims of the business at the expense of the individual. The denoument of the film is like a gut-punch - just as in NETWORK, the most extreme and tragic behavior translates into absolute normalcy.

The entire cast is on fire. Scenes which start out as slow burns suddenly explode into emotional violence with a frequency uncommon in mid-1950s drama; pain registers in silent passages, entirely unaided by a swelling musical score (the film contains not one note). Ed Begley's ongoing tragedy may be thematically predictable, but the way he plays it is not. Refusing to paint stereotypical portraits of obviously tortured characters, Serling allows him to express contradictory emotions. Every word from Everett Sloane's mouth is an outpouring of pure acid. And Heflin turns in what might be his best performance as Staples, a worker who resolutely refuses to climb over another worker as he mounts the corporate ladder, yet who, in the final analysis, never takes his eye off the ball, conscience be damned. It's an astonishing film.