User reviews

I happened to stumble on this on TCM while channel surfing (I had seen the blurb in their program guide and had given it short shrift) and, although ten minutes or so into the movie I was immediately gripped by the acting. I stayed for the whole thing and was amazed at the quality of this practically forgotten movie with script by Rod Serling and superb performances by Van Heflin, Everett Sloane, Ed Begley and Beatrice Straight. Anyone who has been in the business world in even an incidental way will be taken by the way in which Serling has so effectively captured the machinations and power ploys in the corporate world. A bald description of the plot - ceo grooms upcoming exec to replace a company veteran - gives no idea of how exciting the realization is on screen (which is why I skipped past the program guide listing); it is simply gripping. Director Fielder Cook's work subsequent to this has been primarily in television.

If you're fortunate to find this rarity scheduled, by all means don't miss it.

Patterns centres around the fierce and dog eat dog world of an executive conglomerate company. Written by Rod Serling (he of The Twilight Zone fame) and based on his own play, it's a stunning picture that relies (and succeeds) on spiky dialogue and a trio of superlative acting performances. Not containing any music at all and filmed primarily within the confines of an interior setting, Serling and his on form director, Fielder Cook, have crafted probably the essential picture dealing with the harsh and at times brutal realities of big business ladder climbing.

Everett Sloane, Ed Begley and Van Heflin really provide the viewers with an acting tour de force. Sloane as the big boss Walter Ramsey, creates a strutting despotic character that is as memorable as it is harsh, here's a man who will not "pattern" a sacking of an employee, he would rather break him into resignation!, a totally vile and cruel "pattern" tactic. Begley (superbly playing weary emotion) plays the genial and honest William Briggs, who upon welcoming Van Heflin's Fred Staples to the company, realises it's likely to be at his own cost. This giving the film a deep emotional "pattern" as Staples (Heflin to me, donning a career high) gets conflicted about his role in this company, this leads us to a truly excellent finale as Heflin and Sloane go at each other with a gripping intensity that many modern actors could do no worse than to take note of, it really is something to behold.

A fabulous movie that comes highly recommended to anyone who appreciates dialogue driven films with intelligence pouring from every frame. 9/10

Patterns finds Van Heflin, newly arrived from Mansfield, Ohio where Everett Sloane's corporation has just bought out the factory where he was the plant manager. Sloane was impressed enough with Heflin to take him along to New York and make him a member of his company's board of directors. Vice President Ed Begley was impressed with Heflin's abilities as well and befriends him.

What Heflin doesn't realize is that he's the object of a corporate power play. Sloane is hard driving, ruthless executive usually in the kind of role Ed Begley plays. For once Ed Begley is a nice guy in a film. He's a decent soul unlike Sloane, but he's past his best years. Sloane doesn't want to fire him, just demean him enough so he'll quit. Begley's loyalties to the company stem from when Sloane's father ran the business and he can't see life beyond it.

All this comes out at the first board meeting that Heflin attends and later at a party that he and wife Beatrice Straight throw for the board members. Heflin is a confused man, caught between liking and admiring Begley and sadly knowing his future lies with Sloane.

A number of films were made in these years about corporate connivings at the top. Patterns can hold its own with any of them and that list would include Executive Suite, The Power And The Prize, Cash McCall, and B.F.'s Daughter in which Van Heflin co-starred with Barbara Stanwyck.

Patterns was originally a television drama and one of the best early scripts done by Rod Serling. Begley and Sloane repeated their roles, movie name Heflin was substituted for Richard Kiley. The filming still betrays its photographed teleplay origins, but the players more than compensate for the deficiencies there.

For a good look at how we saw corporate America in the Eisenhower years you can't do much better than Patterns or any of the other films I mentioned.

...Rod Serling is recalled today almost exclusively for his speculative fiction television series "The Twilight Zone" and "Rod Serling's Night Gallery." Perhaps that's understandable, given the out-of-sight-out-of-mind nature of today's audiences, and the fact that the generation Serling first impressed with this lean but powerful work in 1955 on the "Kraft Television Theater" is now well into the process of dying out. Still, the kinetic nature of PATTERNS, either in this theatrical film or in the kinescoped original TV broadcast, is not lost on today's first-time viewers. It helped that two of the three leads in this picture, Everett Sloan and Ed Begley, were carried over from the TV productions (Richard Kiley was replaced in this film by Van Heflin, giving perhaps his single greatest performance). But Serling's screenplay has not lost one bit of its relevance; in fact, I'm surprised nobody's thought of remaking this one...

Patterns is a lesser-known film version of big business intrigue. A much more famous example of this type of film is Executive Suite, but despite that film's big budget and numerous stars, Patterns (with its tight script by Rod Serling and superb acting) blows Executive Suite out of the water.

Van Heflin plays a factory manager brought to New York City from Ohio. Everett Sloane plays the ruthless head of the company, and Ed Begley is the harassed company man who is nearing retirement. Sloane hates Begley's outmoded ways of doing business and grooms Heflin to take over. But Heflin and Begley become friends, and Heflin doesn't want to get ahead at the expense of his friend. The dynamic between these three very different characters forms the gripping premise of the film.

The best scene is when Begley, having stayed late to finish some work, is contemplating doing terrible things to his boss, Sloane. Heflin drops by to speak with him and sees what a distraught state of mind Begley is in and tries to convince him that he should retire. Begley works himself up into such a state that he begins shouting, but right about then, his son comes by looking for his dad because he promised to take him to a ballgame. Begley doesn't want his son to see him in that state of mind and implores Heflin to tell him he's gone home. From this point the film works toward its powerful climax.

Heflin is superb, as are Sloane and Begley. All were very well respected character actors and so it is not correct to say the cast is filled with unknowns. The remainder of the cast is also good but has less to do.

Patterns deserves to be better known than it is. Don't miss it.

One of Rod Serling's finest efforts, turned into one of the finest commentaries on the corporate rat-race ever put on film. Watching old pro actors like Everett Sloane and Van Heflin remind us of how weak and limited most of our big-salary "actors" truly are today. Comparing the REAL Ed Begley with the scrawny, whining little namesake that sprung somehow from his loins is indeed the definitive statement on how low the acting "profession" has sunk.

This is a gripping, vicious film that claws at the corporate beast and the greed that grips us all. We may not like it, but it's in all of us, and this forces us to see both the good and the bad sides of it -- though the bad side is emphasized more strongly, of course.

You will see few films better than this and will probably wonder why you never heard of it before. Along with the better-known "Requiem for a Heavyweight," this is one film that shows the raw power that Serling could deliver when left on his own.

Superb, superb, superb.

Rod Serling adapted his own 1955 teleplay about inter-office politics in the industrial game, with Ed Begley and Everett Sloane reprising their television roles. Van Heflin plays the cheerful, hard-working executive from Ohio who gets a great new position in a plushy New York City skyscraper, only to learn quite quickly he is being groomed to take over for the Vice-President of Operations, a kind, well-liked man with a bad ticker who is constantly brow-beaten by his hot-shot, hot-headed boss. Heflin does some amazing work here, showing strength (and strength of reserve) in the different shadings of this new employee who just wants to do a fine job and not step on anyone's ego. As the boss who despises false modesty and gratitude, Sloane is perhaps too quick with his criticisms; circling poor Ed Begley like a shark at feeding time, Sloane devours without hesitation--and without nuance. This guy is the Boss From Hell, surely, but Sloane is encouraged to go overboard with his meeting-room tirades, which strike such a melodramatic chord that one is removed from the human tragedy at hand. It becomes a show-off exercise for both writer and cast. One feels that maybe the wrong person is dispatched near the climax, with the upbeat final tag leaving a sour taste for the film. **1/2 from ****

This tight, intense little film has been rarely seen in recent years (although the original teleplay on which it is based was a huge hit.) It's impact has been dulled slightly (mostly because it's ideas have been stolen for other countless TV shows and movies), but it's basic story is still as relevant as ever. Heflin is a small town plant manager whose company has been swallowed up by Sloane's conglomerate. Sloane moves him up to the executive level of the conglomerate and sets him up with a beautiful home, a fancy office and a top secretary. Soon, however, Heflin realizes that his promotion may have more to do with leverage against one of Sloane's adversaries, his vice president, Begley. Straight is Heflin's materialistic wife who urges him to succeed no matter what the moral cost. Wilson is Begley's secretary who finds herself torn between personal loyalty and company loyalty. The film is a curt 83 minutes and wisely unpadded with excess subplots. The acting is uniformly strong. Heflin is able to display a wide range of emotion. Begley, often cast as overbearing boors, is able to show a more vulnerable side. Sloane is the one who almost goes over the top. He shouts wildly at the drop of a hat and doesn't allow anyone to finish a sentence. One hopes that his type of management wouldn't be tolerated in today's world, but it very well may be. Wilson comes across very solidly in one of her better screen roles. She's given many quiet moments that display her internal struggle. (She would later put a comedic spin on the whole office thing with her wondrous turn in "9 to 5".) Straight is good, but isn't really a focal point of the story. The film has a dim view of corporate America and the unsettling feelings in the office begin right away. Though the times have changed, this story still holds value today and is an arresting work to watch.

Van Heflin, Everett Sloane, Ed Begley, Beatrice Straight, and Elizabeth Wilson star in "Patterns," a 1956 film written by Rod Serling and directed by Fielder Cook. The drama had previously been written for television and starred Richard Kiley in the Heflin role.

Heflin plays a young man named Fred Staples, a small-town manager who is brought into a large firm by the President, Ramsey (Sloane). It's apparent to the viewer (and everyone but Staples) that he's been hired to replace one of the vice presidents, Bill Briggs (Begley). Staples admires Briggs and the humanity that he brings to his job, but he's the last of the old firm back when it was run by Ramsey's father, a compassionate man who cared about the workers. This Ramsey only cares about dollars and cents and efficiency. He's determined to force Briggs out.

Back in the '50s, big business movies were all the range, with films like "Women's World" and "Executive Suite" tackling the subject. The interest in the subject was possibly due to all of the postwar expansion in this country. "Patterns" is the best of the lot, realistic in its tone and with tremendous acting. The women are mere accompaniment - wives and secretaries - and certainly reflect the times.

Richard Kiley brought a naivete to the role of Staples that Van Heflin, because he's older, doesn't have, but he's still very effective as an honest, smart and decent man who's ambitious but doesn't like Ramsey's tactics. Ed Begley is sympathetic as a man past his prime who can't let go but whose job and daily battles are killing him. Everett Sloane does a great job as the ruthless Ramsey, who won't allow emotion into his business sense. We get a hint that he's not as unfeeling as he appears, but he's never going to let anyone else see it.

A really strong film, highly recommended.

For a very quiet night in, I recommend Patterns - a corporate newcomer joins a conglomerate and is wowed by the welcome he receives; but there is a darker reason to be concerned when the undercurrents in the staff simmer and boil over. This is a tense triangular tale - like a fairy tale for modern times: the King has 2 princes - but one must replace the other. Who will replace who - and who might take the throne? This is quite a cerebral take on the conflicts in capitalism - the answers do not turn out to be as obvious as one might have thought - and the final configuration of power that is created is a sophisticated and ironic one. The moral of the story is left quite ambiguous - people want to improve the world and have differing ways of going about it - but their revolving places in power are determined by a mechanism of power-taking where one can end up becoming the thing you were ostensibly fighting - in a manner that one has little control in; in fact, the actual agent and engine of this pattern is, if not impersonal, then entirely unconscious with evolution at the wheel. What could change it? Waxing philosophical is one of the very positive effects of this very deep contemplation of corporate politics. A solid piece of work worth a watch.

I know todays movie audience has much different tastes than they did in 1956, but personally I still want a good story, dynamic acting and sharp dialog. Patterns delivers, and I can't believe I just saw this excellent film for the first time. Rod Serling is a master when it comes to delving into the depths of the human psyche in a way that is interesting and profound...and truly transcends time. Patterns is a character study laced with a lot of potent commentary as it explores the lives of three men at the top of a large corporation.

Walter Ramsey (Everett Sloane) runs the company his father built, and has just hired Fred Staples (Van Heflin) away from a small firm in Ohio. Fred forms a friendship with the number two man Bill Braggs (Ed Begley), a long time employee who lately has had health problems. After Fred embellishes some of Bill's ideas as they combine on an annual business plan, he thinks he's getting too much of the credit and that Bill's ideas aren't appreciated enough and starts asking questions.

It ends up that Ramsey is trying to force Bill out by continually browbeating and embarrassing him so he can replace him with Fred. Fred is furious that he is being used by the boss and defends Bill and urges him to stand up for himself. Bill says something like "this is too big of a job to walk away from, I won't resign...and he won't fire me after 30 years". Fred is caught between his quiet ambition and his loyalty to a friend, but one thing seems sure...a big confrontation is coming.

I think one reason there are so many special effects and shootouts in movies today is because the actors can't command the screen the way their counterparts from previous eras did. It's a pleasure watching this powerhouse trio and they are each excellent, but Begley (cast against type) stands out to me as the jaded, defeated Bill; it shows how little some things change as Bill laments about the new meaning of corporate growth and tells of how Ramseys' father used to walk the factory floor and knew all the employees on a first name basis. That confrontation between Fred and Bill is so compelling and well-acted...it reminded me that I had worked in companies like this, where the 2nd generation took over and destroyed the organizations culture to make few more dollars.

Patterns has a lot to say about corporate America as well as the human condition and reminds us that much of the disease that has rotted the soul out of our country didn't necessarily start in the Reagan era but a few decades earlier. Leave it to Rod Serling to put it on the screen better than anyone else...he was a true genius and Patterns proves this once again.

The ruthless head of a corporation tries to force out the vice president who he views as soft. The subject matter of corporate greed at the expense of humanity is still as relevant today as it was half a century ago when the film was made. Serling's script includes some keen observations. However, it does feel a bit too much like a play, with characters giving big speeches. It also veers at times to the overly melodramatic. There are fine performances from Heflin, Begley, and Sloane. This was the second film for Straight, who won an Oscar for "Network," and Wilson, who played Dustin Hoffman's mother in "The Graduate."

When "Staples" (Van Heflin) arrives at the "Ramsey" building to take up his new executive job, he meets his boss "Briggs" (Ed Begley) then the guy with his name on the door (Everett Sloane), and is welcomed with open arms. Pretty quickly, though, he realises that "Briggs" - who has recently return from illness is in the firing line - and that he is to be the principal weapon used to replace him. The problem here is though "Staples" is fiercely ambitious, and his wife "Nancy" (Beatrice Straight) isn't so very far behind on that front, he actually quite likes "Briggs" and his more human approach to doing business. Indeed, when that man's secretary is arbitrarily attached to the newcomer, it would appear that the writing is on the wall so just how complicit will his scruples allow him to be? I found this to be one of Heflin's better parts, and he portrays his conflicted character really quite effectively. Begley is also on good form as a man maybe just a little past his use-by date and Sloane epitomises the family business obsessed mogul who cares only about power - and for it's own sake. What choices can "Staples" make? What choices does he want to make? This is a quickly paced look at humanity - warts and all, and for double the salary and an unlimited expense account, what might any of us do?

The boss yells at the old exec he wants to get rid of.

He yells at the new guy hired to replace him.

He can barely avoid shouting at the new guy's wife.

Was the director afraid of reeling in the guy? Because by the halway mark I couldn't take it anymore.

Then all of a sudden Heflin starts yelling at his own wife. Maybe the director was deaf and asked the entire cast to speak up.

Decent idea for a TV show stretched thin for the big screen. Gave me a headache.