"The Fat Man" was a radio program that was eventually brought to the big screen. However, only two movies were made--this first one starring J. Scott Smart and another made at the end of the decade by another actor. Apparently, the radio success couldn't be translated to the silver screen.When the show begins, Jane Adams (Jayne Meadows) approached Brad Runyan ('the Fat Man') and begged him to look into the death of her boss, a dentist. The death was ruled an accident or a suicide but she knows it was murder. The trail then leads to a guy named Roy (Rock Hudson) as well as a clown and along the way, other folks meet the same fate as the dentist.The biggest reason to see the film is to see a couple actors before they were stars--Rock Hudson and Jayne Meadows. Julie London, Emmett Kelly (not surprisingly, as a clown) and John Russell also appear in the film--giving it a few more quality actors than you'd expect in such a movie. Aside from that, it was a decent enough mystery but also one that had some stupid clichés. The worst was when Jane called Runyan and said "I need to see you right away...I know who killed Dr. Bromley"....and you KNOW what's going to happen to her very, very soon!! Why didn't she just tell Runyon OVER THE PHONE who the killer was?!?! Duh!! It also was rather low energy and not exactly exciting compared to other films in the genre. Worth seeing if you love these detective films, otherwise very skippable.By the way, the film like MANY Bs was directed by William Castle-- before he became inextricably associated with horror films.

I guess we're fortunate to have this visualization of the radio series, The Fat Man made just as it was going off the air. The character was a creation of Dashiell Hammett who was blacklisted in Hollywood. Star J. Scott Smart was as beefy on the screen as his radio character was purported to be.The mystery borrows a bit from Ernest Hemingway's The Killers as the missing person that Smart is seeking as it turns out is dead. At that point it becomes a quest for justice for the missing Rock Hudson as we see Hudson in flashback from the various character's points of view.Smart is originally hired by Jayne Meadows who is a dental assistant as her boss is thrown out his office window. The police call it suicide, but she's convinced it's murder. But who would want to kill a dentist?It all ties in with a heist and a circus. Such other various and sundry folk Smart meets during his investigation are John Russell, Harry Lewis, and Julie London who married Hudson. And we get to see famed circus clown Emmett Kelly with and without makeup giving a good dramatic performance.Rock Hudson gives a good account of himself in an early role as the luckless hoodlum. No doubt he was going to be a big star.Also Clinton Sundberg as Smart's assistant and Teddy Hart as a tipster they use have some very good lines.Sad that this could have been an interesting series had Universal chosen to do more films of The Fat Man.

When I was growing up, pre-television, we used to listen to many radio shows. One of these was The Fat Man, starring J. Scott Smart. This, as with some other radio shows, was made into a movie. The casting of Smart in the title role was good, since he looked the part and the sound was identical to the radio program.In virtually every radio show, Bradford Runyan is hired to solve a crime; the film carries on the tradition. However, the radio program lasted for only a half hour, and even though there was a "time compression" effect, there was time to do significantly more in the film. As an example, Runyan asks a lady to dance, and when she accepts, he acquits himself well. That could never have worked on the radio program, to be sure.For those of us who remember the program, there's a lot of nostalgia in the film. For those who never heard the show (such as my wife), it's still okay, but probably not as valued.

Curiosity picture mainly because it is one of Rock Hudson's earlier films. I won't bother going over the film's many faults except to note the awkward humor. For example, after the nurse was killed, I couldn't believe the joking around. Also, why was she killed in the first place? It was never explained. This bummed me out because she was very attractive even if she couldn't act. It was obvious that this supposed to the first of a series of "Fat Man" detective movies, ala the "Thin Man" movies, but fortunately we are still waiting for the second one.