Though not without flaws, Big House USA is a gripping film that grabs hold of the viewer and keeps him involved throughout. It's a far from perfect film, but Big House is the kind of picture that it's hard to look away from, even when the story veers a little off course. It's a crime melodrama, pure and simple -- a bit too simple in some places, which fact will cause some viewers to wish it had more "meat" on its bones. But this is the kind of film that doesn't exist to truly examine social issues or to delve deep into the criminal psyche; it just wants to keep the viewer's attention and in this it succeeds. Sometimes it resorts to some rather gruesome (for the time) tactics, including a death by scalding and a memorable dismemberment of a corpse. At these times, it veers into sheer exploitation, but even then it does so in a most arresting fashion. The cast is a B-movie dream, with terrific work from Broderick Crawford and Ralph Meeker, and great turns from William Talman, Lon Chaney, Jr. and a young, buff Charles Bronson. Howard W. Koch directs with an eye on tension and suspense, and he handles the screenplay's "two half" structure quite effectively.