The Big Knife
Atkinson summed up Odets' theme seemingly as being "a study of the immorality of success as measured solely by money; and he is showing how the conspiracy of money destroys those who works for it." He wrote "[T]he characters in "The Big Knife" are not worth so much of Mr. Odets' indignation on so cosmic a plane. As in a soundly motivated melodrama, they get what they deserve in the final act. There is no point in crying doom for the entire nation."