Hugo Butler and Ring Lardner, Jr. also contributed to the screenplay, but were uncredited when the film was first released owing to his Hollywood Ten conviction.

Unexpectedly, influential sports columnist Al Judge, who walks with a cane, enters the bar and orders George's father to strip off his shirt and kneel.

With no clear direction to take, George begins a night journey, going first to a boxing match that he and his father were to attend to celebrate his birthday, hoping that he will find Al Judge there.

Inside the arena, the man who bought the ticket, Professor Cooper, a journalism teacher, explains what happened and shares his disgust of Al Judge.

George seeks shelter with Marion and Cooper for a while, but when he returns to the bar, he sees that police have come to arrest his father for Judge's shooting.

Richard Brody, writing in The New Yorker, refers to the film as "an obscure gem" that "displays the sort of scathing critique of American society that, at the time of its release, led to trouble," claiming that it "reveals the period’s rank ideological foundations—an undercurrent of ethnic and racial hatred and an entrenched mythology of masculinity that gives rise to secrets, lies, and violence.

Losey’s nerve-jangling style matches the subject: his images’ crisscrossing and striated lines evoke George's unresolved tangle of conscience and identity.

"[8] Terming The Big Night “a psychologically messy coming of age story,” critic Dan Callahan provides this thematic insight into the film: One blistering scene highlights Losey’s social conscience: a troubled Barrymore visits a nightclub and is overwhelmed by a harsh-voiced, sleepy-eyed female black singer.