The Big Heat
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Movie Reviews of The Big Heat
Movie Review: It's on DVD? Wow!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I've had this title on VHS for many years. Found the DVD (I love film noirs) on Amazon & it arrived quickly. Is the film an enjoyable classic? You bet! One of my favorites. I could go on & on but get this DVD and see for yourself. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
By the way my commercial VHS looks great but the picture & sound quality of the DVD version is fantastic.....
Movie Review: REMARKABLE
Summary: 5 Stars
Hollywood doesn't make them like this anymore. This was Glenn Ford at his best. He is also good in The Courtship of Eddie's Father, Blackboard Jungle,and Santee. But this is his absoulte best. Well Done.Movie Review: Nice, but not nearly noir
Summary: 4 Stars
"The Big Heat" is classic film noir, directed by none other than Fritz Lang, one of the fathers of film noir. Lang was called the "Master of Darkness" by the BFI. More than anyone else he is responsible for popularizing the German school of expressionist film, with the "Dr. Mabuse" series (1922, 1933, 1960), the revolutionary "Metropolis" (1927) and the frightening "M" (1931) which launched the career of Peter Lorre. Though he wasn't a Jew, Lang fled German in 1934 once the Nazis took over. He eventually came to the US where he made such notable films as "Fury" (1936), "The Return of Frank James" (1940), "Western Union" (1940), "Hangman Also Die" (1943), "The Woman in the Window" (1944), "Scarlet Street" (1945), and "Clash by Night" (1952). While he was never nominated for an Oscar, his work influenced the work of many directors, including Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock.
"The Big Heat" stars Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame and Lee Marvin with great supporting performances by Jeannette Nolan, Willis Bouchy and Carolyn Jones.
Quiet and handsome Glenn Ford appeared in more than 100 films from 1937 to 1991. He was nominated for a Golden Globe 3 times and won once ("Pocketful of Miracles" in 1961). Ford could do light comedy (e.g., "Teahouse of the August Moon", "Courtship of Eddie's Father", "Don't Go Near the Water") as well as drama (e.g., "Blackboard Jungle", "3:10 to Yuma"). He enjoyed playing the everyman and said that "it gives the audience someone real to identify with. I never play anyone but myself on screen." In this film Ford plays a cop out for revenge.
Lee Marvin started in films in 1951. In 1952 alone he appeared in 6 films and 5 TV shows. He got his big break in 1953 with roles in "The Big Heat" and "The Wild One" with Marlon Brando. In 1962 he did a terrific job in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", won the Oscar for his 20th film, "Cat Ballou" in 1965, and in 1967 he appeared in "Point Blank", "The Professionals" and "The Dirty Dozen". No one was better as the villain than Lee Marvin, and his role in "The Big Heat" is one of the roles that helped launched his long and illustrious career.
Gloria Grahame was one of the Queens of film noir. She was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for "Crossfire" (1947) with Robert Mitchum (one of the Kings of film noir), won for "The Bad and the Beautiful" (1952) with Kirk Douglas, and gave memorable (if not award worthy) performances in other noirs such as "In a Lonely Place" with Humphrey Bogart, "Sudden Fear" (1952) with Joan Crawford and Jack Palance, and Fritz Lang's "Human Desire" (1954) with Glenn Ford. Grahame plays Marvin's girlfriend. Grahame says - "The main thing is to have the money. I've been rich and I've been poor. Believe me, rich is better.
Jeannette Nolan made nearly 100 films and played in nearly as many TV shows. She made her film debut with Orson Welles in "Macbeth" (1948) as Lady Macbeth, and her last in 1998 as Robert Redford's mother in "The Horse Whisperer". Nolan plays the corrupt wife of a murdered corrupt policeman.
Jocelyn Brando plays Ford's doomed wife. Best known for being Marlon's older sister, she appeared in two of his films ("The Ugly American" in 1963 and "The Chase" in 1965) and a dozen other films (e.g., "Mommie Dearest" in 1981), as well as nearly 100 TV appearances.
Willis Bouchey is known for his many roles in John Ford and/or John Wayne films (e.g., the train conductor in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" who puts the coda on the film by telling James Stewart that "nothin's too good for the man who shot Liberty Valance", President of the court martial in "Sergeant Rutledge") as well as more than 200 TV appearances. I remember him best as the President of the U.S. in "Red Planet Mars" (1952) who delivers the final eulogy for Peter Graves and Andrea King. Bouchey plays Ford's commanding officer.
Adam Williams made a career out of playing villains. He's the car bomber in "Big Heat", stalked James Stewart in "North by Northwest", killed women in "Without Warning" (1952), etc. It's a curious set of roles for a decorated WW 2 pilot. One of his good guy roles was as the Psychiatrist in "Fear Strikes Out" (1957). He fared much better on TV where he made more than 100 appearances
Peter Whitney appears as a bartender. Whitney's massive frame and enormous head awash with bushy eyebrows made him a natural heavy in films like "Underground" (1941), "Murder he Says" (1945), and "Three Strangers" (1946). In the 50s he transitioned to TV appearing in dozens of series. He had a recurring role as Sgt. Sinclair in "The Rough Riders" (1958-9).
Carolyn Jones is best remembered as Morticia on "The Adams Family" (1964-8) for which she won the Golden Globe. Her first big break came in the 3D "House of Wax" (1953), she won acclaim for "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956), and she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in "The Bachelor Party" (1957). The on screen sexuality that she oozed served her well and she landed a co-starring role with Elvis in "King Creole" (1958) and eventually the role as Morticia. She plays a brief role as a woman burned with a cigarette by Marvin.
John Doucette puts in a brief role as an Army buddy of Ford's brother-in-law. Douchette's gruff manners and his deep voice made him a popular player in more than 200 films and TV shows, mostly westerns. He appeared in several John Wayne films ("True Grit", "Sons of Katie Elder", "Big Jake") as well as memorable roles in "The Robe" (1953) and "Cleopatra" (1963).
Although most critics consider this a film noir, it must be noted that while the film has many film noir elements, the hero, Ford, is not compromised by the femme fatale, and in fact, he is the vehicle by which the femme fatales perish. Classicists may conclude that this is nourish, but not classic film noir.
The film is shot by Charles Lang (no relation to Frtiz). Lang was nominated more times for an Oscar than any other Director of Photography (18 times), but won only once - "A Farewell to Arms" (1934). The nearly 150 films he photographed differed in content and style, and Lang was an eclectic, though he did film one other film noir movie - "Sudden Fear" (1952) with Gloria Grahame.
The early 50s saw several similar themed films - "The Enforcer" (1951), "Captive City" (1952), "Chicago Syndicate" (1955) - largely as a result of the Kefauver Commission investigation of organized crime. This turned the focus of film makers away from the individual criminal (Rico in "Little Caesar" and "Public Enemy" and Tony in "Scarface") to the organization, and by extension, the greater society.
For Fritz Lang fans, there is a similar film, called "Rancho Notorious" (1952) that is a western with similar themes as "The Big Heat". Arthur Kennedy places a good rancher whose fiancé (Gloria Henry) is raped and killed and he gets involved with a femme fatale played by Marlene Dietrich in his quest for revenge. The Lee Marvin role of the savage henchman is played by Mel Ferrer.
The film is classic Fritz Lang in that it explores Lang's belief that people are conflicted, the doppelganger or double personality. Lang often used mirrors to express this, as when Peter Lorre (in M) looks in the mirror, or when Gloria Grahame constantly examine s herself in the mirror - notice how she changes personalities. Grahame is both the mob girl and the heroine. One side of her face is beautiful, the other scarred. Ford is both cop and thug.
Lang also loved to illustrate life's vicissitudes. Chance is a major player. It's by chance that Ford's wife starts his car. It's by chance that Grahame is in the bar when Ford arrives. It's chance that Ford and Grahame are seen leaving the bar together by one of Marvin's henchmen. Etc.
Lang also liked to show that heroism, like villainy, lay within each person, and wasn't the place of the superman. Thus Ford is a very average copy who must reach inside himself to become the hero, and he does this by finding his other self. Grahame, on the other hand, becomes the heroine by reaching inside herself to find that other woman.
This is a violent film, to say the least. A woman gets blown up, another one is scalded with hot coffee, and another is burned with a cigarette. We have suicide, murder and assault thrown in, along with corruption and betrayal. Some of this occurs off screen, but much of it is on screen.
The film got good reviews. The New York Times called it "a hot one with a sting" and Variety praised Lang for being "tense, forceful direction" and said the cast was "top notch trouping led by Glenn Ford." It's certainly a good film, holds up pretty well, and benefits from strong performances by almost everyone in the cast. But it's not really a film noir piece, and it certainly doesn't represent the best of Fritz Lang's work, although it is a classic Lang story with something less than the classic Lang stylistic lighting effects. Definitely worth a look even after all these years.
Movie Review: Riveting plot will keep you nailed to your seat
Summary: 4 Stars
'The Big Heat' is a film noir classic due to its original and riveting plot. The film draws you right in with the suicide of a police officer in his home and his widow, Bertha Duncan (played by Jeanette Nolan) who hides the suicide note which implicates Mike Lagana (Alexander Scourby), the town's number one crime boss. Duncan concocts a plot to blackmail Lagana, making sure the suicide note is released to the press in the event of her death.
Assigned to investigate the suicide is Det. Sgt. Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford). Bannion interviews Duncan who is uncooperative and hostile. Bannion then gets a tip from B-girl Lucy Chapman who insists that Duncan's husband didn't commit suicide and implied that he was on Lagana's payroll. (I had trouble believing that she would have met with Bannion in open view at the nightclub which easily tipped off the mobsters that she was spilling her guts). Bannion turns up dead the next day, the victim of multiple stab wounds and possible sexual assault by a psychopath (the coroner's report to Bannion on the B-girl's death foreshadows some of the more explicit scenes of violence to come).
When Bannion gets a phone call threatening his family at home, he decides to confront Lagana directly. Lagana is depicted as a man who seeks to project an image of a model citizen--he even has a picture of his mother on the wall and tells Bannion that he cared for her in his home right before her death a year before. Bannion isn't impressed by Lagana's phony resume and ends up slugging Lagana's bodyguard which outrages the crime boss further.
In a scene you can never forget, after Bannion gives his wife the car keys, she leaves to go on an errand while he's singing nursery songs to his daughter. Suddenly there's a tremendous explosion right outside the window. Bannion runs out to find his wife trapped in a burning car. He breaks the car window and pulls her out. But it's too late. She's the victim of a car bomb.
After the funeral (never seen on screen), Bannion meets with the Police Commissioner who suggests that his wife was murdered by criminals Bannion may have locked up in the past. It's clear that he doesn't want to investigate the possibility of Lagana's involvement. Bannion accuses the Commissioner of being in league with Lagana who promptly demands his resignation. Bannion turns in his badge but keeps his gun which he bought himself.
Bannion finds out from the crime lab that parts of the bomb are linked to an auto salvage shop. The owner at the shop won't tell him anything but after he leaves, a crippled woman who works at the shop as an office assistant, tells him that a man named Larry called the shop from a nightclub (The Retreat) where Bannion had met the recently deceased B-girl Chapman earlier. Unable to find out who Larry is, Bannion still makes the acquaintance of Lagana's right hand man, Vince Stone (played by a very young Lee Marvin) at the Retreat. Bannion prevents Stone from beating up a woman who he's been playing a game of dice with at the bar.
Stone's girlfriend, Debby Marsh (played by an over-the-top Gloria Grahame) comes on to Bannion and they end up at his hotel room. Bannion wants Debby to tell him who Larry is but she's more interested in having an affair with him. Later, after Vince finds out that Marsh has been talking with Bannion, he scalds her face with a pot of steaming hot coffee. With her face (and life) basically ruined, Marsh has no compunctions about revealing Larry's identity. Bannion confronts Larry Gordon, the sadistic hit-man hired by Vince to kill Chapman as well as the one responsible for the death of Bannion's wife. But Bannion doesn't kill him--he extracts the information he's been looking for: Bertha Duncan has been blackmailing Lagana all along with her now deceased husband's suicide note. He tells Gordon that he plans to let his mob associates know that he's a snitch.
Debby Marsh now seeks revenge on both Stone and Lagana. She bumps off Duncan (who is the actual femme fatale in this film noir) and then throws scalding hot coffee in Vince's face at this apartment (how she so easily got in is not explained). Stone then shoots Marsh just as Bannion arrives who gets in a shootout with him. Now out of bullets, Bannion has a chance to finish Stone off but decides to hand him into the police. A newspaper headline reveals that Lagana and the Police Commissioner (who was seen in an earlier scene playing cards with Stone and was a witness to Stone scalding Marsh with the hot coffee) have been indicted and presumably on their way to jail. Bannion is restored to his old job (why he doesn't get a promotion I have no idea) and once again is a respected member of the Police Force.
What sets 'The Big Heat' apart from some of the lesser "B-rated" film noirs is the complicated plot as well as director Fritz Lang's decision not to 'soft pedal' any of the violent scenes here. His message is that when criminals kill, they do so with no conscience. So the car bombing scene along with Lee Marvin's treatment of women (to the point where he has no pangs about throwing a pot of scalding coffee in a woman's face) is both explicit and shocking. The collusion of the 'respectable' Police Commissioner and the timidity Bannion's colleagues add to the overall atmosphere of dread. The Big Heat is by no means a 'perfect' film as it sometimes falls back into the typical sentimental moments of the B noir. The story however is most satisfying as it will keep you riveted in your seat throughout.
Movie Review: An excellent film noir crime classic...
Summary: 4 Stars
During the 1950's a new wave of hoodlum pictures filled the screens: 'The Asphalt Jungle,' 'Rogue Cop,' 'Party Girl,' 'The Desperate Hours,' and 'The Big Heat', to name but five...
Most gangster-movie fans remember that a girl got hot coffee thrown in her face in some film, but how many remember the film, the girl, and the thrower?
Gloria Grahame is a green-eyed blonde, with unusual lips, tiny voice, and sulky appearance... She is a gangster's moll dressed in silk and satin... Her presence alone can incite men to criminal behavior... She is sensual, spiteful, uncontrolled, and lethal... Her freezing looks are as memorable as her steamy actions... She is both tough and vulnerable, a combination not rare but here at its most winning...
Lee Marvin (later to become famous as the toughest of all screen villains) is sadistic, cold-blooded mobster, a very bad person...
Glenn Ford is angry and icy, with quiet authority and sincerity... He made what is almost certainly his best film... He is fine as the honest homicide cop who resigned from the police force to discover who murdered his wife... He bust a crime-ring with manic determination, gradually becoming as cruel and ruthless as they are...
Ford is ordered repeatedly by his lieutenant to stop interfering, but,obsessed with vengeance, walks out of the police department and sets out to get Marvin and Scourby unrestrained by the delicacies of police technique and the influence brought to bear on his superior...
The film's tensions are strongly intensified by :
- Dorothy Green, the 'B-girl' who tells Bannion that she was Tom Duncan's girlfriend and that the policeman had no reason to kill himself...
- Jeannette Nolan, the grieving widow who is "on the take" for years, and isn't silenced...
- Jocelyn Brando, the cozy martyred young wife who is brutally blown up in a car by a violent explosion intended for her husband... (An interesting foreshadowing of 'The Godfather.')
- Alexander Scourby (an interesting foreshadowing of "The Godfather"), the suave chief villain and loving family man who at the same time ran a criminal empire with business efficiency...
- Willis Bouchey, a corrupted Lieutenant who orders Bannion to lay off the case...
- Howard Wendell, the Police Commissioner whom Bannion advises to find out who planted the dynamite in his car...
- Robert Burton, the detective who promises to help his companion, but off the record...
- Peter Whitney, the retreat's bartender who assumes a "don't ask" policy...
- Adams Williams, the mob who threats the obsessive detective to stay out of the case...
- Dan Seymour, the very cool and uncooperative 'scared rabbit.'
- Edith Evanson, the crippled secretary who offers the information Atkins withheld...
- John Crawford, Bannion's brother-in-law who makes a call at exactly 9:30 P.M. and "ask for Larry."
Considered at the time to reach a new low in violence, this excellent film noir crime classic also struck a new note of realism in crime films (gambling, conspiracy, extortion, murder...) and produced one of Glenn Ford's most typical performances...