The Big Heat
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Movie Reviews of The Big Heat
Movie Review: Another Great Noir From Fritz Lang. 4 1/2 Stars
Summary: 4 Stars
Fritz Lang is one of the best known directors of Film Noir, and one of the most respected. With good reason. His films, such as Metropolis, M, The Woman in the Window, Scarlet Street, House by the River, Clash by Night, etc, are considered to be classics.
The Big Heat is one of Lang's better movies, thanks to an outstanding script, great performances from the cast (Glenn Ford gives another understated, but powerful performance, Lee Marvin is excellent as the menacing thug, and Gloria Grahame is, well, Gloria Grahame - in a part you'd think was written for her), and, of course, thanks to the great direction of Fritz Lang himself.
This is a more straightforward detective/crime thriller than many of Lang's other movies, but he handles it extremely well. Ford is homicide detective Dan Bannion, who is assigned to investigate the suicide of a fellow officer. Bannion uncovers indications that this wasn't just a case of depression, and he stumbles into a case that some of his superiors want closed as a suicide and nothing more. With so much pressure from above to just let the whole thing go, Bannion forges ahead, getting into trouble along the way - trouble that would have tragic consequences for him.
The Big Heat delivers on all counts, and while not quite as NOIR as many Films Noir (it would fit in the Police Procedural category of Film Noir), it still fits squarely in the genre with many dark twists and turns - and some fairly brutal scenes.
This is definitely a, "Must Have," movie for all Film Noir buffs, and for most fans of classic films in general. Highly recommended.
Movie Review: Mature 1950s Movie with Too Much Violence Against Women
Summary: 4 Stars
I won't bore you with another summary of the plot which previous reviews already covered. Just a few comments that may have not been made yet.
The editing of this film is perfect. Many films of the period drag and have scenes that are slow or waste space. This one has none of that. That's one reason why it feels modern.
The casting of The Big Heat is also first rate; there isn't a single weak performance from top to bottom. I watched this film because I'd seen Ford in Gilda, and read some of his bio, and wanted to see how he did in this film. He has a similar intensity as we saw in Gilda as Johnny Farrell opposite Rita Hayworth. Strong, brash, driven, a little out of control, with a hint of vulnerability.
The mobster in The Big Heat says he doesn't want to make the same mistake as Lucky Luciano. Don't know if there are many mob movies from the era with a mob mistress playing a big role. This was good. The sassy, confident, elegant chick gets a bigger role than you would expect in this movie.
The ending is fairly satisfying but everything is wrapped up a little too neatly and a little too quickly.
If you are offended by violence against women, skip this movie. A wife is blown up by dynamite in a car. A prostitute is burned and murdered. A mob mistress is savagely mutilated by burning coffee. A card dealer girl has her hands crushed. Two other women are shot and killed.
Movie Review: BIG TROUBLE FOR A SMALL CITY COP - GREAT TRANSFER
Summary: 4 Stars
Glenn Ford is a family guy/good guy/honest cop until somebody blows up his wife - oh well, into everyone's life a little rain must fall. This reads more like a hurricane. "The Big Heat" is a classic film noir peppered with explosive performances, great visuals and a thrilling climax. Lee Marvin is numero uno tough guy, flanked by sultry Gloria Grahame, who's playing both sides of the fence - you go girl! Columbia Tri/Star has given us a very nice looking print of this classic film. After some grainy, opening credits, the picture quality is nearly flawless, with minor edge enhancement, pixelization and shimmering only apparent at times and, even then, at levels that are nothing to complain about. Contrast and black levels are beautifully rendered. The audio is original mono and very well represented.
EXTRAS: True to form, Colombia doesn't care about extra features. A real shame for this disc since a documentary would have been nice. Still, considering that, in their recent releases (The Awful Truth, Talk of the Town) Colombia doesn't seem to care even about the picture quality of the actual movie, I'll take what I can get! "The Big Heat" looks great!
BOTTOM LINE: This is a must have for anyone who admires those hard-boiled crime thrillers of yore that no one seems to make any more.
Movie Review: a bit dissapointing DVD
Summary: 4 Stars
I was looking forward that THE BIG HEAT will be on DVD. It's one of the best film from Fritz Lang, which almost automatically translates as one of the greatest achievement in the art of cinematic narrative.And the Academy of Motion Picture Art and Science has been working on the digital restoration of the film for years. I've seen some test footage years ago. It looked great, crisp, remarkably out of scratches or dirts.
But the transfer used on this DVD does not look that great. It is a bit grany, quite a few noticeable scraches and dirts from the begining, and the contrast level is not that great either, loosing some details in the shadow areas.
But neverthless, it still is a great film. strongly recommended. For instance, for future screenwriters, there's a lot to be learned about the economy of narrative, how Lang always stays always on the essencial things, keeps everything unimportant to the story out of his frames.
Movie Review: Eastwood's daddy
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm flipping channels and stop when I see a young Glenn Ford in black and white and I wonder, "What's he up to?" Within minutes I'm captivated with the movie and I still don't have a clue what I'm watching. A young Lee Marvin shows up as bad as any bad guy in film today. And then there's this gorgeous woman I've never seen before, Marvin's moll. Ford is delivering his lines with the same slow, raw intensity as Eastwood would twenty years later. In fact, as the movie progresses, it looks like Eastwood usurped the style. When there is a commercial break, I finally learn that the movie is the legendary "The Big Heat" by the equally legendary Fritz Lang. What a treat this afternoon movie proved to be. I recommend it to everybody. Oh, and about that woman. It turns out it's an actress named Gloria Grahmn. What a work of art-- her and the movie.