The Big Heat
1953 Directed by Fritz Lang
Synopsis
A hard cop and a soft dame.
Tough cop Dave Bannion takes on a politically powerful crime syndicate.
Cast
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Fritz Lang predicted The Wire
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Glen Ford is wooden as always, but it's a great film. There's a sense that there is a "godfather" behind the scenes who doesn't get his hands dirty and that's pretty unusual for that era. You may not like Ford, but watch this one for Gloria Grahame - she steals this one and it's wonderful!
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Fritz Lang's 1953 film noir has long been a film I've been dying to watch. This was a really great time that was nonstop with twists and turns and fantastic dialogue throughout. All the main actors were perfectly casted - Glenn Ford, Gloria Graeme, Jocelyn Brando, Jeanette Nolan, Lee Marvin & Alexander Scourby. Notice all the women I just mentioned? Graeme, Brando, and Nolan were all fantastic with each having very diverse roles to play. They were the standouts in this one to say the least.
When a coworker of Sgt Dave Bannion (Ford) commits suicide, the news story breaks out with some skeptical quotes from the now-widow Bertha Duncan (Nolan). Bannion goes off to put the pieces together, and it's…
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Of all the Lang movies that I have seen post-Germany this is the one whose visual style most resembles his German films. He always does a brilliant job but it seems that in some of his other films he put less of his individual stamp on them. In here, the camera moves constantly, there is gorgeous and interesting lighting, etc.
As a noir itself, despite its somewhat happy ending, it is pretty fucking brutal. Violent, angry and depressing. Glenn Ford plays perfectly a good cop with a sweet home life. He has morals and a really strong sense of justice being done. These good qualities are what causes him to become twisted and dark as the movie goes on. His…
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Why did they even bother making movies after this? Absolutely perfect.
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"They come and go like flies."
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Clásico entre los clásicos, su sordidez minimalista demuestra que Lang fue un maestro todoterreno.
Classic among classics, its minimalistic portrait of depravedness shows that Lang had an all-purpose, adaptable mastery.
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As noir as the blackest coffee that ever scalded a face.
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Lee Marvin and Gloria Graham are fantastic in this otherwise pretty average noir film.
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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One of the big pleasures of reading through Roger Ebert's Great Movies collection is reading about films I haven't seen yet, and then tracking them down myself. Ebert's great movie review of Fritz Lang's 1953 film The Big Heat is a particularly interesting one, as he focuses on the sinister edges present in a character who at first glance appears to be a straight arrow. After viewing the film, I had to ask myself if my perception of Glenn Ford's central character Detective Dave Bannion was directly influenced by Ebert's writings, or if I would have made the same inferences on my own. After some thought, I have a feeling I would have perceived the same undercurrent. Ford plays a…
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An excellent detective thriller from Lang that explores the darker side both of what it means to stand up for justice in a hostile environment, and of the way vengeance can so easily weave its way into the pursuit of justice. The film's themes gel nicely with the genre, but what really helps this one to take off is Lang's fluid camera. It moves effortlessly through the various locations, emphasizing the inter-connectedness of people/events and the ethical gray areas that all people grapple with.
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This was a pretty awesome noir, loved the ending and the performances.
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Why It's Essential -- A tough film noir achievement, and one of director Fritz Lang's strongest late-career efforts.
Why You'll Want to Skip It -- Glenn Ford, who brings all the heat of a day-old pot of coffee.