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The Big Heat (1953)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
14 October 1953 (USA) moreTagline:
A hard cop and a soft dame! morePlot:
Tough cop Dave Bannion takes on a politically powerful crime syndicate. full summary | full synopsisAwards:
1 win moreNewsDesk:
(13 articles)
New On DVD This Week (From The Flickcast. 3 November 2009, 3:35 PM, PST)
New on DVD: Almodóvar, "High School Musical" and shirtless dudes!
(From AfterElton.com. 3 November 2009, 2:09 PM, PST)
User Comments:
"The Lid's Off The Garbage Can" more (74 total)Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Glenn Ford | ... | Det. Sgt. Dave Bannion | |
| Gloria Grahame | ... | Debby Marsh | |
| Jocelyn Brando | ... | Katie Bannion | |
| Alexander Scourby | ... | Mike Lagana | |
| Lee Marvin | ... | Vince Stone | |
| Jeanette Nolan | ... | Bertha Duncan | |
| Peter Whitney | ... | Tierney | |
| Willis Bouchey | ... | Lt. Ted Wilks | |
| Robert Burton | ... | Det. Gus Burke | |
| Adam Williams | ... | Larry Gordon | |
| Howard Wendell | ... | Police Commissioner Higgins | |
| Chris Alcaide | ... | George Rose | |
| Michael Granger | ... | Hugo (police clerk) | |
| Dorothy Green | ... | Lucy Chapman | |
| Carolyn Jones | ... | Doris |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parentsRuntime:
89 minCountry:
USALanguage:
EnglishColor:
Black and WhiteAspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 moreSound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Recording)Certification:
Norway:16 | UK:15 (re-rating) (1988) | UK:X (original rating) | Canada:G (Nova Scotia/Québec) | Germany:16 (nf) (re-rating) | West Germany:18 (nf) (original rating) | South Korea:15 | Finland:(Banned) | Finland:K-16 (re-rating) (1966) | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (certificate #16549) | Australia:PG | Germany:BPjM RestrictedFun Stuff
Trivia:
The fictional city where the story takes place is named Kenport. moreGoofs:
Continuity: The street address for the junk yard on Bannyon's list is "101", yet the number "1024" is seen on a large sign over the yard's shed. moreSoundtrack:
Put the Blame on Mame moreFAQ
New York Opening Happened When?Chicago Opening Happened When and Where?
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In The Big Heat, Fritz Lang by casting Glenn Ford against type, probably directed Ford to his greatest screen performance and one of the best noir films ever done.
Ford is a homicide cop in an unnamed big mid-western city which is in the grip of systemic corruption from organized crime. Remember The Big Heat came out only two years after the Estes Kefauver hearings and stories like these were topical. Another veteran police sergeant has committed suicide and Ford's called in. The widow, Jeanette Nolan, appears to be cooperating, but when the late cop's mistress contacts Ford and is later found murdered, this sets off a chain of events that brings tragedy to Ford personally, but also lead to the cleaning up of the town.
Normally the kind of part that Ford is cast in would go to someone like Kirk Douglas who would explode with all kinds of rage on the screen. What Lang did was cast Glenn Ford, known as one of the cinema's nicest men and squarest shooters. When the gangsters accidentally kill his wife, Jocelyn Brando, with a car bomb meant for him, Ford goes off on a rage and you know there is no force that will stop him without killing him. His performance is effective precisely because of Ford's nice guy image, the viewer identifies with him as Mr. Average Man. Think of Ford as Atticus Finch as cop instead of a lawyer and something happening to kill one of his kids. Gregory Peck as Atticus would react the same way.
The movie rises with what is arguably Ford's greatest screen role. But Glenn gets nice support from Gloria Grahame as the good time gun moll who also comes in for tragedy because she's a flirt and Lee Marvin the number one button man for syndicate head Alexander Scourby. Marvin had done several roles before The Big Heat, but it was in this film that he got his first real critical notice.
Carolyn Jones has a small part as a woman who Lee Marvin beats up and my favorite small role in the film is from Edith Evanson as a shy crippled woman who gives Ford his first real lead in tracking down his wife's killers. By the way Jeanette Nolan is one truly evil woman as the late sergeant's widow, one of her best screen roles.
The Big Heat is one of Fritz Lang's best at what he does best, delve into the dark side of his hero/protagonists.