The Big Heat (1953)

Tough cop Dave Bannion takes on a politically powerful crime syndicate.

Director:

Fritz Lang

Writers:

Sydney Boehm (screenplay), William P. McGivern (Saturday Evening Post serial)

Stars:

Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Jocelyn Brando

2 wins.

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

Storyline

Dave Bannion is an upright but unscrupulous cop on the trail of a vicious gang he suspects holds power over the police force. Bannion is tipped off after a colleague's suicide and his fellow officers' suspicious silence lead him to believe that they are on the gangsters' payroll. When a bomb meant for him kills his wife instead, Bannion becomes a furious force of vengeance and justice, aided along the way by the gangster's spurned girlfriend Debbie. As Bannion and Debbie fall further and further into the Gangland's insidious and brutal trap, they must use any means necessary (including murder) to get to the truth.

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Plot Keywords:

police | gangster | suicide | mob | murder | 

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Taglines:

Somebody's going to pay ...because he forgot to kill me...

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Genres:

Crime | Film-Noir | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 October 1953 (USA)

Also Known As:

Heißes Eisen

Filming Locations:

Columbia/Sunset Gower Studios - 1438 N. Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The fictional city where the story takes place is named Kenport.

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Goofs

When Sgt Bannion first meets Lucy Champam in 'The Retreat' bar the waiter pours Bannion a glass of beer with a head at least 2 inches thick. Bannion is then seen to sip from the glass and the beer has virtually no head at all.

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Quotes

Mike Lagana: [to Bannion] This is my home and I don't like dirt checkd into it.

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Connections

Featured in Hollywood Remembers Lee Marvin (2000)

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Soundtracks

"Put the Blame on Mame"
by Doris Fisher and Allan Roberts
Heard instrumentally during one of the scenes at The Retreat

User Reviews

big steaks, big spuds, big heat

This punchy little noir moves along at brisk clip. Glenn Ford simmers the whole time like a boiling kettle about to blow . This man has no pleasures that are obvious except his Westinghouse wife and child. Lee Marvin barely maintains control for much of the film. He is a catelogue of evil and greedy excess. Gloria Grahame is marvelous, witty, beautiful, bitter beyond hope. There is no redemption to be had for most of the characters in this sordid little universe. Conspiracy theorists of the 21st century will look back at the kind of simple-minded corrupt worldview espoused by Lang in this and other films and lament its loss. In THE BIG HEAT, evil and rot have names and faces and with enough fortitude, and the willingness to lose everything, they can be conquered. At least for a day. We know today that the whole infrastructure of power is poisoned beyond repair. The fifties held out a modicum of hope. Brief, fleeting hope. This is a violent film. Others have commented that much of the horror is committed off screen. But you can easily imagine it. Lang doesn't pull many punches here. The treadmill of denouement speeds up rapidly in the last few sections of the film. After viewing a film like THE BIG HEAT, I often want to wander down some dark street and find a corner diner, something like the one portrayed in Hoppers's NIGHTHAWKS, and have a cup of java, listen to some Brubeck on the jukebox, and wait for someone to come in from the chilly street . But the diners in my neighborhood are either in the middle of the block or close early because of street crime. So I stay home, have a cup of tea, and dream noirish thoughts half asleep on my couch. This is a fine entry into the film noir lexicon.