The Big Heat (1953)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Fritz Lang

Writers:

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

Release Date:

14 October 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

A hard cop and a soft dame!

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

B Girl | Mob | Mob Boss | Police | Suicide

Awards:

1 win

Cast

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

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound 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 Restricted

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Bannion's wife Katie is played by Jocelyn Brando, older sister of Marlon.

Goofs:

Continuity: 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.

Quotes:

Debby Marsh: Well, you're about as romantic as a pair of handcuffs.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Finding Forrester (2000)

Soundtrack:

Put the Blame on Mame

The Good and the Bad are eternal

This film is a precursor to "Serpico" starring Al Pacino many years later. It's the story of an honest cop surrounded by corrupt and cowardly police officials who are in the take of a powerful city mafia. It's like Chicago during the times of Al Capone. The script is well written and has a good pace. The scenes are neither too short or too prolonged, just the right amount to move the story along. The actors played their parts well: Lee Marvin as a sadistic degenerate thug is very convincing as is Gloria Grahame playing his not so empty headed girlfriend, who has more depth and humanity than meets the eye. Jocelyn Brando (Marlon Brando's sister) played a small but very convincing role as Detective Bannion's loving and supporting wife, who encourages him to be the honest cop that he is. Their best scene together is right before she gets blown off in the car. It's a very tender, sentimental family scene when their daughter interrupts their kissing because she cannot go to bed. This is actually the pivotal scene of the film because Katie's violent death becomes Bannion's main motive in getting her killers. Jocelyn Brando plays the role of the perfect woman: dedicated wife, mother and the moral support behind her husband and Glenn Ford plays the role defending this order of things. In the end, he triumphs over those who seek to destroy this order: Lee Marvin and his thugs. The film makes a strong case for this theory with the hope that the natural order of things has been restored.