THE BIG HEAT, Fritz Lang's most celebrated American film, is a chilling and violent tale of corruption, vengeance, and loss. Dave Bannion, played by distinguished Film Noir actor Glenn Ford, 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 (Gloria Grahame). 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. The violence comes suddenly and unrelentingly, as Lang explodes the stripped down story with economic yet forceful cinematography and editing, and gritty yet emotionally gripping performances from Ford and Grahame.
One of the most classic of the film noir genre and one of the darkest and most violent, as well. A bomb goes off and although it was meant to kill a detective, someone else dies in his place. Now he's determined to catch whoever is responsible; unfortunately, the more he searches and the more he learns, the more it seems like the culprits might be the police themselves.
Theatrical Release: October 6, 1953
THE BIG HEAT was filmed in Hollywood, California.
Sydey Boehm, who wrote the screenplay for THE BIG HEAT, worked for fourteen years as a crime reporter for The New York Evening Journal, before moving to Hollywood.
Excerpt: "Early nothing." --Debbie to Bannion in regards to his hotel room
"We're sisters under the mink." --Debbie to Bertha
DVD Features:
Region 1
Keep Case
Full Frame - 1.33
Audio:
Dolby Digital Mono - English, French
Additional Release Material:
Trailers:
1. THE BIG HEAD
2. THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI
3. SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER
Interactive Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Selection
Director of Photography
Charles Lang: Award-winning Director of Photography, mid '20s-early '70s
Production Designer
Robert Peterson: Art Director
Review 1:
5 stars out of 5 -- "THE BIG HEAT has aged best, achieving an emotional force rare in the crime genre, and almost unparalleled in Lang's own oeuvre."
Source: Uncut
p.130-131 03/01/2006
Review 2:
"...Among the best movies Fritz Lang made in America after fleeing the Nazis. It's certainly the toughest..."
Source: USA Today
p.15D 12/28/2001
Review 3:
"Fritz Lang's thriller stunned America upon release, but even today the coffee-in-phizzog scene still shocks....Brutal."
Source: Total Film
p.136 04/01/2004
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