The Big Heat

Released Oct 14, 1953

1 hr. 30 min.

Crime

Drama

List

94%

70 Reviews

Tomatometer

90%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

A police officer seems to have committed suicide, but Detective Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford) thinks there's more to the story. After talking to the man's mob-connected mistress, Bannion discovers far-reaching corruption that leads all the way from the police station to kingpin Mike Lagana (Alexander Scourby). But when the policeman's lover is killed, it becomes clear that crossing Lagana is a dangerous thing to do. Soon Bannion finds himself marked for death and his family in mortal danger.

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Critics Consensus

Presented with stark power by director Fritz Lang, The Big Heat is a delightfully grim noir that peers into the heart of darkness without blinking.

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Nathan A

The acting in the movie is superb with stand out classic lines such as only a dummy goes to prison and wonders how they get there? There is also a classic line about shopping where other movies have been influenced? from as well namely trainspotting. Some of the storyline does not make sense. The movie beginning has that the potential movie suicide happened at 3 in the morning while near the same time the mob enforcer is telephoned and all are up and going? It would have made sense to add a scene for example when stone goes to the retreat and returns home when the mole meets the detective after the retreat club and then show the time near when the movie coffee is splashed in her face would then have a time near 3 in the morning as well. Other movie storyline problems are when the detective is telephone called at the temporary residence of the mole after the movie coffee incident while the movie detective did not want the movie mole to have a registration into whereabouts so how did they know he was there since it was not his temporary residence as he knocked on the door to get into hers? The last storyline problem is with the movie detective's movie daughter that the story of the kittens was told when the movie bomb exploded his movie car with movie wife and then near the end the movie daughter wants to hear this story once again? This movie did not get full marks since it is based on a novel.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

12/02/23

Full Review

Jack V

Solid noir, but it could've been a lot better and more suspenseful.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/02/24

Full Review

Alexander B

Very good for the time it came out. If you like classic noir this is a must.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/23/23

Full Review

Mark A

One of the great ones!

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

12/20/22

Full Review

Heironymus B

On first viewing, I never expected this 1950s noir thriller to be so tough and brutal! Absolutely fantastic!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

09/21/22

Full Review

Ed M

Really fun crime noir. Glenn Ford is better than I thought.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

06/20/22

Full Review

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Fritz Lang

Director

Glenn Ford

Det. Sgt. Dave Bannion

Gloria Grahame

Debby Marsh

Jocelyn Brando

Katie Bannion

Alexander Scourby

Mike Lagana

Lee Marvin

Vince Stone

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Lindsay Anderson

Sight & Sound

Above all, it is directed with a dramatic incisiveness, a sharp-edged observation that keeps the pitch of interest and excitement continuously high.

Apr 11, 2024

Full Review

Helen Bower

Detroit Free Press

It has the kind of socko that will lies behind a good many small items in the newspapers and behind the big stories that make the evil deeds of the Medicis amateurish and simple in comparison.

Apr 11, 2024

Full Review

Mildred Martin

Philadelphia Inquirer

Ford has seldom been seen to better advantage than as Bannion... Miss Grahame adds another fine performance to those that already stand to her credit; while Scourby, Marvin and Adam Williams create genuinely terrifying portraits of beasts of prey.

Apr 11, 2024

Full Review

P.S. Harrison

Harrison's Reports

One of the best produced crime melodramas to have come out of Hollywood in some time. It is taut and exciting, and the direction and acting are so skillful that one is made to feel as if present at a real-life occurrence.

Apr 11, 2024

Full Review

M. Oakley Christoph

Hartford Courant

[The Big Heat] has Gloria Grahame in so amazing a performance as a gun moll that if you miss going down to see her, boy, oh boy, you are cheating yourself.

Apr 11, 2024

Full Review

Manny Farber

The Nation

The characters seem to be wrapped thinly around steaming amounts of vengeance, avarice, or cruelty, but Marvin and Ford make it a well-acted movie that offers interesting impressions of how a practical-minded American male operates in crises

Apr 11, 2024

Full Review

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Synopsis

A police officer seems to have committed suicide, but Detective Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford) thinks there's more to the story. After talking to the man's mob-connected mistress, Bannion discovers far-reaching corruption that leads all the way from the police station to kingpin Mike Lagana (Alexander Scourby). But when the policeman's lover is killed, it becomes clear that crossing Lagana is a dangerous thing to do. Soon Bannion finds himself marked for death and his family in mortal danger.

Director: Fritz Lang
Screenwriter: William P. McGivern
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Production Co: Columbia
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 14, 1953, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 25, 2014
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: 35mm, Flat (1.37:1)

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