The Big Heat
A police officer seems to have committed suicide, but Detective Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford) thinks there's more to the story. When a bomb meant for him kills his wife instead, Dave works outside the law's confines, obsessively search for the truth.
21 January 1921, Brockton, Massachusetts, USA
9 September 1873, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
13 August 1895, Eastman, Georgia, USA
21 February 1897, Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]
30 January 1902, New York City, New York, USA
10 March 1898, Lancashire, England, UK
26 January 1904, Madison, Virginia, USA
28 November 1923, Los Angeles, California, USA
16 June 1916, Los Angeles County, California, USA
30 December 1911, Los Angeles, California, USA
29 September 1916, New York, USA
26 November 1922, Wall Lake, Iowa, USA
August 5, 1891 in Eagle Grove, Iowa, USA
22 February 1915, Chicago, Illinois, USA
May 9, 1920
15 September 1909, Hackensack, New Jersey, USA
9 December 1897, Falmouth, Kentucky, USA
24 May 1916, Long Branch, New Jersey, USA
April 9, 1904 in Elma, Iowa, USA
13 September 1920, Colfax, Washington, USA
9 May 1923, St. Albans, Vermont, USA
March 16, 1918 in Richmond, New York, USA
December 12, 1946 in Kentucky, USA
March 15, 1907 in Wheaton, Illinois, USA
29 April 1896, Tacoma, Washington, USA
15 December 1911, New York City, New York, USA
11 March 1915, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
August 10, 1924 in Santa Cruz, California, USA
6 March 1905, Danville, Arkansas, USA
1 May 1916, Sainte-Christine-d'Auvergne, Portneuf, Québec, Canada
July 25, 2009
Everything about "The Big Heat" is "hard boiled."
April 09, 2008
Brutal, atmospheric, and exciting -- highly recommended.
July 20, 2002
In many ways, Fritz Lang's The Big Heat, scripted by former crime reporter Sydney Boehm, laid the groundwork not only for "Dirty Harry," but for the whole sub-genre of 'rogue cop' films that began to surface during the Vietnam era.
April 09, 2008
A scalding face-full of harsh reality, courtesy Fritz Lang.
May 22, 2012
For those who take their film black...Moral rot gets full play in Lang's 1953 police drama. [Blu-ray]
April 09, 2008
Ford's portrayal of the homicide sergeant is honest and packs much wallop. Lang's direction builds taut suspense, throwing unexpected, and believable, thrills at the audience.
June 24, 2006
Lang strips down William P McGivern's novel to essentials, giving the story a narrative drive as efficient and powerful as a handgun.
December 05, 2009
Fritz Lang, once the master of grand expressionist scenes, directs with a stripped down style and a lean narrative drive...
April 08, 2007
One of Lang's most accomplished and influential noir crimers, with a top-notch turn from Glenn Ford as the avenging cop-angel, a role that Clint Eastwood (Dirty Harry) and Charles Bronson (Death Wish) would develop in their 1970s revenge thrillers.
May 20, 2003
Mr. Lang can direct a film. He has put his mind to it, in this instance, and he has brought forth a hot one with a sting.
April 09, 2008
Lang presents one of the great works of film noir. The acting is first rate, Boehm's script tough and efficient, and the whole affair is photographed with the appropriate expressionist, chiaroscuro lighting.
January 20, 2006
That's the beauty of Lang's moral ambidexterity. He tells the story of a heroic cop, while using it to mask another story, so much darker, beneath.
