Memorable, crazy movie

Let's be realistic.

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

(Flash Review)How intensely would you fight back against a tragic injustice done in your life? In this Film Noir, Dave Bannion, an FBI agent investigating the apparent suicide of another agent, is getting too close to finding the truth behind it. Hence, personal tragedy strikes and he won't stop until he gets justice. Bannion won't take no for an answer nor will he back down from anyone. How far will he be able to dig and how many people will he shake down to uncover the tangled web of shady characters? This film clips along with snappy and raw dialog that'll make you grin. Mediocre cinematography (I expected better as this is a Lang film) yet nice crisp black and whites. This was very engrossing and a highly enjoyable watch.

The Big Heat starts out as many crime films do. A detective investigates a death which could possibly be a murder and gradually things become more complicated. But usually, you get a whodunnit where everyone acts suspicious and slowly a mystery unravels and a culprit is found. The end. But here, we jump head-first into a major battle between a cop and a mob syndicate. The tone is ominous and the people and places are dangerous. But our hero is not happy to do as he's told and he can't stand being surrounded by those that do (because they're afraid).Movies maintain your interest with tension and changes to the situation. The plot moves and it keeps you involved. Some movies feel slow at times or predictable. If nothing is happening, the suspense fades away. The Big Heat contains many events that can be quite shocking and which shift the balance of power and motivation for the characters. It keeps getting more interesting. It can feel inevitable in retrospect, but the first time it's full of surprises.I really like Glenn Ford as Bannion. He seems like a good, passionate cop and a kind and caring husband and father. I was genuinely moved by his performance in several scenes. But that's also thanks to the direction, the story and the other performances. Jocelyn Brando (Marlon's older sister) is very good, a loving wife but in a real kind of way not a cheesy way. Gloria Grahame and Lee Marvin are excellent as well and bring lots of energy and character to their roles (I don't know how else to word it).I felt like some of the scenes were a bit typical at first (giving so much attention to an attractive woman, showing intimate family moments) but as the film progresses, you see that everything is there for a reason. What is white without black? You need contrast, a background, a context. Loss is not appreciated without seeing what is lost. An empty room has meaning if you know what used to be in it. Every scene in this movie serves a purpose. We might not be told the purpose, but we feel it in the greater scope of the whole film.The Big Heat is riveting all the way through. There is real menace and a feeling that anything could happen. It holds no punches - I was really affected by certain scenes, they have real impact and involve you even more in the film. There are a number of interesting similarities with The Dark Knight, another great film where a man takes the mob head on and tries to put an end to corruption and crime. Anyway, I immensely enjoyed it. It's uncompromising but very rewarding and entertaining. One of my new favourite movies.

Classic film-noir crime-thriller.A police detective, Sgt Dave Bannion (played by Glenn Ford) investigates the apparent suicide of a senior police officer. A woman approaches him and claims that it wasn't suicide - it was murder. Intrigue ensues...A great crime-thriller from master director Fritz Lang. While you know broadly who did it, you don't know all the details. Moreover, you mostly see it from the policeman's point-of-view, and feel his frustration as he is constrained in his abilities to crack the case.Great work from Glenn Ford in the lead role, especially as he is more known for westerns. Good support from Gloria Grahame, Alexander Scourby and an early-career Lee Marvin.Not perfect - Bannion's big break feels a bit contrived. In addition, the pacing is a bit off: after building the tension, the ending feels rushed. These are, however, minor negatives in an otherwise flawless movie.

Fritz Lang's The Big Heat is among the best noir movies ever made, and unlike any noir movie that I have ever seen before in my entire life. As the movie opens we see a corrupt cop commit suicide and then within a few seconds his wife comes downstairs to see what had happened and she finds her husband on his desk with a pistol in his hand and calls the police. Thee movie stars Glenn Ford as Police Detective Sergeant Dave Bannion the man who is in charge of this investigation of the apparent suicide, then within a few days Bannion is ordered to stop asking the wife of the dead cop questions about her husband. While trying so hard to crack this case right open he continues persistently until an explosion in his car happens for him ended up killing his wife (played by Jocelyn Brando, who was the sister of Marlon Brando) instead. Then Bannion permanently resigns from the police force and finds out that all of this was planned by the mob underworld led by Mike Lagana (played by Alexander Scourby) as well as his abusive henchman Vince Stone (played by Lee Marvin), then when Vince's wife Debby Marsh (played by Gloria Grahame) Vince then disfigures half of her face with hot coffee, and then Debby is more than ready for payback by telling Bannion all about Vince and all his other mob friends and what they did all along and the cop suicide case was a cover up. Theis movie compares to classics in it's genre such as Touch of Evil (1958), The Maltese Falcon (1941), Sunset Boulevard (1950), The Big Sleep, and some of Alfred Hitchcock's best films. What a great film this was.