The Big Heat (1953)

Directed by Fritz Lang. With Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Jocelyn Brando, Alexander Scourby. Tough cop Dave Bannion takes on a politically powerful crime syndicate.

The Big Heat is a 1953 film noir directed by Fritz Lang, starring Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame and Jocelyn Brando, and featuring Lee Marvin.[3] It centers on a cop who takes on the crime syndicate that controls his city. The film was written by former crime reporter Sydney Boehm, b

Glenn Ford plays a straight-arrow police detective named Bannion

Police Sergeant Bannion is investigating the apparent suicide of a corrupt cop, then is suddenly ordered to stop the investigation. Driven to unravel the mystery, Bannion continues probing until an explosion meant for him kills his wife. He resigns from the force and soon learns that behind it all is a powerful underworld organisation led by Mike Lagana and his cold-blooded henchman, Vince Stone.

Big Heat, The - (Re-issue trailer)

The Big Heat (1953) is director Fritz Lang's landmark bleak, film noir crime classic and violent melodrama. Lang's characteristic expressionistic lighting, use of sets and decor, and costuming sharply reflected the personality traits of the film's major characters. The sparse sc

Overview of The Big Heat, 1953, directed by Fritz Lang, with Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Jocelyn Brando, at Turner Classic Movies

Since I wrote the following words in 1998 I've seen The Big Heat maybe 5 more times. That makes it probably fourteen or fifteen viewing...

Dave Bannion is an upright 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. 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 Big Heat is a juicy and unflinching film noir whose brutal violence is matched by its sharp cynicism. In the film, a husband pulls his wife’s co