Since I love film noir, I enjoyed "The Big Heat," but I didn't feel that it distinguished itself from any number of other similar films from the same time period.
This surprised me somewhat, as I don't think of Fritz Lang as an anonymous director, and he's usually able to imprint a strong visual style on his films. Not so for this story about a good and honest cop (Glenn Ford) who's dragged into the seedy underworld after his wife dies in a booby trap meant for him. Many of the themes common to this genre are present here: the blurred lines between the criminals and the law, the insidious encroachment of the scary city on the peaceful idyll of the wholesome suburb. It also picked up a main theme from "The Asphalt Jungle": cops and robbers alike have families and lives separate from their work, and this fact makes them more like one another than they might want to admit.
This film is most notable for a feisty performance from Gloria Grahame, who plays a gangster's moll who gets tired of being used and abused by her thug of a boyfriend (a repulsive Lee Marvin) and gets her scalding revenge. I've always felt that Grahame was never really used to her fullest potential by any film director, but she has such a strong screen presence that she's able to make this film all about her.
Grade: B+
This surprised me somewhat, as I don't think of Fritz Lang as an anonymous director, and he's usually able to imprint a strong visual style on his films. Not so for this story about a good and honest cop (Glenn Ford) who's dragged into the seedy underworld after his wife dies in a booby trap meant for him. Many of the themes common to this genre are present here: the blurred lines between the criminals and the law, the insidious encroachment of the scary city on the peaceful idyll of the wholesome suburb. It also picked up a main theme from "The Asphalt Jungle": cops and robbers alike have families and lives separate from their work, and this fact makes them more like one another than they might want to admit.
This film is most notable for a feisty performance from Gloria Grahame, who plays a gangster's moll who gets tired of being used and abused by her thug of a boyfriend (a repulsive Lee Marvin) and gets her scalding revenge. I've always felt that Grahame was never really used to her fullest potential by any film director, but she has such a strong screen presence that she's able to make this film all about her.
Grade: B+