Highly Overrated But Still Good

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Fritz Lang was at his zenith here, sucking the viewer in to Glenn Ford's rage against the corrupt cops and politicians he works for. Ford's seething anger virtually jumps off the screen. Gloria Grahame in probably her greatest role. Each scene raises the tension level masterfully. This is what Hollywood movies are all about.

I confess, I had a big head and neck ache when I started to watch this movie, probably from too many bad movies seen before. But soon my pains passed, the effect of an excellent film. What a true master's hand, Fritz Lang, you feel it from the first scenes. I still have to confess that I didn't know anything about the film, not even that Lang is the director. All I wanted was to see a movie with Lee Marvin, a big favorite of mine. And, I had a big surprise, some really impressive actor's recitals: Glenn Ford's best role in everything I've ever seen him, the exceptional Gloria Graham, perhaps her best role too, the very good Jeanette Nolan, the whole cast it's a big day, once again, you know one of the great conductors like Fritz Lang from the start. Lee Marvin does not have a major role, but he appears pretty much and makes a great role as a villain. Simply excellent!

THE BIG HEAT is extremely brutal thriller, full of violence and inverted noir clichés. This is a film about organized crime in the big city. Corruption, bribery and crime against the integrity and professionalism of an ordinary man - a police officer. One against all the unrealistic ratio, but this is exactly the segment in the film which brings the most excitement and tension. A lonely and rejected protagonist, driven by personal motives do not care about the laws and rules in the fight against organized crime. The main character is a police detective who investigates the death of a colleague suspected of corruption and to him, during the investigation, wife killed in a blast bomb. The story shows how his superiors then deducted the case, but he nevertheless, driven by the desire for revenge, is continuing its investigation that will lead to a fatal girlfriend of one of the gangsters and the final settlement.In this film has a lot of bad guys, so that an honest and professional police officer, who tried to live a more peaceful family life, sure to attract attention. Violence and brutality fit into the noir atmosphere. The concept of the femme fatale is little changed. Everything is packaged very well, so that some gaps in the script practically no sense.Characterization is quite good. Glenn Ford as Det. Sgt. Dave Bannion is angry, cold and vindictive detective. With good reason of course, though he is the hero of this film. Gloria Grahame as Debby Marsh is atypical femme fatale, who eventually played the most important role. Lee Marvin as Vince Stone He is the harsh and violent criminal who still lives in the shadow of his big boss. Alexander Scourby as Mike Lagana is the big boss who did not leave a distinct impression of villain. Jeanette Nolan as Bertha Duncan is perhaps the biggest villain in this film. The widow full of malice and envy. Jocelyn Brando as Katie Bannion It is positive and smiling housewife. She is the reason.It's roasting. This is one of those thrillers that we see in one breath.

Det. Sgt. Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford) investigates the suicide of a police colleague Tom Duncan. However the case turns darker and darker as he finds a corrupt system and its connection to a crime boss. Duncan's secret mistress Lucy Chapman is killed, and they start coming after the incorruptible cop.This is a surprisingly modern police drama from legendary director Fritz Lang. The first 30 minutes has some slower moments. Louis CK joked that he hated the part of his indie film where a character dials an entire phone number on a rotary phone. Sometimes, that's what we have here. It has some slow moments. It's something that must be excused for the era of movie making.The subject matter is tough noir and hard boiled. Glenn Ford plays the stand up cop perfectly. He has an air of moral superiority. He is a cross between John McClane and Dirty Harry. There is great violence. The story is tough. Gloria Grahame makes for a great noir dame. And Glenn Ford has great intensity.