Classic Movie Review: The Big Heat (1953)

The Big Heat (1953)

Directed by: Fritz Lang.

Written by: Sydney Boehm based on the Saturday Evening Post serial by William P. McGivern.

Starring: Glenn Ford (Dave Bannion), Gloria Grahame (Debby Marsh), Jocelyn Brando (Katie Bannion), Alexander Scourby (Mike Lagana), Lee Marvin (Vince Stone), Jeanette Nolan (Bertha Duncan), Peter Whitney (Tierney), Willis Bouchey (Lt. Ted Wilks), Robert Burton (Gus Burke), Adam Williams (Larry Gordon).

 

Fritz Lang’s The Big Heat is a cruel, merciless film noir that moves quickly throughout it 87-minute runtime and shows us a world built or corruption, violence and vengeance. Its “hero” Dave Bannion (a brilliant Glenn Ford) goes on a quest for revenge that warps him in irreparable ways – despite the sunny ending the film wraps with. But, when you think about it, Bannion was already kind of an asshole even before his (understandable) quest for revenge. Hell, if he wasn’t an asshole, if he handled things with more intelligence and tact, he wouldn’t have had reason to try to get revenge in the first place. Everything that happens in this film is basically because of him – and yet it’s the women of the film that pay the price. I suppose some would argue that the film is misogynistic – but I think the film is really showing something else – that it is women who most often pay for the behavior of men – who get to go on with their lives, get congratulated and welcomed back with a happy face. A lot of good it does for the women in The Big Heat – they’re dead.

 

The movie begins with a suicide – a high ranking cop kills himself, and leaves a note to be delivered to the D.A. – a note that could bring down the mob running things in town. The cop’s callous widow picks up the phone and calls Mike Lagana (Alexander Scourby) and tells him that she’ll keep the letter for him, which would destroy him – but it will cost him. Lagana calls up his violent henchmen – Vincent Stone (an early performance by Lee Marvin – and one of his best) to let him know the score. Stone’s girl is the delightfully ditzy Debby (Gloria Grahame, perhaps in her best performance ever) – who enjoys needling him, but also enjoys the life she has with him – enough to endure his violent outbursts. Bannion, a detective, is assigned the case – and while it looks like an open and shut suicide, things start to get more complicated when he gets a call from the dead man’s mistress. She ends up being just the first women Bannion will get killed. Bannion also has a wife and daughter – and it will be what happens to his wife (played by Jocelyn Brando, Marlon’s sister) – which will send him on the war path. And again, if he hadn’t been such an asshole, it never would have happened.

 

The film was directed by Fritz Lang, and on the surface, the film is efficient and less visually inventive than some of his earlier work – like Metropolis, M or The Testament of Dr. Mabuse. I think part of that is the budget restrictions – this is a Columbia B movie, and they operated on lesser budgets for these films – but part of it is by design. The earlier scenes are a little but more square – especially the domestic scenes in the Bannion home. It’s almost Leave it to Beaver like – the dutiful, pretty, wife who takes care of the kids, and has a steak ready for him when he comes home. The scene that really sets off Bannion on his violent rampage quite literally shakes up that domestic tranquility – the whole frame of the film shakes and upends the rest of the movie. And Lang does some other subtle tricks throughout the film as well – showing this corrupt world, but seeing it more clear eyed. Much of its insanity, and transgressiveness, is right out in the open – and treated rather matter of factly. Lagana’s “manservant” which certainly reads as gay in that scene where they are both in their pajamas. Or the rather violent posse who gathers at Bannion’s home to protect his family.

 

The film really is about toxic masculinity – and how it effects the women in these men’s lives. Bannion is so blinded by his own rage, his own self-righteousness, that he doesn’t see the damage he is doing. In many film noirs, the heroes are kind of sad sack men – guys who get sucked into a world of violence by a femme fatale, and end up doing things they would never do otherwise. They often speak in voiceovers, and their voiceovers are often sad sack whining about their lot in life. None of the men in The Big Heat are like that at all. Bannion never stops long enough to consider himself a victim. Even when, late in the film, he starts to get to know the sexy Debby, he regards her as nothing but a tool to get what he wants, never as a person – so when she shows up injured, after the film’s most famous scene involving hot coffee, he only sees how it will affect his plan. Marvin’s Vince is a little bit more pathetic – he’s kind of overgrown playground bully, who lashes out violently at those around him, but hops to when Lagana calls him up.

 

The women in The Big Heat are all victims, but they are not without agency. The all end up in a bad place, but they are not passive victims – they are attempting to change their circumstances, but are trapped by the toxic men in the film. Everyone remembers the Gloria Grahame performance of course – and they should, it is one of the performances that define her career (she had won the Supporting Actress Oscar the year before for The Bad and the Beautiful – in which she is great, but she’s better here – and she’s great for Lang in Human Desire the next year). It’s an odd performance – it’s kind of ditzy, but also rather heartfelt. She’s not really a femme fatale – although Grahame could do that – but something a little deeper. There are other fine female performances in the film – including Jocelyn Brando (Marlon’s sister) as Bannion’s wife, who looks so perfect 1950s housewife – but is made of stronger stuff than it seems.

 

The male performances are just as good though. This is an early film by Lee Marvin – and it’s interesting to see him here, before his screen persona was fully set. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him slimier, more pathetic than he is here – and it remains one of his best performances. It is probably Glenn Ford’s best work – he could do this type of thing in his sleep, but here he digs deeper. There is more darkness to Bannion here – and he doesn’t see it, but Ford does. It is a great performance.

 

The Big Heat is one of the best film noirs – in part because Lang seems to be playing with the conventions, at least a little. None of the characters are quite what we think they are going to be, and the plot is larger scale than most – it’s not just a personal story, but something larger. It’s one of the darkest noir films I can think of – even the last scene, which on the surface is a return of normalcy, is dark when you remember that now Bannion – who we have seen do terrible things without a badge, now has his back.