Rating: 
Summary: Big Drama Big Heat
Review: Ford plays an "honest" cop in this thriller directed by Fritz Lang. Alexander Scourby plays the big Lagana..This film includes another fine performance by that mystical Gloria Grahame..She is the ringer and plays her part superbly..I think Annette Benning is a modern day actress with these qualities..? Lee Marvin plays the sadistic Vince..and has reprised such characters in later films. Ford, like Dana Andrews , acts with his face also..making it all very real.. CP
Rating: 
Summary: ONE OF THE BEST FILM NOIRS AND BEST MOVIES OF THE 50S
Review: FRITZ LANG'S BEST HOLLYWOOD FILM- INCREDIBLY WELL-MADE AND CONTROLLED. GLORIA GRAHAM GIVES HER GREATEST PERFORMANCE EVER, AND YOU'VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT. THE ELEMENTS OF THE FILM RESONATE IN THE MIND. SUPERB AND ENTERTAINING.
Rating:
Summary: BIG TROUBLE FOR A SMALL CITY COP - GREAT TRANSFER
Review: Glenn Ford is a family guy/good guy/honest cop until somebody blows up his wife - oh well, into everyone's life a little rain must fall. This reads more like a hurricane. "The Big Heat" is a classic film noir peppered with explosive performances, great visuals and a thrilling climax. Lee Marvin is numero uno tough guy, flanked by sultry Gloria Grahame, who's playing both sides of the fence - you go girl!
Columbia Tri/Star has given us a very nice looking print of this classic film. After some grainy, opening credits, the picture quality is nearly flawless, with minor edge enhancement, pixelization and shimmering only apparent at times and, even then, at levels that are nothing to complain about. Contrast and black levels are beautifully rendered. The audio is original mono and very well represented.
EXTRAS: True to form, Colombia doesn't care about extra features. A real shame for this disc since a documentary would have been nice. Still, considering that, in their recent releases (The Awful Truth, Talk of the Town) Colombia doesn't seem to care even about the picture quality of the actual movie, I'll take what I can get! "The Big Heat" looks great!
BOTTOM LINE: This is a must have for anyone who admires those hard-boiled crime thrillers of yore that no one seems to make any more.
Rating: 
Summary: Over-rated. Over-the-top. Cliched.
Review: I can't believe anyone would rate this movie highly. The plot is predictable from the start. The writing is cliched to the max. At times I found myself saying, "they'd never do that, or say that." Fritz Lang's overuse of melodrama was irritating. The performances by the actors were uneven. In my mind, the Maltese Falcon, The Third Man, and Touch of Evil are the standards against which any other noir film should be measured. More recently Memento and Croupier are symbols of great film making in this genre. The story here falls way short of those benchmarks. (I'll spare you a rehash. Read the other reviews.) Glen Ford and Lee Marvin offer some good moments, but when they are bad, they stink the joint out. Same with the rest of the cast. Unless you enjoy bad films because they are really bad, don't waste your money. Go buy the Touch of Evil, or the others I mentioned, if you want noir that grabs you and pulls you in.
Rating:
Summary: Over-rated. Over-the-top. Cliched.
Review: I can't believe anyone would rate this movie highly. The plot is predictable from the start. The writing is cliched to the max. At times I found myself saying, "they'd never do that, or say that." Fritz Lang's overuse of melodrama was irritating. The performances by the actors were uneven. In my mind, the Maltese Falcon, The Third Man, and Touch of Evil are the standards against which any other noir film should be measured. More recently Memento and Croupier are symbols of great film making in this genre. The story here falls way short of those benchmarks. (I'll spare you a rehash. Read the other reviews.) Glen Ford and Lee Marvin offer some good moments, but when they are bad, they stink the joint out. Same with the rest of the cast. Unless you enjoy bad films because they are really bad, don't waste your money. Go buy the Touch of Evil, or the others I mentioned, if you want noir that grabs you and pulls you in.
Rating: 
Summary: Fair.
Review: I don't know what all the fuss is about this one. Something about this is just not convincing. Glenn Ford is, frankly, not a stellar actor--and some of the other players, including the gal who plays his wife are unbelivably awful. Lee Marvin does the psycho thing well but he's barely in the movie. The DVD includes the trailer for the far better Lady From Shanghai. I'd also recommend He Walked By Night or The Naked City or anything with Robert Mitchum.
Rating:
Summary: a bit dissapointing DVD
Review: I was looking forward that THE BIG HEAT will be on DVD. It's one of the best film from Fritz Lang, which almost automatically translates as one of the greatest achievement in the art of cinematic narrative. And the Academy of Motion Picture Art and Science has been working on the digital restoration of the film for years. I've seen some test footage years ago. It looked great, crisp, remarkably out of scratches or dirts. But the transfer used on this DVD does not look that great. It is a bit grany, quite a few noticeable scraches and dirts from the begining, and the contrast level is not that great either, loosing some details in the shadow areas. But neverthless, it still is a great film. strongly recommended. For instance, for future screenwriters, there's a lot to be learned about the economy of narrative, how Lang always stays always on the essencial things, keeps everything unimportant to the story out of his frames.
Rating:
Summary: The Most Powerful Crime Movie Ever Made
Review: In spite of the low profile it got at its initial release in the 50's, in spite of the modest budget and production value, THE BIG HEAT, with his already highly acclaimed M, is Fritz Lang's greatest film, and one of the highest achievement of cinema. The stunning opening sequence, depicting a police officer's suicide and its aftermath, is a great example of efficiency cinematic narrative, so are the 85 minutes that follow. Lang fills this film with powerful shots and speedy editing, never afraid to show heightened violence when the story needs to. Many heated action sequences are handled with impressive masterly. Unlike in the movies in which Lang used famous Hollywood star (and the majority of them could not cope with the severeness of his direction), Glenn Ford and Gloria Grahame show powerful, convincing performances fused with emotion. Also featured are Lee Marvin and Janet Nolan, as the "bad guys" and are equally great. But what makes THE BIG HEAT such a great film is the fact that it is a profoundly humanist and moral film. As many of Lang's American films does, THE BIG HEAT depicts the corruption of the modern society. In fact, he never been as good as this in showing the system of how our society functions: a newspaper headline, or even a telephone call may be more powerful than guns and bullets, punches and tortures. The sophisticated syndicate functions not with violence, but with the information of violence. At the same time, Lang chose the protagonist of the film to be a truly good human being, not a perfect super hero, but a cop who is convinced to do an honest job, and ready to fight for this cause in spite of all the corruptions that surround him. At one point of the story, he is almost convinced that he is set alone against the entire world which is corrupted. He comes very close to be obsessed by hatred towards other men. But then he finds out that he can believe in people, that in spite of the harsh reality of the world which obliges them to lie, to play D-and-D, to be corrupted to save their own neck and wealthy life, in most people there are also a desire to be a good human being. THE BIG HEAT marks the almost only occasion that Lang, the master of pessimistic visions of 20th century, is himself not at all a pessimist, but a believer in human kind.
Rating:
Summary: Great Classic Film Noir
Review: Legendary actor, Glenn Ford portrays strong cop out to seek revenge for the murder of this wife. An excellent classic film noir with Glenn Ford at his best in a strong but touching role. END
Rating:
Summary: "You couldn't plant enough flowers to hide the smell."
Review: Police detective Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford) is called to the scene of a suicide of a fellow officer. Everyone agrees that it's an open and shut case. Everyone--except Bannion. A few casual questions directed to the suicide's widow, Bertha Duncan, result in a reprimand to Bannion from his superiors. Bannion discovers opposing stories--the widow claims her late husband suffered from pain and worried about his failing health. Duncan's mistress, Lucy Chapman, however, insists that Duncan intended to divorce his wife and had no reason to commit suicide. At first Bannion tends to dismiss Lucy Chapman's story. She's a barfly--a woman of ill repute. But when Lucy turns up dead--thrown out on the highway--beaten and tortured to death, Bannion knows that his initial instinct was correct. He begins nosing around and makes contact with organized crime boss, Mike Lagana. Lagana is a great character. On one level, he tries to play the high society gentleman, but then when he's surrounded by his henchman, the mask slips. Some of the best scenes occur between Lagana and his unintelligent henchmen. He tells one of them: "prisons are bulging with dummies who wonder how they got there." "The Big Heat" is an explosive film--thrilling from beginning to the end. Glenn Ford plays the quiet, unstoppable police detective who has a strong moral code of behaviour. He believes in doing the right thing--no matter the cost, and unfortunately, he pays. Lee Marvin stars as vicious henchman, Vince Stone, and the glorious Gloria Grahame stars as Vince's girlfriend, Debby Marsh. Debby Marsh is perhaps the most interesting character in this film. Vince says "6 days a week, she shops. On the 7th day, she rests." Although she seems empty-headed and feckless, there's a tough girl underneath that mink coat and giddy routine. I could watch this film over and over again just to see Grahame's scenes. The Big Heat is a definite must-see for film noir fans. The characterizations and acting are all top-notch. There's not one sloppy performance in the entire film. The theme--a just individual against a corrupt society is a popular theme for the genre, and in this case it's a policeman who stands on moral high ground. While Bannion initially stands alone against the forces of evil and corruption, he eventually finds strange allies who either admire him or feel ashamed enough to help him. The film is directed by Fritz Lang--one of the most influential directors of film noir--displacedhuman
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