The Big Heat

Fantastic film noir features 2 potent scenes involving tossed coffee, and Gloria Grahame as a mob moll who is definitely a woman not be messed with. Tough cop Ford is not afraid of anyone as he goes on movie long crusade to bring down every villian in the story. Entertaining pulp is fast and cynical and will leave lasting impression long after it's over. Great characters dot the brutal landscape from beginning to end.

This is a classic film noir, beautifully directed by Fritz Lang.. Fast paced non stop plot line & action... Glenn Ford is the good guy with some shades of gray/ Lee Marvin is the bad guy and boy is he bad ; roughs up 2 women/ Carolyn Jones at the bar, slams her hand/ and poor Gloria Grahame/ throws hot boiling coffee in her gorgeous face.. This is a very sadistic scene, and very memorable!!Gloria plays her part to the hilt.. one of her greatest screen moments...She made several film noire movies, In A Lonely Place/ Naked Alibi etc. won her Oscar for a serio comedy role in The Bad & The Beautiful/ sang "I Cant Say No" in Oklahoma.. and was almost crushed by an elephant in The Greatest Show On Earth.. she had a great career... and will always be my favorite 50's bombshell...this film is not to be missed/ Great support by Alex. Scourby, Jeanette Nolan and others.. not to be missed !

A violent story about a detective working in a corrupt department who investigates the apparent suicide of a fellow officer. Worth seeing for Glenn Ford's prototypical performance and Gloria Grahme's show stealing portrayal of a boozing moll with a conscience. With facial disfigurement and cigarette burns it took violence up a notch from the standard gun play of the past, making it grimmer and more realistic, and giving the story more punch. Grahme's tough and tender role stands out and gives the film a tragic element, while certain of its portrayals of greed and corruption (namely the dead officer's wife) stand out for their attention to detail. In the end, it IS the details that give this formulaic story its clout, and we can thank director Fritz Lang for that.

Effective film noir about a cop fighting the mob as well as his own corrupt superiors as he investigates a murder. Ford has perhaps the best role of his career as the good cop. His scenes with wife Brando are very nicely handled, adding poignancy to the tragedy that would befall the family. There are shades of Dirty Harry as Ford takes matters into his own hands. Marvin and Grahame are also good as a mobster and his moll, respectively. Lang, a master of this sort of film-making, keeps things moving at a snappy pace. Some of the violence is jarring but of course nothing graphic is shown, given the era the movie was made in. After an excellent start, the second half of the film becomes somewhat routine but it still packs a punch.