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The Big Heat
A police officer seems to have committed suicide, but Detective Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford) thinks there's more to the story. When a bomb meant for him kills his wife instead, Dave works outside the law's confines, obsessively search for the truth.
26 November 1922, Wall Lake, Iowa, USA
25 January 1908, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, USA
19 June 1914, White Plains, New York, USA
22 February 1915, Chicago, Illinois, USA
1 June 1921, Hollywood, California, USA
21 April 1916, Brooklyn, New York, USA
23 June 1915, Chicago, Illinois, USA
9 January 1921, Sacramento, California, USA
22 October 1923, Youngstown, Ohio, USA
24 May 1907, Vernon, Michigan, USA
11 March 1915, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
13 September 1920, Colfax, Washington, USA
21 February 1897, Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]
15 December 1911, New York City, New York, USA
18 April 1899, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
August 5, 1891 in Eagle Grove, Iowa, USA
15 September 1909, Hackensack, New Jersey, USA
August 10, 1924 in Santa Cruz, California, USA
30 January 1902, New York City, New York, USA
13 November 1913, Brooklyn, New York, USA
April 9, 1904 in Elma, Iowa, USA
24 May 1916, Long Branch, New Jersey, USA
19 February 1924, New York City, New York, USA
12 November 1927, Reading, Ohio, USA
29 April 1896, Tacoma, Washington, USA
28 November 1923, Los Angeles, California, USA
May 9, 1920
18 February 1901, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
9 September 1873, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
26 January 1904, Madison, Virginia, USA
April 09, 2008
A scalding face-full of harsh reality, courtesy Fritz Lang.
April 09, 2008
Lang presents one of the great works of film noir. The acting is first rate, Boehm's script tough and efficient, and the whole affair is photographed with the appropriate expressionist, chiaroscuro lighting.
April 08, 2007
One of Lang's most accomplished and influential noir crimers, with a top-notch turn from Glenn Ford as the avenging cop-angel, a role that Clint Eastwood (Dirty Harry) and Charles Bronson (Death Wish) would develop in their 1970s revenge thrillers.
December 05, 2009
Fritz Lang, once the master of grand expressionist scenes, directs with a stripped down style and a lean narrative drive...
January 20, 2006
That's the beauty of Lang's moral ambidexterity. He tells the story of a heroic cop, while using it to mask another story, so much darker, beneath.
May 22, 2012
For those who take their film black...Moral rot gets full play in Lang's 1953 police drama. [Blu-ray]
May 20, 2003
Mr. Lang can direct a film. He has put his mind to it, in this instance, and he has brought forth a hot one with a sting.
April 09, 2008
Brutal, atmospheric, and exciting -- highly recommended.
July 25, 2009
Everything about "The Big Heat" is "hard boiled."
June 24, 2006
Lang strips down William P McGivern's novel to essentials, giving the story a narrative drive as efficient and powerful as a handgun.
July 20, 2002
In many ways, Fritz Lang's The Big Heat, scripted by former crime reporter Sydney Boehm, laid the groundwork not only for "Dirty Harry," but for the whole sub-genre of 'rogue cop' films that began to surface during the Vietnam era.
April 09, 2008
Ford's portrayal of the homicide sergeant is honest and packs much wallop. Lang's direction builds taut suspense, throwing unexpected, and believable, thrills at the audience.
