The Big Heat (1953)

Tagline: A hard cop and a soft dame!

The Big Heat movie storyline. A dark, very brutal and violent, classic, expressionistic film noir/melodrama and gangster film that explores the seamy underworld of American organized crime. Following the suicide of a guilt-stricken, supposedly-honest fellow cop, homicide Sgt. Dave Bannion (Ford) is determined to discover the truth. A car bomb meant for him accidentally kills his wife Katie (Brando). Suspended from duty on the force, he tenaciously avenges the mob’s murder of his wife, confronting the city crime ring to uncover the truth.

A hard-hitting showdown is destined with ruthless, meglomaniacal kingpin Mike Lagana (Scourby), aided by a sadistic, psychotic thug Vince Stone (Marvin). One of the film’s most celebrated scenes is the coffee-scalding scene – an enraged Stone hurls his boiling coffee into the face of his moll girlfriend Debby Marsh (Grahame) – in retribution, she courageously aids Bannion’s search for the culprits and returns the coffee-scalding favor to Vince. No Academy Award nominations.

The Big Heat is a 1953 film noir directed by Fritz Lang, starring Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame and Jocelyn Brando, and featuring Lee Marvin. It centers on a cop who takes on the crime syndicate that controls his city. The film was written by former crime reporter Sydney Boehm, based on a serial by William P. McGivern, which appeared in the Saturday Evening Post and was published as a novel in 1953. The film was selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 2011.

Directed by: Fritz Lang
Starring: Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Jocelyn Brando, Alexander Scourby, Lee Marvin, Jeanette Nolan, Peter Whitney, Willis Bouchey, Robert Burton, Adam Williams, Howard Wendell, Chris Alcaide
Screenplay by: Sydney Boehm
Cinematography by: Charles Lang
Film Editing by: Charles Nelson
Costume Design by: Jean Louis
Set Decoration by: William Kiernan
Art Direction by: Robert Peterson
Music by: Henry Vars
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
Release Date: October 14, 1953