Noir November - Day 5 - The Big Heat

Within the first 10 seconds of The Big Heat, a man - we only see his hand - picks up a revolver and shoots himself in the head. Director Fritx Lang (M, Metropolis) knows how to start a movie. After such an arresting opening does the rest of the film hold up? The answer is a resounding "yes!" The Big Heat grabs you from minute one and leaves you satisfied when "The End" appears on the screen.

(Spoilers Ahead)

Police officer Tom Duncan, the man in charge of the Police Records Bureau, is the suicide. His wife Bertha (played to soulless perfection by Jeanette Nolan) finds the body and contacts crime boss Mike Lagana (Alexander Scourby). He in turn contacts Vince Stone (Lee Marvin) to "handle it." In this scene Debby (Gloria Grahame in "hot and sleazy" mode), Vince's girlfriend, is also introduced. Homicide detective Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford) is assigned to look into Duncan's death. It appears to be an open and shut case; however, after talking to Lucy Chapman (Dorothy Green), who was Duncan's mistress and who is tortured and killed right after talking to Bannion, he starts to dig deeper. He uncovers other inconsistencies in the story Bertha told him, but is ordered off the case. Bannion, understandably, suspects there is more here than just suicide.

Bannion, hat in place, ready to dispense justice.

Bannion and his wife, Katie (Jocelyn Brando) are threatened at home by an anonymous phone call. He immediately confronts Lagana at home, roughing up one of his thugs in the process. Why he suspects Lagana is not clear at this point, one of a handful of story problems. While it is stated that Lagana is the most powerful criminal in the city, Bannion has no particular reason to suspect him. However, this gap in the plot soon gets blown away by Lagana's response...trying to have Bannion killed. A car bomb meant for Bannion kills Katie, setting Dave on the road to revenge. When the smoke clears: Dave has beaten and tortured people; Debby is disfigured by Vince, turns to Bannion for comfort and help, kills Bertha and is killed by Vince; Vince, Lagana, and the corrupt politicians get their comeuppance, heading to jail for their myriad crimes; and Dave gets his job back with the cops, fighting crime the Bannion way.

The Big Heat is memorable for its complex characters. Bannion starts as a seemly average cop with a nice home life. He changes into a vengeance machine, wanting to find the killers of his wife and punish them, using any means necessary. He beats people, sets up one of Vince's henchmen to be murdered and almost strangles Bertha (she has evidence that would prove Lagan's criminal activities and the depths of corruption in the city government that will come out if she dies) only to be stopped by the timely arrival of a couple of cops. Although he has shown concern towards women being brutalized, he has no problem almost killing one to get what he wants. The Bannion we see before his wife is murdered has a strong moral code and a good home life. There is an easy chemistry between Ford and Brando, one that effectively conveys the sense of a real relationship. And it is obvious why people would see him as a good, if bull-headed cop; Ford has an intensity about him, one that would translate into an effective detective. It is the dark aspects of his character that come out after the death of Katie, however, that round him out and make him a noir protagonist. He is obsessed with vengeance, a good man giving in to darker impulses, but is grounded enough to be able to resume his "normal" life once Lagana et al are brought to to justice.

Debby, in pre-Sanka days.

Other characters are less well-developed, but still memorable. Debby's journey from boozy, superficial bimbo to angry killer is believable. She is young and hangs out with Vince because he spends money on her. As she says, "I've been rich and I've been poor; believe me, rich is better." A line like this fleshes out her background, providing her with a back story that explains why she is with a brutal thug like Vince and can so quickly turn against him. Once she is scarred (an intense scene in which Vince splashes hot coffee in her face after finding out she was with Bannion after Bannion humiliated Vince in a nightclub) her only tool for the good life, her looks, are gone. She aligns with Bannion not out of a sense of social right and wrong; she wants Vince to pay for hurting her. In this way she is like Bannion. He has given up on the concept of social justice, because he sees that society is corrupt. Unlike Debby. in the end he "returns" to society. He doesn't directly kill anyone and is satisfied that Lagana and the corrupt members of the city government will go to jail. Debby does not have this opportunity. Her final acts are to murder Bertha (finishing the act that Bannion was prevented from carrying out) and hurt Vince they way she was hurt (scalding water in the face). She also haa a redemptive moment before she dies. While she's bleeding out after being shot by Vince, she convinces Bannion to tell her about Katie (something he wouldn't do before). Her final words are "I like her a lot." Does this ring true? If they met in life, Katie would have seen Debby as a drunken party girl and Debby would doubtless have looked down on the stay-at-home cop's wife. After what she has been through, however, she realizes at the end that the life she had been leading was both superficial and harmful, that the money she loved was made by men who hurt and killed people to make it. Her final words really say "the path society lays out, one of law and order, traditional families and a belief in the system is the correct way to live."

The villains, Vince, Mike and their henchmen, aren't fleshed out as much as the protagonists. However, the actors bring an interesting mix of cunning and brutality to the roles. Lee Marvin is the stand-out actor. His Stone is a smooth talking killer. He is casually violent, but reflexively subservient to Lagana, transitions that Marvin handles well. Scourby's Lagana has less to do, but he still projects an intelligence that makes his crime boss, one who holds unassailable sway in the city, believable.

While the look of the film isn't particularly memorable - Lang opts for a flat, realistic look to the film, forgoing stylish shots - the characterizations are fascinating, offering complex, engaging people who evolve during the course of the film. While there are a few plot holes, none are particularly egregious. Check it out.