Iconic filmmaker Fritz Lang (the man behind groundbreaking cinematic works Metropolis and M) helms this adaptation of William P. McGivern's novel, which, because this is a film noir, focuses on a restrained macho white guy who refuses to adhere to traditional rules. This film noir archetype is inhabited in The Big Heat by Detective Sergeant Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford), whose attempts to get to the bottom of the murder of a police officer is met with suspicious resistance and admonishment by his superiors. Bannion has stumbled into a larger conspiracy that controls the city he inhabits and traces back to Mike Lagana (Alexander Scourby), a mobster who has everybody in his back pocket, including the police department that doesn't want Bannion to uncover all this corruption.
In order to keep Bannion quiet, Bannion's wife is killed through a car bomb. Instead of scaring the detective off this case, this tragic turn of events only makes Bannion all the more determined to bring Lagan and his cronies, including Vince Stone (Lee Marvin) to justice. It's a premise that's practically dripping with nastiness, from the frank descriptions of the torture suffered by a now-deceased woman who previously threatened to blow this whole operation to Bannion's primal-like ferocity in tracking down any potential people who could help take down Mike Lagana. The Big Heat is an unflinchingly brutal movie and its entertaining execution of this specific tone serves as a masterclass in how to properly craft sublime grim cinema.
Part of this comes from how The Big Heat creates scenes and characters that serve as tragedy-tinged contrasts to the grimness that consumes the city Bannion inhabits. Bannion's home, which he shares with his wife and a young daughter, is one of the few sets in the entirety of The Big Heat that makes use of brighter colors while there's a persistently hopeful & uplifting spirit in the walls of this humble abode. Similarly, crucial character Debby Marsh (Gloria Grahame) enters the movie not delivering monologues on the tragedy of her life but rather being snippy and dropping wry comic observations on her boyfriend and his associates.
Of course, in the case of both Bannion's home life and Debby Marsh, tragedy soon consumes them both, but prior to that, they're rare examples of buoyancy that allow the rest of the films dour nature to truly leave an impact. The specifically morose atmosphere of The Big Heat is also aided by Fritz Lang's exceptional direction. Having already spent decades directing a number of acclaimed features prior to The Big Heat, Lang's experiences ensures that there's real craftsmanship going on here in terms of the blocking of characters or in the use of shadows in a specific scene to create an ominous atmosphere, the direction also reinforces the idea of Bannion being outmatched by the forces he's fighting against. Pausing any given moment of The Big Heat allows one to appreciate how Lang's direction subtly contributes to Bannion's plight being so vividly realized.
Of course, Glenn Ford's lead performance is also helpful in that regard. Ford's work as Bannion is adhering to the norms of traditional film noir protagonists to a tee, no doubt about it, but can you really mind that when he's playing it so well? Ford comes across as believably intimidating even when he's just growling at his superiors while a climactic moment where he finally opens up emotionally and reminiscences about his wife is surprisingly poignant thanks to how authentically Ford communicates the vulnerable side of this character. Gloria Grahame is also excellent in the part of Debby Marsh, especially in her final few scenes that see Debby go on an immensely cathartic rampage against the people that have wronged her. The Big Heat is a grim movie in tone, and its handling of that tone is superb, but thankfully, being so dour doesn't mean it eschews the chance for fun sequences like Gloria Grahame going all John Wick on old-timey gangsters.
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