The Big Heat

A scalding face-full of harsh reality, courtesy Fritz Lang. Starkly photographed and without a continuous score, the absence of which underlines the hard-hitting dialogue and the sound of smacking fists and thudding bullets, this film is as brutal as Lang's M was frightening. Ford, an ex-cop out to avenge the mob murder of his wife, gets upstaged by two performances of incredible power: Grahame and Marvin. Grahame plays a moll who squeals and pays; her performance defines the film noir anti-heroine, and in a world of comedic 1950s sex, she was the real thing, either coming along too late or too soon. Marvin moved his career up a definite notch as the sadistic kille...