THE BIG HEAT

William McGivern's 1953 crime novel, THE BIG HEAT, is one of several McGivern books I've read over the last couple of years. I've thoroughly enjoyed each and every one of them and have reviewed several of them here on my blog. 

It's been years since I first saw Fritz Lang's 1953 film version of the material. I caught up with the film again this afternoon and found it to be a first class film noir, full of brutal violence, misogyny and nihilism.  

The film opens with crooked cop Tom Duncan committing suicide, a death that sets off a chain of events that will soon "blow the lid off of the garbage can". When homicide detective Sergeant Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford), investigates, he discovers that the cop had connections to underworld kingpin Mike Lagana (Alexander Scourby), who also happens to "own" the police commissioner (Howard Wendell), a city council man and other men of influence. Lagana's right hand man is Vince Stone (Lee Marvin), a vicious thug who imports hit man Larry Gordon (Adam Williams) in from out-of-town to help tie up loose ends.

Those loose ends include B-girl Lucy Chapman (Dorothy Green), a bar floozy who was having an affair with the now dead Duncan. She's brutally killed in order to keep her quiet. But Duncan's widow, Bertha (Jeanette Nolan), has already cut herself in for a piece of the action, using a letter left by her husband as blackmail material against Lagana. 

As Bannion continues his investigation, the heat starts to rise. Lagana and his hoods come after Bannion with multiple threats which climax with a car bombing in which Bannion's wife, Katie (Jocelyn Brando), is killed. Bannion becomes a soulless automaton, a man with only one purpose in life: revenge. He's taken off of the police force but that doesn't stop his quest for bloody justice. He falls in with Stone's mistress, Debby Marsh (noir icon Gloria Grahame), who seeks protection from her murderous beau. When Stone finds out Debby and Bannion spent time together, he throws a pot of hot coffee in her face in the film's most infamous and shocking sequence. 

The horribly scarred Debby is now out for revenge of her own and things reach a violent climax in a penthouse apartment shoot-out between Bannion and Stone with Debby caught in the crossfire.

The affection Bannion has for the wounded Debby allows him to come out of his near-fugue state of single-minded revenge. The crime syndicate is exposed and Bannion resumes his place in the police department but he's paid a high price for his actions. 

But not as high as the price paid by every one of the four female characters in the film. The first to die is Lucy Chapman, followed by the innocent Katie Bannion. Then blackmailer Bertha Duncan is gunned down while Debby, the bad girl with the heart of gold, of course has to die at the film's climax. Lang, along with screenwriter Sydney Boehm and cinematographer Charles Lang (no relation to director Fritz) create a universe of corruption and violence in which human life is cheap and the price of redemption steep.

THE BIG HEAT came late in Lang's career in the United States. It was followed by HUMAN DESIRE (1954), MOONFLEET (1955), WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS (1956) and BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT (1956). Lang returned to Europe in 1959 and made a handful of films there. 

Such veteran actors as Paul Muni, George Raft and Edward G. Robinson were originally considered for the part of Bannion when the rights to McGivern's novel were owned by producer Jerry Wald. The powers that be at Columbia studios at the time wanted Marilyn Monroe for the part of Debby but 20th Century Fox, who had Monroe under contract, wanted too much money for the loan-out. Grahame, a much better choice, got the part. 

There are, of course, differences between McGivern's novel and Lang's film but both are extremely well done and well worth your time to read and watch. THE BIG HEAT ranks among the best of  '50s film noir. Highly recommended.