#1269: LANG, Fritz: The Big Heat (1953)

LANG, Fritz (United States)
The Big Heat [1953]
Spine #1269
Blu-ray


Noir doesn’t get any more hard-boiled than this scorching tale of vice and retribution, a film that finds director Fritz Lang working at the peak of his Hollywood style—stripped to the bone, simmering with outrage, and fatalistic to the core. A tightly wound Glenn Ford stars as a homicide detective whose investigation into a sprawling crime syndicate becomes a shockingly personal, hate-fueled quest for revenge. Costarring an iconic Gloria Grahame as the mink-coated gangster’s moll with her own axe to grind, and featuring a supporting cast led by a sensationally sleazy Lee Marvin, The Big Heat hits with raw, unstoppable force.

89 minutes
Monaural
Black and White
1:37:1
Criterion Release 2025


Directors/Writers

Fritz Lang was 63 when he directed The Big Heat.
Screenplay by Sydney Boehm.
Based on the Saturday Evening Post serial by William P. McGivern.

The Film


The Extras

The Booklet

Commentary

Video tribute

Documentary 1

Documentary 2

Documentary 3

Controversial altered ending

Theatrical trailer


By Spine #

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