#23 THE BIG HEAT
Director Fritz Lang takes a cynical look at the status political/police corruption and the status of women in film and American society in the classic, The Big Heat. The women who help Glenn Ford meet with disastrous results in this tale of a man seeking to avenge the murder of his wife. Not only must he contend with the mobsters but a compromised and bought for city government.
Glenn Ford’s Sgt. Dave Bannion is Mr. Joe Average. Bannion is an honest cop working for a police department that takes its orders from crime boss, Mike Lagana (Alexander Scourby). Bannion has a modest home in the suburbs, a wife (Katie) who loves him (Jocelyn Brando) and a young daughter. When he returns late from work the kid is sleeping and Katie has supper waiting. It is a large, medium rare steak, served with a gigantic baked potato and their choice of beverage is beer. Bannion is pleased; for as he tells his wife, it’s not too often they can afford a steak on his pay. Their dinner is interrupted when he is called to the home of police Sergeant Tom Duncan who has committed suicide.
Glenn Ford’s Sgt. Dave Bannion is Mr. Joe Average. Bannion is an honest cop working for a police department that takes its orders from crime boss, Mike Lagana (Alexander Scourby). Bannion has a modest home in the suburbs, a wife (Katie) who loves him (Jocelyn Brando) and a young daughter. When he returns late from work the kid is sleeping and Katie has supper waiting. It is a large, medium rare steak, served with a gigantic baked potato and their choice of beverage is beer. Bannion is pleased; for as he tells his wife, it’s not too often they can afford a steak on his pay. Their dinner is interrupted when he is called to the home of police Sergeant Tom Duncan who has committed suicide.
Duncan’s wife, Bertha (Jeanette Nolan) gives her husband’s failing health as the reason for his suicide. Unknown to Bannion is that Tom Duncan had for years been on Lagana's payroll. He left a letter for the D.A., with information that would put the crime organization out of business. Bertha found the letter and immediately called Lagana. Bertha Duncan is as wily as they come. She’s arranged it so if anything happens to her the letter goes straight to the D.A. The letter serves as an annuity and a life insurance policy.
The next day Bannion gets a message from B girl Lucy Chapman (Dorothy Green). They meet at The Retreat, a lounge run by Lagana where Chapman works as a B girl. She was Duncan’s mistress. They were planning to marry she tells him and contradicting Bertha Duncan, says he was in excellent health. She believes his wife knew about their plans and murdered him. Bannion doesn’t believe her. Girls like her he tells her are only out for a payday. Chapman says, “… the only difference between me and Bertha Duncan is I work at being a B girl and she has a wedding ring and a marriage certificate.” A similar remark will be heard later in the film when Gloria Grahame tells Bertha Duncan, “We’re sisters under the mink.”
Bannion’s opinion changes the next day when Chapman’s beaten and mutilated body is found on the side of a road. Her death evokes no sympathy from the men in the department. They insult and judge her. The coroner says there is evidence of a sex crime and her body had numerous cigarette burns. It’s the work of a psychopath he tells Bannion and adds, “Trouble automatically catches up with girls like her.” Bannion wants to investigate the murder and Duncan’s suicide. He explains to Lt. Ted Wilks (Willis Bouchey) that Chapman was Duncan’s girlfriend to which Wilks replies, “And the Army’s and Navy’s.”
Bannion returns to The Retreat and questions Tierney the bartender (Peter Whitney). His description of Chapman is particularly malevolent. He offers these bon mots: “When barflys get killed it’s for any of a dozen crummy reasons.” “They know nobody cares much for what happens to them,” and “They’re floaters, not much more than a suitcase full of nothing between them and the gutter.” Tierney's, the Captain’s and the coroner’s statements about Chapman remind me of the carnival world’s sentiments toward the geek in, Nightmare Alley. In a world of freaks, con artists, and side shows they have no place in a civil society and at best a marginal place in world of outliers. The same can be said for Lucy Chapman. Tierney's words are harsh but there is truth to them. Of all the women in The Big Heat, Lucy Chapman is the low woman on the totem pole.
There is no femme fatale in The Big Heat. The fifties were not an opportune time to portray men as gullible, naïve chumps; not when close to half a million were lost in two wars. If there was to be a femme fatale it would be Debbie Marsh (Gloria Grahame) but she is more a victim than a fatale.
Debbie Marsh survives on her looks and desirability. She lives comfortably in sublime ignorance. She is the girlfriend of Lagana’s top henchman, Vince Stone (Lee Marvin). She does not have a wedding ring and a marriage certificate so she is not yet a peer of Bertha Duncan, but neither is she hustling men so she is not a Lucy Chapman. The beginning of her demise, as was the case with Chapman, starts when she comes across Bannion who returns to The Retreat.
Bannion sees Vince Stone put a cigarette out on the hand of a girl (Carolyn Jones) at the bar. He calls him out for that and for the Chapman murder. Stone high tails it out of the bar but leaves Debbie behind. She accompanies Bannion to his apartment. Debbie has seduction on her mind, Bannion has deduction on his. To his question as to how much she knows about Stone and Lagana she says, “When they talk business, I go out and get my legs waxed….” She admits Stone periodically beats her, and when asked why she stays with him says, “You gotta take the good with the bad…”
Neither makes any success in getting what they want. Marsh changes the subject, and asks about his wife. He is as verbally rude to her as Tierney and the Captain were to Lucy Chapman. He thinks she's making small talk as a come on. He tells her: “I wouldn’t touch anything of Vince Stone’s with a ten foot pole,” he tells her. This is the first time Marsh brings up his wife, but it won’t be the last. Katie Bannion is the paradigm of the fifties woman. If Lucy Chapman is on the bottom of the totem pole, then Katie Bannion is on top.
The next day Bannion gets a message from B girl Lucy Chapman (Dorothy Green). They meet at The Retreat, a lounge run by Lagana where Chapman works as a B girl. She was Duncan’s mistress. They were planning to marry she tells him and contradicting Bertha Duncan, says he was in excellent health. She believes his wife knew about their plans and murdered him. Bannion doesn’t believe her. Girls like her he tells her are only out for a payday. Chapman says, “… the only difference between me and Bertha Duncan is I work at being a B girl and she has a wedding ring and a marriage certificate.” A similar remark will be heard later in the film when Gloria Grahame tells Bertha Duncan, “We’re sisters under the mink.”
Bannion’s opinion changes the next day when Chapman’s beaten and mutilated body is found on the side of a road. Her death evokes no sympathy from the men in the department. They insult and judge her. The coroner says there is evidence of a sex crime and her body had numerous cigarette burns. It’s the work of a psychopath he tells Bannion and adds, “Trouble automatically catches up with girls like her.” Bannion wants to investigate the murder and Duncan’s suicide. He explains to Lt. Ted Wilks (Willis Bouchey) that Chapman was Duncan’s girlfriend to which Wilks replies, “And the Army’s and Navy’s.”
Bannion returns to The Retreat and questions Tierney the bartender (Peter Whitney). His description of Chapman is particularly malevolent. He offers these bon mots: “When barflys get killed it’s for any of a dozen crummy reasons.” “They know nobody cares much for what happens to them,” and “They’re floaters, not much more than a suitcase full of nothing between them and the gutter.” Tierney's, the Captain’s and the coroner’s statements about Chapman remind me of the carnival world’s sentiments toward the geek in, Nightmare Alley. In a world of freaks, con artists, and side shows they have no place in a civil society and at best a marginal place in world of outliers. The same can be said for Lucy Chapman. Tierney's words are harsh but there is truth to them. Of all the women in The Big Heat, Lucy Chapman is the low woman on the totem pole.
There is no femme fatale in The Big Heat. The fifties were not an opportune time to portray men as gullible, naïve chumps; not when close to half a million were lost in two wars. If there was to be a femme fatale it would be Debbie Marsh (Gloria Grahame) but she is more a victim than a fatale.
Debbie Marsh survives on her looks and desirability. She lives comfortably in sublime ignorance. She is the girlfriend of Lagana’s top henchman, Vince Stone (Lee Marvin). She does not have a wedding ring and a marriage certificate so she is not yet a peer of Bertha Duncan, but neither is she hustling men so she is not a Lucy Chapman. The beginning of her demise, as was the case with Chapman, starts when she comes across Bannion who returns to The Retreat.
Bannion sees Vince Stone put a cigarette out on the hand of a girl (Carolyn Jones) at the bar. He calls him out for that and for the Chapman murder. Stone high tails it out of the bar but leaves Debbie behind. She accompanies Bannion to his apartment. Debbie has seduction on her mind, Bannion has deduction on his. To his question as to how much she knows about Stone and Lagana she says, “When they talk business, I go out and get my legs waxed….” She admits Stone periodically beats her, and when asked why she stays with him says, “You gotta take the good with the bad…”
Neither makes any success in getting what they want. Marsh changes the subject, and asks about his wife. He is as verbally rude to her as Tierney and the Captain were to Lucy Chapman. He thinks she's making small talk as a come on. He tells her: “I wouldn’t touch anything of Vince Stone’s with a ten foot pole,” he tells her. This is the first time Marsh brings up his wife, but it won’t be the last. Katie Bannion is the paradigm of the fifties woman. If Lucy Chapman is on the bottom of the totem pole, then Katie Bannion is on top.
Stone is told about Debbie's meeting with Bannion. He scalds her with hot coffee and orders the Police Commissioner, who is on the take to Lagana, to bring her to the hospital. She flees after being treated and goes back to Bannion’s apartment for help. He sets her up in her own hotel room. The left side of her face is bandaged and she’s desperate. He couldn’t care less. While she’s suffering, he's interrogating her for information about Lagana and Stone. Finally she explodes, “I was followed when I came here with you. That’s why I got this.” Bannion’s attitude changes and he shows sympathy for her.
This is reminiscent of how in Pickup On South Street, McCoy’s doubts about Candy’s sincerity are dissolved once he learns she took a beating for him. Bannion was skeptical of Marsh until she gets scarred. Fortuitously for Bannion, Marsh didn't get scalded for nothing. She tells him it was a guy named Larry who killed his wife. When he finds him with the help of an elderly woman, Bannion beats on Larry until Larry lets him know Bertha Duncan is on the take. When he goes to her home and threatens her, she tells him about her husband's suicide letter that spills the beans on Lagana.
This is reminiscent of how in Pickup On South Street, McCoy’s doubts about Candy’s sincerity are dissolved once he learns she took a beating for him. Bannion was skeptical of Marsh until she gets scarred. Fortuitously for Bannion, Marsh didn't get scalded for nothing. She tells him it was a guy named Larry who killed his wife. When he finds him with the help of an elderly woman, Bannion beats on Larry until Larry lets him know Bertha Duncan is on the take. When he goes to her home and threatens her, she tells him about her husband's suicide letter that spills the beans on Lagana.
The Kefauver Hearings on organized crime were still fresh on the minds of the American public when this movie was released. Alexander Scourby’s portrayal of Mike Lagana, reportedly based on Frank Costello, is the modern day cinematic prototype for a Mafioso boss. Compare Scourby’s Lagana to Tony Scalise in Where The Sidewalk Ends, and Mr. Brown in, The Big Combo. You won’t find Lagana in a sweaty locker room with several of his henchmen, or hiding money in his girlfriends’ closet.
What seals the deal on Scourby’s portrayal is a spot on Italian-American accent. He does not have the Moustache Pete accent like E.G. Robinson’s in House of Strangers. Lagana’s is slightly tinged and sounds as it's from a boy who came to the States at a young age, spoke Italian at home, learned English at school and practiced it on the streets.
What seals the deal on Scourby’s portrayal is a spot on Italian-American accent. He does not have the Moustache Pete accent like E.G. Robinson’s in House of Strangers. Lagana’s is slightly tinged and sounds as it's from a boy who came to the States at a young age, spoke Italian at home, learned English at school and practiced it on the streets.
In this clip Bannion visits Lagana at his stately mansion where a lavish birthday party is being held for his daughter. In accordance with the sub theme of police and political corruption, the home is guarded by three policemen. Lagana speaks in a calm even tempered tone and only raises his voice when he learns Bannion’s reason for the visit. It is beneath a Don to scream or get upset, especially at a ‘nobody’ like a policeman.
Glenn Ford was great as the straight forward, highly principled Sgt. Bannion. Films as Where The Sidewalk Ends, and On Dangerous Ground, have police who struggle to uphold the law while they simultaneously skirt it. However, in those films the law officers kept their badges. Bannion will not conflict his sworn duty to uphold the law against what he feels is his duty to avenge his wife’s killers so he turns in his badge before he goes after the killers.
I like noirs that have at least one bad guy who looks like he could do damage off screen. Lee Marvin is that guy. He beat and burned Lucy Chapman, presses a cigar butt on the hand of Carolyn Jones, periodically beats Debbie Marsh and throws hot coffee on her face. If there was a dog in the apartment he’d kick it and I’m not sure if he likes, much less loves, his mother. The incident with the hot coffee is shocking, but five years prior Raymond Burr hurled a flambé dish at a girl friend in Raw Deal. But she was a minor character. In that film we don’t see the effects and she is quickly forgotten.
I like noirs that have at least one bad guy who looks like he could do damage off screen. Lee Marvin is that guy. He beat and burned Lucy Chapman, presses a cigar butt on the hand of Carolyn Jones, periodically beats Debbie Marsh and throws hot coffee on her face. If there was a dog in the apartment he’d kick it and I’m not sure if he likes, much less loves, his mother. The incident with the hot coffee is shocking, but five years prior Raymond Burr hurled a flambé dish at a girl friend in Raw Deal. But she was a minor character. In that film we don’t see the effects and she is quickly forgotten.
Marsh gets some revenge when she scalds Stone's face, but in return is shot. In a very long death scene she pulls her coat over the scarred side of her face and laments how rotten it was for Vince to ruin her looks. Her concern for her looks dissipate and she wants to hear about Katie. Bannion tells her “You and Katie would have gotten along fine.” He tells her the small things Katie liked; the simple things they enjoyed, Marsh is visibly comforted. Her last words are, “I like her. I like her a lot."
For all the macho in this film it is the women who give the men their success. Lucy Chapman’s tip, and subsequent murder, gets Bannion to begin his investigation. His wife is killed by a car bomb meant for him. Debbie Marsh kills Duncan and even the elderly, lame woman at the junk yard does her share as she leads him to Larry. Mike Lagana proudly credits his success to his Mother whose picture hangs prominently in his den. As the saying goes, behind every successful man there’s a good woman, or in Bannion’s case several good women.
There are some disturbing aspects of misogyny in this movie and perhaps the most disturbing is the last line of the movie. When Bannion is called to respond to a hit and run he tells one of the patrolmen, “Keep the coffee hot.” With that one flippant remark Lang has purposely minimized the violence done not only to Marsh but to all the women in the film. That line inspires jocularity when there should be none. It’s a reminder that women are there for the men, and if one or two should fall by the wayside, then c'est la vie.
For all the macho in this film it is the women who give the men their success. Lucy Chapman’s tip, and subsequent murder, gets Bannion to begin his investigation. His wife is killed by a car bomb meant for him. Debbie Marsh kills Duncan and even the elderly, lame woman at the junk yard does her share as she leads him to Larry. Mike Lagana proudly credits his success to his Mother whose picture hangs prominently in his den. As the saying goes, behind every successful man there’s a good woman, or in Bannion’s case several good women.
There are some disturbing aspects of misogyny in this movie and perhaps the most disturbing is the last line of the movie. When Bannion is called to respond to a hit and run he tells one of the patrolmen, “Keep the coffee hot.” With that one flippant remark Lang has purposely minimized the violence done not only to Marsh but to all the women in the film. That line inspires jocularity when there should be none. It’s a reminder that women are there for the men, and if one or two should fall by the wayside, then c'est la vie.
Why is this film not ranked higher on my list? The Big Heat has a top notch villain it addresses police and political corruption. Dan Seymour as the junkyard owner and Edith Evanson as the bookkeeper do well in their bit parts as street characters that I like in a noir.
But, there are hardly any location shots to speak of and the cinematography for a noir is rather bland. There is a lack of ambiguity with the possible exception being Debbie Marsh. All of the characters are pigeon holed in the beginning and remain there. If we were to establish another sub set of noir from 1950-1958 with its own set of criteria, The Big Heat would be very high. It’s an enjoyable film to watch, and to be number twenty-three on my list is no shame. Click here to go back to 21-25.
But, there are hardly any location shots to speak of and the cinematography for a noir is rather bland. There is a lack of ambiguity with the possible exception being Debbie Marsh. All of the characters are pigeon holed in the beginning and remain there. If we were to establish another sub set of noir from 1950-1958 with its own set of criteria, The Big Heat would be very high. It’s an enjoyable film to watch, and to be number twenty-three on my list is no shame. Click here to go back to 21-25.