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Information
- Year
- 1953
- Runtime
- 89 min.
- Director
- Fritz Lang
- Genres
- Crime, Thriller, Film-Noir
- Rating *
- 7.9
- Votes *
- 13,805
- Checks
- 5,677
- Favs
- 513
- Dislikes
- 23
- Favs/checks
- 9.0% (1:11)
- Favs/dislikes
- 22:1
Top comments
-
acolthart
A near perfect film noir by Fritz Lang, arguably darker than most. The action is brutal, the acting is excellent. A complete thrill ride, just be carful where you put the coffee when you watch this one. 9 years 6 months ago -
MrE2Me
A classy noir by the almighty Fritz Lang. Gloria Grahame steals the film as a gangster's moll with attitude and heart. Beware of hot coffee! 12 years 1 month ago -
Siskoid
Fritz Lang's The Big Heat is a brutal noir that ups the stakes considerably when it dares to show us the protagonist's home life in addition to the case he's pursuing. Suddenly, the threats he receives when he gets too close to the solution to the badly explained suicide of a colleague are more visceral and suspenseful. Glenn Ford is great in this, juggling both sides of his copper's life through believable attitudes. Can a police detective keep both his integrity and his family intact when faced with this amount of corruption? And boy, is this ever violent for its time. That's the best part, really. Just how shocking it can be without really showing us anything that might attract the notice of the censors. Though nearer the end of his career than its beginning, Lang creates one of the iconic noirs of American cinema, with memorable characters and incidents, precision storytelling, and some cracking lines as well. 4 years 2 months ago
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In 19 official lists
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This movie ranks #20 in IMDb's Film-Noir Top 50
IMDb's Film-Noir Top 50
20 -
This movie ranks #38 in 101 Gangster Movies You Must See Before You Die
101 Gangster Movies You …
38 -
This movie ranks #53 in Time Out’s The 100 Best Thrillers
Time Out’s The 100 Best …
53 -
This movie ranks #79 in iCheckMovies's 1950s Top 100
iCheckMovies's 1950s Top…
79 -
This movie ranks #82 in The New York Times's Book of Movies
The New York Times's Boo…
82 -
This movie ranks #85 in TSPDT's 100 Essential Noir Films
TSPDT's 100 Essential No…
85 -
This movie ranks #85 in TSPDT's 1,000 Noir Films
TSPDT's 1,000 Noir Films
85 -
This movie ranks #89 in Time Out's 1000 Films to Change Your Life
Time Out's 1000 Films to…
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This movie ranks #96 in The Guardian's 1000 Films to See Before You Die
The Guardian's 1000 Film…
96 -
This movie ranks #231 in BFI's 360 Classic Feature Films Project
BFI's 360 Classic Featur…
231 -
This movie ranks #247 in Roger Ebert's Great Movies
Roger Ebert's Great Movi…
247 -
This movie ranks #258 in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
1001 Movies You Must See…
258 -
This movie ranks #346 in Jonathan Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema
Jonathan Rosenbaum's Ess…
346 -
This movie ranks #361 in Emma Beare's 501 Must-See Movies
Emma Beare's 501 Must-Se…
361 -
This movie ranks #457 in David Thomson's Have You Seen?
David Thomson's Have You…
457 -
This movie ranks #510 in Sight & Sound's The Greatest Films of All Time
Sight & Sound's The Grea…
510 -
This movie ranks #575 in TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest Films
TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest F…
575 -
This movie ranks #580 in Library of Congress's National Film Registry
Library of Congress's Na…
580 -
This movie ranks #917 in Halliwell's Top 1000: The Ultimate Movie Countdown
Halliwell's Top 1000: Th…
917