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The big heat

Call Number

  • BLU-RAY MYSTERY/THRILLER (CEN)

Edition

Blu-ray special edition.

Languages

English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Performers

Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Jocelyn Brando, Alexander Scourby, Lee Marvin, Jeanette Nolan.

Publication Information

[New York, NY] : Criterion Collection, [2025]

Physical Description

1 videodisc (89 minutes) : sound, black and white ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 folded sheet (illustrations ; 16 cm)

Audience

Not rated.

Summary

"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."--Container.

Notes

Based upon the Saturday evening post serial by William P. McGivern.

Originally produced as a motion picture in 1953.

Special features: New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack ; new audio commentary by film-noir experts Alain Silver and James Ursini ; new video essay by critic Farran Smith Nehme on the women in the film ; audio interviews with director Fritz Lang, conducted by film historian Gideon Bachmann and filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich ; interviews with filmmakers Michael Mann and Martin Scorsese ; trailer.