Posted by Notcot on May 29, 2011 in
Noir 
, Fritz Lang’s most celebrated American film, is a chilling and violent tale of corruption, vengeance, and loss. Dave Bannion, played by distinguished film noir actor Glenn Ford, is an upright but unscrupulous cop on the trail of a vicious gang he suspects holds power over the police force. Bannion is tipped off after a colleague’s suicide and his fellow officers’ suspicious silence lead him to believe that they are on the gangsters’ payroll. When a bomb meant for him kills his wife instead, Bannion becomes a furious force of vengeance and justice, aided along the way by the gangster’s spurned girlfriend Debbie (Gloria Grahame). As Bannion and Debbie fall further and further into the Gangland’s insidious and brutal trap, they must use any means necessary (including murder) to get to the truth. The violence comes suddenly and unrelentingly, as Lang explodes the stripped down story with economic yet forceful cinematography and editing, and gritty yet emotionally gripping performances from Ford and Grahame.
There’s a satisfying sense of closure to the definitive noir kick achieved in The Big Heat: its director, Fritz Lang, had forged early links from German expressionism to the emergence of film noir, so it’s entirely logical that the expatriate director would help codify the genre with this brutal 1953 film. Visually, his scenes exemplify the bold contrasts, deep shadows, and heightened compositions that define the look of noir, and he matches that success with the darkly pessimistic themes of this revenge melodrama.
The story coheres around the suicide of a crooked cop, and the subsequent struggle of an honest detective, Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford), to navigate between a corrupt city government and a ruthless mobster to uncover the truth. Initially, the violence here seems almost timid by comparison to the more explicit carnage now commonplace in films, yet the story accelerates as its plot arcs toward Bannion’s showdown with kingpin Lagana (Alexander Scourby) and his psychotic henchman, the sadistic Vince Stone, given an indelible nastiness by Lee Marvin. When Bannion’s wife is killed by a car bomb intended for the detective, both the hero and the story go ballistic: suspended from the force, he embarks on a crusade of revenge that suggests a template for Charles Bronson’s Death Wish films, each step pushing Lagana and Stone toward a showdown. Bodies drop, dominoes tumbled by the escalating war between the obsessed Bannion and his increasingly vicious adversaries.
Lang’s disciplined visual design and the performances (especially those of Ford, Marvin, Jeanette Nolan as the dead cop’s scheming widow, and Gloria Grahame as Marvin’s girlfriend) enable the film to transcend formula, as do several memorable action scenes–when an enraged Marvin hurls scalding coffee at the feisty Debby (Grahame), we’re both shattered by the violence of his attack, and aware that he’s shifted the balance of power. –Sam Sutherland
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Tags: 2006, heat
Posted by Notcot on Apr 4, 2011 in
Cult Film Tags: 2006, time, Trumpet
Posted by Notcot on Feb 12, 2011 in
Noir Tags: 2006, Complete, Death, note
Posted by Notcot on Dec 3, 2010 in
Cult Film
Reviews:
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Going to Pieces, 10 July 2007
This review is from: Going To Pieces [2006] [DVD] (DVD)
The slasher movie has always been looked upon with much disdain by critics, fans of ‘real’ film and even some horror fans for many years, which is strange considering its endurance; there are well over 500 in existence from the roots of ‘Psycho’ all the way up to forthcoming features like ‘All the Boys Love Mandy Lane’ and a remake of ‘April Fool’s Day’. As an advocate of the genre with an academic background in film, I was glad that somebody finally took the time to make a serious documentary that didn’t spend all its time telling us things we already knew.
‘Going to Pieces’ is based on Adam Rockoff’s book (which restricted itself to covering the years 1974-1986) and goes through the central elements of the genre with interjections from individuals who have contributed landmark productions to it (Wes Craven, John Carpenter, Sean Cunningham, even Amy Holden Jones!) and clips from a large cross-section of films. The only possible flaw is that it focuses much of its time on the well-known franchises. Even through tribute is paid to the likes of ‘Happy Birthday to Me’, ‘Graduation Day’, ‘The Burning’ and the ultra-trashy ‘Pieces’, where is ‘Hell Night’? More importantly, where is the original ‘Texas Chain Saw Massacre’? While this is a minor point, it’s more than compensated for with some previously banned footage, most notably the pitchfork-shower scene from ‘The Prowler’, which was heavily scissored by the BBFC.
Time is taken to attempt to defend the genre somewhat, by drawing analogies between ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ and Buddhist properties and making a case for (most of) these films really being more than simplistic body count gorefests; slasher movies CAN be cathartic. Genre-haters Ebert and Siskel appear in their famous rant about sleazy horror, which centered around misogyny and the lack of art – I wonder what they’d make of this?
Definitely worth a look for those curious about the genre; even my anti-horror friend was slightly humbled that there could be intellectual thought surrounding these films!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
the view according to www.georgevader.co.uk, 1 Sep 2007
This review is from: Going To Pieces [2006] [DVD] (DVD)
As the title suggests this is a documentary chronicling the rise of the so called slasher movie in the 1980’s with such films as “Friday 13th”, “Halloween”, “Prom Night” and the “Nightmare on Elm Street” right up to the “Scream” series of the mid 90’s.
The film contains some great slasher moments (Jason’s ‘death’ etc) but the highlight is the vast array of interviews with big names from the genre, there’s the usual big guns such as Wes Craven and John Carpenter, the genius that is Tom Savini, but you also get loads of lesser known names thrown in the mix with plenty of interesting anecdotes such as Paul Lynch (“Prom Night”) and Fred Walton (“When a Stranger Calls”, “April Fool’s Day”).
If you’re a fan of the genre, which I am, then you’ll love this highly enjoyable documentary
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
gore by the people who made it!, 13 Oct 2009
This review is from: Going To Pieces [2006] [DVD] (DVD)
being a huge fan of horror films, I’ve always been on the look out for a feature length docu-DVD because it’s been so long since a horror 101 type tv show had lived up to expectations. But this dvd you get to hear sean.s cunningham talk about the making and the first screening of friday the 13th. John Carpenter talks about the process and first screening of Halloween. you hear from big horror producers too, and this release also contains previously banned footage that has just seen the light of day.
In the extras there are movie quizes to test your slasher movie knowledge too.
plus wes craven tells you the story behind the classic nightmere on elm street and it’s pretty spooky.
so take a look for yourself you won’t be disappointed.
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Tags: 2006, Going, Pieces
