The Big Heat

In The Big Heat, violence and criminality contaminate a small city, controlling elections and the police, as well as threatening institutions.

The cast of characters of film noir narratives is present, but, in keeping with many films of the '50s, they have moved out of the shadowy stairwells and back alleys to occupy well-furnished homes and luxurious estates. Much of the violence occurs offscreen - in the diegesis of the film, occuring no doubt in the old haunts of film noir. Violence and criminality still exist, closer and more threatening than ever, but also more menacing. The low-key lighting, off-anfle compositions, and night-for-night photography that distinguishes the visual style is used sparingly in The Big Heat, further blurring boundary between the criminal elements and the rest of society.

Emphasizing the pressing danger to the family unit, the plot of the film takes the audience into two false fronts of domesitcity before introducing the ideal but thretened Bannion family. The opening sequence of the briefly introduces a husband and wife already corrupted. Setting the violent tone, the first shot of The Big Heat is a close-up of a revolver on a desk. As the camera slowly draws back, a hand grasps the gun, a shot is fired, and a man slumps over the desk. The frame continues to enlarge, revealing a woman coming down the stairs. After a cut to medium shot of the woman, her face half in shadow, and a huge grandfather clock reading three o’clock, the sequence goes on to show her coldly assessing the suicide of her husband and making a phone call. Mrs. Duncan, from the opening sequence a policeman’s widow, exhibits the greed and ambition of the archetypal femme fatale, although her sexuality is de-emphasized. A later sequence, an interview between Mrs. Duncan and homicide detective Bannion, visually underscores her duplicity by beginning with a shot of her at a vanity table, reflected in a three-paned mirror as she makes herself up to play the grieving widow.