Watch The Big Heat

The Big Heat is a crime drama in the film noir style, starring Glenn Ford and directed by Fritz Lang. Police detective Dave Bannion (Ford) is assigned to investigate another police officer's death. At first glance it appears to have been a suicide brought on by the cop in question, Tom Duncan, having had a difficult time dealing with the stresses of poor health, but Bannion is given a tip from Duncan's former mistress that makes him decide to dig deeper into the case. The more Bannion pursues the facts the more he comes to realize that his own superiors on the force would rather have the case just go away. Corruption and organized crime involvement result in acts of violence all around Bannion as he refuses to back down from finding out the truth. As the action heats up, an intricate plot of betrayals and cover-ups results in Bannion all but going it alone against powerful mobsters at great personal cost. His only ally is the former girlfriend of mob henchman Vince Stone (Lee Marvin), Debby (Gloria Grahame).