1269 The Big Heat

[Finch]

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.

4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
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
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: An essay by author Jonathan Lethem

New cover by Drusilla Adeline/Sister Hyde

[domino harvey]

Is there a boutique label that hasn't released this film?

[Finch]

If this looks anywhere near as good as Winchester 73 does in SDR, we're in for a treat.

[pistolwink]

Great movie. Harrowing. I've bought it on video more times than I care to remember. That is however one of the ugliest covers I've seen in recent years. What is that ectoplasm to the right of Gloria Grahame's face? Are the slits supposed to evoke a venetian blind pulled askew?

It also just feels a little inappropriate since while this film is a canonical noir, visually it's much more matter-of-fact, less obviously stylized than stuff by Anthony Mann, Robert Siodmak, etc. which the cover would seem to evoke.

[domino harvey]

What is that ectoplasm to the right of Gloria Grahame's face? Are the slits supposed to evoke a venetian blind pulled askew?

SpoilerShow

It's the facial bandage after Lee Marvin scalds her with hot coffee

[swo17]

The blind thing was also used for the Twilight Time cover

[zedz]

People are bamboozled by the use of venetian blind shadows on the cover of a film noir?

[Mr Sausage]

A lot of thudding symbolism in the cover: Grahame's face hazy and fractured in the light, while Ford is fading away into smoke.

[domino harvey]

Doesn't help that the drawing looks more like Ida Lupino than Grahame

[zedz]

A lot of thudding symbolism in the cover: Grahame's face hazy and fractured in the light, while Ford is fading away into smoke.

It's steam from the coffee pot! (i.e. even more overloaded)

[therewillbeblus]

Doesn't help that the drawing looks more like Ida Lupino than Grahame

My thoughts exactly

[andyli]

Is there a boutique label that hasn't released this film?

Same thing could also be said about The Lady from Shanghai. It puzzles me that Sony wouldn't let go of that film and released the 4K themselves, and then this happened.

[Randall Maysin Again]

Doesn't help that the drawing looks more like Ida Lupino than Grahame

And makes Glenn Ford look kind of like a monkey. Or Paul Sorvino.

[therewillbeblus]

I didn’t say that, just thought it

[pistolwink]

Oh yeah, the bandage! It still looks weird.

[FrauBlucher]

Eddie Muller's Noir Alley Intro and outro from a 2018 airing on TCM

[Lowry_Sam]

Doesn't help that the drawing looks more like Ida Lupino than Grahame

To me, she’s either a young Simone Signoret or Romy Schneider.

While I have the Powerhouse blu, the audio is out of sync and I don’t think it was ever fixed, so this is a welcome upgrade.

[Maltic]

Has a cover illustrator ever taken to defending him or herself on this forum (or on the other one)?

Like audio commentarians, I don't suppose they get a lot of feedback elsewhere.

[DimitriL]

Has a cover illustrator ever taken to defending him or herself on this forum (or on the other one)?

Like audio commentarians, I don't suppose they get a lot of feedback elsewhere.

I’ve seen them engaging elsewhere. Greg Ruth is an active poster on FB, Sister Hyde is also pretty active on social media. Sam Smith has often talked about his process on specific covers, and I’m pretty sure Mike McQuade spent time on Twitter explaining the whole idea behind the Citizen Kane cover. But I haven’t seen them on these forums.

[ryannichols7]

I said this elsewhere but even though I really like this movie, I don't feel that excited about the upgrade? and it even has a new commentary? maybe if Imogen Sara Smith or Eddie Mueller was doing the track, I'd be more game. Silver/Ursini are fine though and I like Farran Smith Nehme, so I'll be curious to hear. I'm sure I'll still buy this day 1 and the new restoration will look awesome, I just don't feel that excited about this

special shoutout to Tony Rayns' interview on the Indicator disc, his love for Lang has always been awesome and it shined there (as well as his piece on Ministry of Fear)

[Maltic]

I like Ursini/Silver just as much as ISS and Mueller, and I'm not complaining now that Criterion has begun commissioning new audio commentaries and video essays again.

I feel the same way about a new The Big Heat release, though, sort of meh, but they can't all be long-suffering films salvaged from OOP DVD status, and it is an important film.