excellent 'in' joke for movie buffs
at an early club scence, did anyone hear the music played by the band in the background - 'Put the Blame on Mame ' from Gilda, starring Glen Ford !!
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MovieChat Forums > The Big Heat (1953) Discussion > excellent 'in' joke for movie buffs
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That was a nice touch. Both were Columbia films.
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haha, i just watched Gilda (one of my favorite films) and read about it in a book. the author also talked about glenn ford's most memorable performance and pointed me to The Big Heat. second forum thread i click on is this. made my day. i realized that i've seen this movie before and i remember loving it. certainly have to re-watch it.
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Glenn Ford is almost never memorable. Not here and not in Gilda. He's way outshone by the leading ladies in both movies.
I hardly remember he was in Gilda at all.
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. . . he is most memorable, and as the male lead he anchors the production superbly, and makes the film what it is . . . his best work is here . . .
shareAnother very good and celebrated movie I don't much remember him being in is 3;10 to Yuma.
Would you agree, though, that he was something of a B-plus/ B actor in his time? He certainly wasn't an A-lister. Had no where near the kind of charisma Bogart or Mitchum had in film noir or that John Wayne had in Westerns.
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It's just as well we all have different opinions or the world would be a boring place. Personally, I'd say watch '3.10 to Yuma' again because Ford is superb in this and his scenes with Felicia Farr are wonderful and relaxed. The way he casually taunts Heflin all the way through is brilliant. I liked Mitchum but could never understand Bogart's appeal and I find Wayne too macho and overdone in Westerns, whereas Ford is again so much more believable and apparently the 'cowboy' that real cowboys found authentic.
shareGlen Ford may have been a B actor but I loved him in Sheepman, Experiment in Terror, and Don't Go Near the Water.
sharehe's superb in The Big Heat because he fits the character so well . . . I honestly don't think any other actor could've carried the role as he did successfully. . . perfect fit . . .
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Ford was pretty lackluster in most of his films, no doubt 'bout it.
But as cited by others, his performance in 3:10 Yuma is really something special - unlike anything he did before or after – something more along the lines of Robert Mitchum's Max Cady in the original Cape Fear . . . a calm, taunting,
evil presence that knows how to push people's buttons.
If you must see any of Ford's performances, this is the one to see. The one time when he did command the screen in every scene he's in.
"It ain't so much that people are ignorant,
they just know so much that ain't so." - Josh Billings
The Big Heat
Agreed . . . standard fare . . . however, the cream rose to the top because he fit the character of Dave Bannion perfectly---and he gave a great performance---I don't believe anyone else in Hollywood at that time could've carried that part as he did . . . superb casting . . .
Glenn Ford was originally placed under contract by Harry Cohn as a replacement/interchangable actor for William Holden. Ford, IMHO, was remarkable in THE BIG HEAT, THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE and THE SHEEPMAN. He was outdone by Rita in GILDA.
share. . . The Big Heat is Ford's best . . . he fit the character perfectly . . . and handled the part superbly . . .
shareFord is at least adequate in all 3 films I´ve seen him in (Gilda, Experiment In Terror and this), but it´s also definitely true the first one to come to mind when thinking of Gilda is Hayworth and, when thinking of Experiment, Lee Remick. Similarly, I expect Grahame as well as Marvin to linger better in memory than Ford over time from The Big Heat. Nothing wrong with Ford, but he´s just too straight arrow to make such a lasting impression perhaps.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
There's no arguing that "Gilda" is Rita's picture, but the soft, intimate, conspiratorial quality of Glenn Ford's voice in the narration sets the tone for the whole story. It fits in well with the sound scheme of the movie, which made effective use of silences, so maybe the director deserved more credit than Ford, but I thought he did a pretty good job in it.
I thought the ludicrous aspect of "Gilda" was the ending, where the two leads who have been convicingly depicted as a somewhat trampy, social-climbing trophy wife and her cynical, embittered gambleholic ex-boyfriend are revealed as just a couple of nice lovesick kids.
@JaneSchmo um, no... Glenn was ONE OF THE ONLY actors in this film who wasn't stiff, unconvincing & over rehearsed. ONE OF THE ONLY ACTORS!! Everyone else was ridiculous, so much so that I laughed a few times. It's a sign of the times, that was the style back then, I know, but still. Lol... He actually brought some energy & spontaneity to the film. No way.
Alright, so as I'm rereading your post & think back on the film, I'm starting to see what you're saying. He isn't memorable, doesn't have the sveltest face or the most eye catching look, but he did give the best performance.
IMDB Film Ratings: http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=22271274
I don't see how the use of "Put the Blame on Mame" could be considered an in-joke. The studio (Columbia) was simply recycling a bit of music from an earlier picture -- something all the studios did back in those days. For example, the entire last 30 minutes of RKO's "The Last Days of Pompeii" is scored with Max Steiner's music cues from "King Kong," released two years earlier.
shareBut.......the point that was being made is....Glenn Ford co-starred in
"Gilda" where the song PTBOM was almost a character within itself.
My question as it relates to your post is....How was "TLDOP" relative to "KK"
other than just a few music cues that were borrowed?
"OOO...I'M GON' TELL MAMA!"
Wow, that is awesome!
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I noticed that right away. Awesome little nod to one of my favorite noirs.
I personally think Ford was a good actor. Loved him in Gilda and in this. He kind of reminds me of Dana Andrews, another good, understated actor who is often overlooked.
"He's already attracted to her. Time and monotony will do the rest."
And Gloria Grahame at one point tells a guy "why don't you go to the circus" when she had just been in Best Picture winner The Greatest Show on Earth the year before.
"My name is Paikea Apirana, and I come from a long line of chiefs stretching all the way back to the Whale Rider."