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The Big Combo

The Big Combo (1955) is an American film noir released in and directed by Joseph H. Lewis and stylistically photographed by cinematographer and noir icon John Alton with music by David Raksin.

This violent, dark film tells of tormented Police Lt. Leonard Diamond (Cornel Wilde), who is on a personal crusade to bring down sadistic gangster Mr. Brown (Richard Conte). He's also dangerously obsessed with Brown's girlfriend (Jean Wallace), his captive lover.

Plot

When Brown finds out that Diamond is on the case and means to put him behind bars, he boasts:

Joe, tell the man I'm gonna break him so fast, he won't have time to change his pants. Tell him the next time I see him, he'll be in the lobby of the hotel, crying like a baby and asking for a ten dollar loan. Tell him that. And tell him I don't break my word.

Mr. Brown taunts Diamond every step of the way and makes Diamond more obsessed. Brown says:

I'm gonna break him so fast he won't have time to change his pants.

Brown's right-hand man, the over the hill and hard of hearing Joe McClure (Brian Donlevy), plots with gangsters (and possibly lovers) Fante (Lee Van Cleef) and Mingo (Earl Holliman) to overthrow Mr. Brown, but he ends up getting killed himself. McClure's hearing aid, in an earlier scene, is used to torture detective Diamond with amplified sound (so as not to leave marks) in a display of violence rare for its time.

Meanwhile, Diamond finds a witness that could finally nail the elusive gangster, Mr. Brown's wife--a woman who was thought to have died years ago. The film ends dramatically in a classic foggy airplane hangar shootout.

Background

According to film critics, this film stands with others like Fritz Lang's The Big Heat as one of the great film noir detective classics in terms of style.

Actors Wallace and Wilde were married when the film was shot. In fact, they were married from 1951 until their divorce in 1981.

This film noir is considered by many film critics as one of the best work of legendary cinematographer John Alton.

Even though most people associate brass music (trumpets, saxophones, etc.) with film noir, most employed orchestral (strings) scores. However, The Big Combo is one of few film noirs to have a brass score.

Cast

Cornel Wilde as Police Lt. Leonard Diamond
Richard Conte as Mr. Brown
Brian Donlevy as Joe McClure
Jean Wallace as Susan Lowell
Robert Middleton as Police Capt. Peterson
Lee Van Cleef as Fante
Earl Holliman as Mingo
Helen Walker as Alicia Brown
Jay Adler as Sam Hill
John Hoyt as Nils Dreyer
Ted de Corsia as Bettini

Critical reception

Reviews of the movie today are mostly positive. Chris Dashiell on the website CineScene finds the dialog "run of the mill" but praises the films director, and wrote, "But Lewis had a remarkable ability to infuse poetry into the most banal material, and The Big Combo is one of his best efforts... it's not as startlingly inventive as Lewis's best film, Gun Crazy (1949), but it's a quality B-film, satisfying and dark.

The staff at Variety magazine liked the film's direction, music and photography, despite "a rambling, not-too-credible plot." They wrote, "Performances are in keeping with the bare-knuckle direction by Joseph Lewis and, on that score, are good. Low-key photography by John Alton and a noisy, jazzy score by David Raksin [with solo piano by Jacob Gimpel] are in keeping with the film's tough mood.

Film critic Ed Gonzalez lauded the film in his review, writing, "Shadows and lies are the stars of The Big Combo, a spellbinding black-and-white chiaroscuro with the segmented texture of a spider's web...John Alton's lush camera work is so dominant here you wouldn't know Joseph H. Lewis was also behind the camera. The story doesn't have any of the he-she psychosexual politicking that juices the director's Gun Crazy, but that's no loss given this film's richer returns. The set-pieces are fierce, as is the Casablanca tweak of the last shot, and Wallace's performance—a sad spectacle of a hurting creature caught between light and dark, good and evil—is one of noir's great unheralded triumphs.

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 91% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on eleven reviews.

Notable quotes

Leonard Diamond: She's under arrest, Mr. Brown.
Mr. Brown: What's the charge?
Leonard Diamond: Homicide.
Mr. Brown: That's ridiculous, she wouldn't kill a fly.
Leonard Diamond: She tried to kill herself
Mr. Brown: Is that a crime?
Leonard Diamond: It happens to be against two laws: God's and Man's. I'm booking her under the second.