The Big Combo (1955)

It doesn't get much darker than this for noir. Director Joseph Lewis' film get the first-class treatment for production values and delivers the goods. Everyone in the film delivers a first-class performance; including Cornel Wilde as the relentless cop, Lt. Diamond, Richard Conte as the despicable Mr. Brown, Brian Donlevy as Brown's chief lackey, who hates his guts, Jean Wallace as the strawberry shortcake moll, and Lee Van Cleef (spaghetti westerns), as a lower-end lackey.The movie has everything you could want for a gangster classic. It is not filmed in black and white; it is films in dark shadows and light shadows. The dialogue is a bit dated, but you will get the message. If you enjoy good film noir, then this film is for you.

Highly effective noir thriller with top performances from Cornel Wilde and Richard Conte. The latter is, of course, the big baddie but Wilde is a surprisingly ruthless cop with an agenda. Conte is almost frighteningly violent in both words and action, at the same time presenting such a charming front but Wilde is almost up there and certainly much more street wise than some cops in noir films. Jean Wallace is also very effective as the love interest for both men, although the cop is not beneath skipping out for a bit on the side while he waits. Excellent b/w photography and a good tale well told with splendid hard boiled dialogue.

Michael Neumann offers a very concise summary ("hard-boiled crime melodrama", Michael Neumann from United States, 7 November 2010) that is all a person needs before deciding to see it. In addition, ChristophCinema discusses the villain/protagonist relationship and says this is why the Big Combo works ("Should not be overlooked", ChristophCinema from United States, 19 December 2012) .I also enjoyed Robert Temple's background on (erratic) Jean Wallace ("Quite a combo", robert-temple-1 from United Kingdom, 13 September 2012). And, don't miss Terrell-4's praise of the exquisite cinematography ("John Alton's cinematography is a classic noir example...", Terrell-4 from San Antonio, Texas, 2 February 2008).Even by contemporary standards, The Big Combo (1955, directed by Joseph H. Lewis), achieves a level of tension that makes it essential viewing for fans of the film noir canon. This is a "B movie" with rather minimalist direction, but is very interesting to look at because of the skillful lighting. (Lewis is content to set up an establishing shot and hold it at length. This requires the actors to directly face the audience at length, which they often do here. If it weren't for the excellent lighting, it is doubtful this visual approach would have succeeded.) Cornell Wilde plays the obsessed and hardboiled police Lieutenant Diamond who spends most of his waking hours trying to bring down a mob kingpin. (Yes, it is hard to imagine police this dedicated today.) Richard Conte is the sadistic, misogynist and slick-talking mobster Mr. Brown. Despite their nearly limitless mutual loathing, there are strong narrative parallels between the detective and the mobster. One could say they are alter-egos.Jean Wallace (Susan Lowell) is very good as Mr. Brown's depressed girl who is on the verge of a nervous breakdown her entire time on the screen. Mr. Brown's three henchmen are all very interesting. Brian Donlevy is washed-up, shoulda-been-boss Joe McClure who tries to take over the gang. Lee Van Cleef (Fante) and Earl Holliman (Mingo) are vicious but not terribly bright hit men. (Cultural warning: There is a scene where both say lines that are such obvious references to homosexuality it is unintentionally funny today.) "First is first, and second is nobody". Mr. Brown says this repeatedly. His axiom of power resonates in these dark times. If you're a fan of film noir, don't miss "The Big Combo."

I thought that 'The Big Combo' was just an okay film, I had a hard time staying focused (it really didn't grab or keep my attention), you didn't really grow to like an of the characters, especially the main character Lt. Diamond, which in my opinion was the most important character to like. It was a little hard to follow in the beginning, I couldn't tell if they were doing a flash back or if they were just doing a "meanwhile on the other side of town" kind of intro. I understand that in 'film noir' it's supposed to be really dark and shadowy, but this was really hard to see and focus on sometimes (however, the quality could have just been affected by the network in which I watched it from). I thought the story was a good idea, I just felt that it could have been so much better.