Movies - The Big Combo

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	Movies - The Big Combo

The Big Combo (1955) is director Joseph H. Lewis' black-and-white film noir. According to film critics, this film stands with others like Fritz Lang's The Big Heat
as one of the great film noir classics. This dark film is a tormented story of violence and dangerous obsession. Photographed by cinematographer and noir icon John Alton (who worked on I, the Jury
; He Walked by Night
) with music by David Raksin.

Plot

Policeman Leonard Diamond (Cornel Wilde) is on a personal crusade to bring down sadistic gangster Mr. Brown (Richard Conte). He's also obsessed with a woman (Jean Wallace), Brown's captive lover. Mr. Brown taunts Diamond every step of the way which seems to make Diamond more obsessed. Brown's right-hand man, over the hill, hard of hearing and shifty-eyed McClure (Brian Donlevy) plots with gangsters (and possibly lovers) Fante (Lee Van Cleef) and Mingo (Earl Holliman) to overthrow Mr. Brown but ends up getting tortured in a violent scene rare for its time. Meanwhile Diamond has found 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.

Critical reaction

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: "... 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."

Main 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

Quotes

Mr. Brown: I'm gonna break him so fast he won't have time to change his pants.''
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.
Rita: A woman doesn't care how a guy makes a living, just how he makes love.
Mr. Brown: What is it the kids say? You have no personality.

Trivia

Actors Wallace and Wilde were married when the film was shot. In fact, they were married from 1951-1981. They divorced.
This classic film noir is considered by many film critics as possibly the best work of legendary cinematographer John Alton.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for The Big Combo ]

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