The Big Combo: Cornel Wilde, Brian Donlevy, Jean Wallace, Lee Van Cleef (1955 Movie)

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The Big Combo (1955) is an American film noir 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.

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.

Brown's right-hand man, the over-the-hill and hard-of-hearing Joe McClure (Brian Donlevy), plots with gangsters 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.

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

Reviews of the movie today are mostly positive. Chris Dashiell on the website CineScene finds the dialog "run of the mill" but praises the film's director, writing that "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."

Critics have compared the quality of The Big Combo to Fritz Lang's The Big Heat as one of the great film noir detective classics in terms of style. It is also considered as one of the best work of legendary cinematographer John Alton.

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

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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Combo

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[MovieMusicFun1]

thank you great film! interesting because of the 2 tragic actresses in it, beautiful blonde Jean Wallace, who was cornel Wildes wife and whom he directed in a few films. In the 1940s, Jean tried commiting suicide twice, I think one time stabbing herself. She wasl also married to Franchot tone whom she had 2 kids wtih.Helen Walker was a promisng star who drunkedly picked up 3 serviceman during WW2,resulting in a car accident that killed one of the men and seriously injured Walker.

[AmberFlowerful]

I love the song in the beginning. Any idea what it's name is?

[Glinkaism1]

B&W is the best medium for drama, adventure and romance movies. So much more subtlety can be done with lighting.

[einnocjoe]

Cornel Wilde was a great actor. I loved him in A Song

to Remember.

[RCKwtbd]

Another old B-picture that's much better than all of our recent A-movies.

It's a shame that movies of this quality aren't made anymore.

[lento99]

what an amazing film love it

[dfhoho]

swell !