The Big Combo

I look forward every October to attending the D.C. Film Noir Festival at the AFI Theater in Silver Spring. The Festival typically offers a "Big Combo" admissions ticket under which several films can be seen for a reduction in price. Unfortunately, this year's October noir festival has been cancelled due to the pandemic. I have been watching film noir at home instead, including this "Big Combo" which was new to me.Joseph Lewis directed this 1955 "Big Combo" and Philip Yordan wrote the screenplay. Much of the attraction of this film lies in the cinematography of John Alton and in the music by David Raksin. The cinematography is classic noir with its shadows, scenes of large city streets, and tight claustrophobic or forbidding interiors. An iconic shot concludes the movie with two romantically linked characters walking away in a foggy scene at the airport. Raksin's music is swanky and jazzy and captures both the appeal and the danger of the large unnamed American city in which the story takes place. An interlude in the film offers a brash, virtuoso rendition of a Chopin Scherzo.The plot of the film is complex and somewhat disjointed. Cornel Wilde plays Lieutenant Leonard Diamond, a dedicated policeman who is attempting to find evidence against a criminal boss known as Mr. Brown and menacingly performed by Richard Conte. Diamond's superiors try to discourage his efforts, due in part to the large expenditures Diamond has incurred without results and due in part to Brown's powerful connections in the city government. Diamond has been shadowing Brown's long-term lady friend, Susan Lowell in part from devotion to duty and in part because he is in love with her. The conflicted emotions in several of the characters. Diamond, Brown, and others, is an appealing aspect of this film. Brown also has a lady friend whom, by his own admission, he uses, a burlesque dancer named Rita. The film also includes several characters with smaller well-developed roles, including two hit men, Fante and Mingo, and Brown's assistant, Joe McClure.The movie follows Diamond's unremitting efforts to pin a serious crime on Brown, who is shown as a vicious, sadistic kingpin who can also be charming and who appears to have some genuine feeling for Susan. As the story develops, Diamond follows leads suggesting that Brown has killed his wife at sea some years earlier. This lead is followed-through with scenes with several people who had earlier been Brown's associates. As the story gets closer to Brown, Diamond is tortured and several people are brutally murdered, Susan eventually works up the courage to leave Brown, with a possible romance with Diamond left hanging in the famous concluding scene.Richard Conte offers a brutal, convincing and yet partly sympathetic portrayal of Brown. The film includes many chilling scenes of Brown, including his torture of Diamond, and his killing of his subordinates. Lieutenant Diamond is portrayed both as a dedicated police officer and as personally involved in the case with his actions motivated in part by his feelings for Susan. The film includes several sexual innuendos and references highly daring for a film from the mid-1950s.The film has a noir feel in its focus on the inner lives of its protagonists and in its music and cinematography. The movie also has elements of a detective story. Little is to be gained by quibbling over genre. I enjoyed the portrayal of the harshness of the city and the characters with the hint of possibility of a better, less selfish and violent way of life. In these difficult days, I also appreciated the positive, gritty portrayal of Lieutenant Diamond and of his colleagues on the police force.Although I will miss the Noir Festival this year and the possibility of purchasing a big combo to see many film noirs, I was glad to have the opportunity to see this "Big Combo". The movie was enjoyable and enhanced my appreciation of film noir. There is substantial critical literature and commentary on this film. I supplemented my viewing by reading some of the various commentaries and interpretations available online.Robin Friedman

Cornel Wilde, Richard Conte, Jean Wallace, Earl Holliman, and a young Lee Van Cleff all turn in stellar performances in this noir thriller about a cop (Wilde) bringing a heartless killer (Conte) to justice. There are enough twists to keep you glued to your screen for the 86 minutes of action that does not let up. Interesting bit of trivia: Jack Palance was tapped to play the bad guy gang leader, but had differences with the director and quit the project. He suggested that he be replaced by Conte - a great choice. Also a nice performance by Helene Stanton as a stripper who was Wilde's 'girlfriend of convenience." I was pleasantly surprised at just how good this film was. Highly recommend it.

I love this movie

This movie is great entertainment, but it's gritty, nasty, and hardboiled, too. I try to watch this every few years, just to refresh my memory of how truly excellent it is. The cast is all top notch, but Richard Conte is particularly outstanding as the seductively evil, thoroughly corrupt, mob boss. He's pretty close to being the devil, because he is smooth, charming, and passionate, while also being despicable and diabolically ruthless. There is one scene, in particular, in the early part of the film, where he is seducing Jean Wallace's character -- even though she "totally hates and despises him". It becomes fairly obvious that he is [spoiler alert] performing oral sex on her -- even though he disgusts her and she thinks he is slime. But she still appears to enjoy it. (!) This is one of the many elements that make this a very subversive, amoral, and wicked film. Earl Holliman and Lee Van Cleef are also very effective as the (obviously gay) team of hitmen who do Conte's bidding, no matter how vile and cruel it may be. Their acting is consistently good, especially when [spoiler alert] Van Cleef dies, and Holliman cries out in anguish. Needless to say, the always competent Cornel Wilde is great to watch. He is desperately in love with Jean Wallace's character, and this adds a frisson of tension and electricity in their scenes together. Ironically, they were actually married in real life, when this movie came out. Wilde is first rate as the tortured (literally) and driven cop who is desperate to put Conte permanently behind bars. Or in the gas chamber. It is also surprising to see Brian Donlevy, a celebrated icon of film noir, in such a demeaning and degrading role. Don't get me wrong; his acting is marvelous here. But in this film he plays a pathetic former mob boss, who spends most of his time being brow-beaten, bullied, and generally humiliated by Conte. In fact, Conte had previously been HIS underling. Now Conte spends most of his time pointing out to everyone what a loser, and worthless sack of crap, Donlevy is. You can see Conte relishing and savoring his never ending humiliation of Donlevy. It's hard to watch. And this is, of course, another element that makes The Big Combo vicious and brutal. One thing that definitely does get on your nerves, however, is how Conte's character keeps having people knocked off, left and right, and the police seem to do nothing other than run around, their hands in the air, shouting "There's nothing we can do! There's nothing we can do!" That gets pretty irritating after awhile, especially after Conte has tortured Wilde, killed his girlfriend, shot a cop in an elevator, threatened Helen Walker, killed John Hoyt, and tied a murder victim to an anchor and dumped him at sea. Just how much is this guy going to get away with?! And just how incompetent and painfully passive is this police force?! That being said, this is still classic film noir. It is gripping, startling, fascinating, and occasionally appalling. It's a red hot, but sometimes creepy, landmark in the domain of noir. I very highly recommend it.

A shame as it does a disservice to cinematographer John Alton's brilliant noir visuals. Don't buy this version, source a Region 1 release.

Yuh

Wonderful! John Alton's cinematography is a marvel!

Good deal here.

Super atmospheric crime drama with a standout performance by Richard Conte as the main villain.