The Big Combo

Plot synopsis:
Police Lt. Leonard Diamond is on a personal crusade to bring down sadistic gangster Mr. Brown. He's also dangerously obsessed with Brown's girlfriend, the suicidal Susan Lowell. His main objective as a detective is to uncover what happened to a woman called "Alicia" from the crime boss's past.
Mr. Brown, his second-in-command McClure and thugs Fante and Mingo kidnap and torture the lieutenant, then pour a bottle of alcohol-based hair tonic down his throat before letting him go. Diamond eventually learns through one of Brown's past accomplices that Alicia was actually Brown's wife. The accomplice suspects that Alicia was sent away to Sicily with former mob boss Grazzi, then murdered, tied to the boat's anchor and permanently submerged.
Diamond questions a Swede named Dreyer, who was the skipper of that boat (but now operates an antiques store as a front, bankrolled by Brown). Dreyer denies involvement, but this doesn't prevent him from being murdered by McClure within seconds after he leaves the shop.
Diamond tries to persuade Susan to leave Brown and admits he might be in love with her. He shows her a photo of Brown, Alicia and Grazzi together on the boat. Susan finally confronts Brown about his wife and is told she is still alive in Sicily, Italy, living with Grazzi.
Brown next orders a hit on Diamond. However, when his gunmen Fante and Mingo go to Diamond's apartment, they mistakenly shoot and kill the cop's burlesque dancer girlfriend Rita instead. Diamond sees an up-to-date photo of Alicia but realizes it wasn't taken in Sicily (since there's snow on the ground). This leads Diamond to suspect Brown didn't kill Alicia but his boss Grazzi instead. Diamond is able to track Alicia to a sanitarium, where she is staying under another name. He asks for her help.
Brown's right-hand man, McClure, wants to take over. He plots with Fante and Mingo to ambush Mr. Brown, but ends up getting killed himself because they are loyal to the boss.
At police headquarters, Brown shows up with a writ of habeas corpus, effectively preventing Alicia to testify against her husband. Brown also brings a big stash of "money" to Fante and Mingo while they are hiding out from the police, but the box turns out to contain a bomb that apparently kills both.
Brown shoots the lieutenant's partner Sam and kidnaps Susan, planning to fly away to safety. Diamond finds a witness that could finally nail the elusive gangster—Mingo, who survived the blast and confesses, sobbing over the body of his cohort, that Brown was behind it all. Alicia is able to help Diamond figure out where Brown was likely to take Susan, a private airport where Brown intends to board a getaway plane.
However, the plane doesn't show up and the film climaxes in a foggy airplane hangar shootout. Susan shines a bright light in Brown's eyes and the lieutenant places him under arrest. The last scene shows the silhouetted figures of Diamond and Susan in the fog, considered to be one of the iconic images of film noir.

Tags: cult, murder

Review:
Wilde, meantime, has tracked down elusive Alicia, Conte's supposedly murdered wife (Helen Walker, the duplicitous psychiatrist in Nightmare Alley, in her last screen appearance); only she knows where the bodies are buried and can write her husband's death warrant....The Big Combo counts as one of the more sadistic instalments in the cycle, but the mayhem and executions are played as big set-pieces, as flourishes; Lewis draws on Alton's full fetch of tricks (and in one memorable instance, on the sound editor's) to highlight but at the same time soften their nastiness.
What appears to be a fairly stock story of straight-arrow police detective Leonard Diamond (Cornel Wilde) obsessed with capturing a foreboding gangland chieftain, Mr. Brown, "Combo" is an unusually hardboiled, over the top tale of revenge and murder that will please and perhaps even surprise noir and crime-drama fans.
Fun to see Lee Van Cleef and Earl Holliman play (probably) gay hit men; Brian Donlevy in an unusual supporting role provides heft; Richard Conte is a great, great villain.
Cornel Wilde plays a police detective obsessed with bringing down crime lord Mr. Brown (Richard Conte), while hoping at the same time to win the affections of Conte's girl, Jean Wallace, in this tremendously atmospheric noir from 1955.
The noir genre wouldn't last much longer (many contend that 1958's "Touch of Evil" is the last true noir), but it went out with a bang, giving us some of its best examples (this, "Kiss Me Deadly," "On Dangerous Ground") in its last years.Wilde plays detective Leonard Diamond like a man coming apart at the seams.
Those who aren't man enough, like Mr. Brown's gay henchmen or right-hand man, McClure (played with just the right amount of vulnerability by Brian Donlevy), are destroyed."The Big Combo" boasts arresting black and white images, and a number of thrillingly memorable set pieces (let's just say that imaginative and recurring use is made of a hearing aid).
The storyline centers about a persistent cop(Cornel Wilde)who tracks down a mobster(Richard Conte) and his henchmen (Brian Donlevy,Lee Van Cleef and Earl Holliman).
He's helped by the gangster's girlfriend and one deputy(Robert Middleton).The movie has likeness to noir cinema of the 40s and 50s that played Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas and Glenn Ford but here is B series.In the film there are action, raw drama ,suspense, murders and is very interesting.Interpretation by Cornel Wilde and Jean Wallace, marriage in real life, is magnificent, the evil racketeer Richard Conte is top notch and his underlings Donlevy, Van Cleef and Holliman are of first rate.Cinematography by John Alton is extraordinary ,setting of lights and shades depict this type of cinema and Alton and Nicholas Musuraca are the principal photographers.David Raskin music, being recently deceased, is nice and atmospheric.The motion picture is well directed by Joseph H.
A chance discovery of a mysterious woman called Alicia starts a trail of information that offers Diamond the chance to cut off the head and kill the snake if, that is, he can stay alive long enough to do it.Although it has been many years since I first saw this film it has stayed with me ever since, a classic crime thriller with elements of noir and some very memorable moments.
It has all the usual stuff in the tough characters spouting quotable dialogue with the rat-a-tat-tat rhythm of a tommy gun but also has many tough scenes of brutality, my favourite being the unforgettable execution that takes place in total silence  the perfect conclusion to a scene that had been built up with such tension.The film adds to this with elements more suited to noir than gangster movies.
Conte gets the headlines because he gets the cool character and the toughest dialogue but for me it is Wilde that makes the film his own with a convincing portrayal of a man who is driven by hate as much as love until, finding neither, he uses a "lesser" woman to satisfy his lust  only for it to sink him deeper into apparent self-loathing.
Lee Van Cleef was a surprise find in a minor role but really the film belongs to Wilde and Conte who really go to town with the chance.Overall this is not a normal crime syndicate thriller as the title suggests, but nor is it a traditional noir.
A zealous cop(Cornel Wilde) seeks the aid of a gangster's(Richard Conte) ex-girlfriend(Jean Wallace)in bringing down a crime syndicate.
The cast is so good they cover up a lot of holes in the story.The antagonists in this film are honest police lieutenant Cornel Wilde against ruthless syndicate chief Richard Conte.
There's a club stripper played by Carolyn Jones who's sweet on Wilde and pays for it with her life.The Big Combo has made the list for cinema of gay interest because of the roles of Earl Holliman and Lee Van Cleef as a pair of gay trigger men who work for Conte.
Probably inspired by the prototypical rogue cop in Fritz Lang's "The Big Heat", this film features the crusade of one man - Lieutenant Diamond (Cornel Wilde in a super performance) to pin down Richard Conte's smooth-tongued gangster.
Struggling to keep away the departmental bureaucracy, he battles singlehandedly against organised crime with a devotion to duty bordering on the obsessional ("It's my sworn duty to push too far").Despite the absence of any big name in the cast, this film presents all the elements that we have come to love about American film noir - great lighting and photography, tight script ("First is first, and second is nobody"), a great storyline, and some superb performances (Susan Lowell as a society girl - the gangster's moll - is ravishing).Watch this film.
This welcome effect often gave the story a more menacing feel to it, beyond what was generally conveyed by the actions of the characters.As well as The Big Combo having its fair share of impressive camera-work to its credit, it also contained plenty of unintentional humour in a story that clearly took itself way too seriously for its own good.But, on the other hand - What almost ruined this picture for me was the hideously annoying performance of actress Jean Wallace who played the clueless, blond, gangster's moll, Susan Lowell.
Despite a bland title, this is a top-notch film noir, one of Lewis' best in fact, with a first-rate cast (Cornel Wilde, Richard Conte, Brian Donlevy, Lee Van Cleef, Earl Holliman, Ted De Corsia, Robert Middleton, Jay Adler, John Hoyt, etc.), a typically hard-boiled script courtesy of Philip Yordan and some memorably violent scenes for its time (police officer Wilde's torture at the hands of gangster Conte, Donlevy's "silent" demise by Conte's henchmen Van Cleef and Holliman, Conte punching his moll, Jean Wallace, in the face, etc.); cinematographer John Alton and composer David Raksin lend their expert support.
The Police Lt. Leonard Diamond (Cornel Wilde) of the 93 Precinct is obsessed to find evidences against the hoodlum Mr. Brown (Richard Conte) and unsuccessfully exceeds the budget after four years of investigation with his partner, Detective Sam Hill (Jay Adler).
But Susan tries to commit suicide and Diamond convinces his chief to follow one last lead, the name Alicia babbled by Susan in the hospital.The powerful Mr. Brown is mad with Diamond's investigation and sends his gangsters Joe McClure (Brian Donlevy), Fante (Lee Van Cleef) and Mingo (Earl Holliman) to try to stop Diamond.
The duel between the characters performed by Cornel Wilde and Richard Conte is amazing, very well supported by Jean Wallace, Brian Donlevy, Lee Van Cleef and Earl Holliman.
With Brian Donlevey, Cornel Wilde and Richard Conte and the iconic noir shadings of John Alton "The Big Combo" is widely held as one of the best of the genre's films this late in the noir cycle.
A minor film nor from Allied Artists, this one has CORNEL WILDE out to rid the city of ruthless crime boss RICHARD CONTE, who puts some realistic toughness into a stock criminal role.
Not so fortunate is JEAN WALLACE (married to Wilde at the time) who doesn't offer more than a pretty face and figure in what can only be called a poor performance as Conte's femme fatale girlfriend.BRIAN DONLEVY is not quite up to Conte's standard as a tough guy, but let's face it, his role is a lot less interesting as Conte's henchman who eventually tries to double-cross him.
LEE VAN CLEEF and EARL HOLLIMAN play gangsters who work for Conte, sharing an apartment and some shifty glances which are supposed to make us believe they're not just roommates or partners in crime.It's a passable film noir, not exactly up to some of the gangster dramas that came out in the '40s with guys like Bogart, Mitchum and even Mark Stevens.
It's on the second tier of such crime stories, partly because Conte offers the only really riveting performance and the gals in the cast are below par as performers.TED DeCORSIA does a nice job as man on the lam from Conte and his henchmen and JOHN HOYT does a dandy job as an antique store owner who knows too much.As for CORNEL WILDE, he's much better in swashbuckling roles than he is as a tough detective.
Then again, with a better script and director, he may have been more appropriate for his detective role.Summing up: Good, tough crime drama but not among the best film noirs..
The director of "Gun Crazy" (1949) created an amazing array of mobsters (including the somehow sadistic gay couple personified by Lee Van Cleef and Earl Holliman, Fante and Mingo) which carried our sympathy better than the nominal hero, the gray Diamond (an stoic Cornel Wilde, he of "No Blade of Grass" and "The Naked Prey").
David Raksin scores the music and it stars Cornel Wilde, Richard Conte, Jean Wallace, Brian Donlevy, Lee Van Cleef & Earl Holliman.
Although, as the police lieutenant, Cornel Wilde delivers one of the best performances of his career, there is no question that the film is stolen by his racketeer nemesis, played to perfection by Richard Conte.
Trying to bring him down is a detective who unfortunately is far less interesting, played without a lot of personality by Cornel Wilde.The best scenes all revolve Conte, and without spoiling the movie, include him kissing his girlfriend (Jean Wallace) on the neck and then down her back until he's provocatively out of the frame as her face registers conflicted ecstasy.
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.
The storyline sees dogged police lieutenant Cornel Wilde going up against gangster kingpin Richard Conte in a battle to the finish, with various innocent parties, femme fatales, and brutal henchmen getting involved along the way.It's well-paced stuff indeed, and has atmosphere to spare especially when the fog comes down for some key moments.
Then there's a meaty supporting role for Professor Quatermass himself, Brian Donlevy, playing Conte's old-time ally, and Jean Wallace is fine as the caught-up love interest.THE BIG COMBO works well by playing with genre tropes and offering a little more originality than the viewer is used to.
Cornel Wilde stars with wife Jean Wallace, Brian Donlevy, Richard Conte, Lee van Cleef, Earl Holliman, and Robert Middleton in "The Big Combo." Wilde, who was one of the producers, had the idea of turning his wife into a serious actress.
Police lieutenant Cornel Wilde (as Leonard Diamond) battles sadistic crime boss Richard Conte (as Mr. Brown) for not only the long arm of the law, but also the pretty hand of slim and shapely blonde Jean Wallace (as Susan Lowell).
Those art imitating life filers should note Ms. Wallace, then Mrs. Cornell Wilde and formerly Mrs. Franchot Tone, had previously tried her character's suicide trick There are great little roles, scattered throughout, like those played by doomed antique dealer John Hoyt (as Nils Dreyer) and sexy showgirl Helene Stanton (as Rita); she is the mother of the "Dr. Drew" Pinsky, who made a name for himself with sex talk to teenagers listening to KROQ ("Rock of the Eighties!").
1950s crime thriller 'The Big Combo' has some good points: some nice acting in the minor roles (Lee van Cleef's performance among them), an interestingly sympathetic portrayal of some of the lesser villains, and a lively, entertaining pace.
The cast was great, even though it wasn't top stars, background music, pacing, and especially the Alton photography - all came together to produce one of the best.It stars Cornel Wilde, not a big name in Hollywood features, but here he gives perhaps his best performance as an obsessive detective trying to rein in a 'bad guy', played by John Conte, who is perfect in his part.
Any film featuring that great actor Richard Conte has to command audience attention.All in all, Combo remains an interesting slice of noir, but its revived reputation rests largely on a suggestive script and cult director Lewis, and not on its merits as even a pale slice of cinematic art..
Seeing him here, you are reminded of his great performance as Tony Bardem in "I'll Cry Tomorrow." The latter was the same year as "Big Combo."Cornel Wilde is terribly miscast as the police detective trying to get the goods on Conte through the women in the latter's life.
And, like all good noir, the film has no pretty boys--just solid acting and realism.The film begins with a frustrated Lieutenant (Cornel Wilde) lamenting that months of work have failed to come up with anything useful to convict a local mobster (Richard Conte).
Police Lt. Diamond (Cornel Wilde) investigates criminal boss Mr. Brown (Richard Conte).
But stupid."This bare-knuckles, yet decidedly run-of-the-mill, 1955, crime-drama earned itself some extra points from me for these following 3 things -(1) The opening scene where character Susan Lowell (in high heels, no less) is frantically running for her very life away from 2 toughs down a smoky, shadow-drenched corridor.(2) The priceless scene where hottie, burlesque queen, Rita, angrily slaps one of Brown's nelly henchmen across the face with her rhinestone-encrusted handbag.(3) And, last, but not least - Cinematographer, John Alton's first-rate camera-work, which, at times, was about the only thing that actually held my interest in this, otherwise, unintentionally laughable tale about (stud-muffin) Detective Diamond's almost neurotically obsessive crusade to bring down sadistic, self-satisfied gangster, Mr. Brown, to his knees.*Note* - The Big Combo was directed by Joseph Lewis, who, in 1950, had directed Gun Crazy..
Well, The Big Combo is a warm up for that later role, it would seem  one that shows just how devious and cold a character he can play as the crime boss, Mr Brown (what's interesting also, is the fact that we never learn Brown's first name).Arguably, he and Cornel Wilde (as the cop, Leonard Diamond) share equal screen time, although I didn't go the trouble of timing it.
And, while on the subject of those two hit men, it's fascinating to see the homosexual innuendo play out between them; it's not usually seen in gangster movies, especially in the fifties.The main characters are further supported by Robert Middleton (always good to see in drama); Brian Donlevy (a consummate actor and well-known face in many crime thrillers); and the ubiquitous Jay Adler (the character actor's actor, I think) as Wilde's side-kick.Overall, however, I regard this film as a curiosity more than a successful mystery/thriller like The Maltese Falcon (1941) or The Big Sleep (1946 and 1978), perhaps.
Though the title doesn't say anything, this film from 1955 is about as stylishly noir as they come, featuring Cornel Wilde as a police lieutenant with an obsession to put away a mob boss with a name as bland as he himself is vicious - Mr. Brown.
Lt. Leonard Diamond (Cornel Wilde) is such an honest cop, almost obsessive in his bid to bring down Mr. Brown, though his fanaticism could just as easily be explained by his lust for the crime boss' abused girlfriend, Susan Lowell (Jean Wallace).
We find out soon enough that the two man chasing and finally catching up with the woman are Fante & Mingo, who sound like a song and dance duet, played by Lee Van Cleef & Earl Holliman and the sexy blond is Susan Lowell, Jean Wallace, who's Fante & Mingo boss Mafiso Mr Brown's, Richard Conte, very uncooperative girlfriend.Susan doesn't know it at the time but she caught the eye of police Let. Leonard Diamond, Cornel Wilde, who became so infatuated with her, from afar, that he spends all his off, and vacation, time following her around to keep tabs not only on Susan who's abusive boyfriend Mr. Brown that Let. Diamond wants to free her from.
Its three main characters, with their personal preoccupations and propensities comprise a fascinating axis around which the story is told and with its crisp dialogue, fine performances and exceptional cinematography, "The Big Combo" is an extremely good movie.Police Lieutenant Leonard Diamond (Cornel Wilde) is obsessed with trying to bring organised crime boss Mr Brown (Richard Conte) to justice and gets criticised by his superior officer for spending an inordinate amount of taxpayers money on an exercise which, so far, has produced no positive results.
A detective (Cornel Wilde) goes after crime boss Mr. Brown (Richard Conte.
It is in this sense like an episode of many cop series of the 1950's, for example, "The Untouchables." It does have film noir elements, great shadowy lighting, psychotic bad guys, an obsessed good guy, and lots of night scenes.