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