Favourite movie quote - "You're a beautiful girl, Rita... 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.

Police Lt. Diamond (Cornel Wilde) investigates criminal boss Mr. Brown (Richard Conte). Nothing works and Diamond is being pressured to drop the case. There's a mysterious Alicia. He goes after Brown's girlfriend Susan Lowell (Jean Wallace).This is dripping with the hard-boiled noir style. The cinematography is mostly great. The dialog and the acting are all very mannered and stylized. It's definitely a B-movie but it's a good B-movie. My biggest problem is the lack of presence from the main actors. They're all good character actors but I wouldn't say any of them are stars. Again this is only a B-movie.

Michael Neumann offers a very concise summary ("hard-boiled crime melodrama", Michael Neumann from United States, 7 November 2010) that is all a person needs before deciding to see it. In addition, ChristophCinema discusses the villain/protagonist relationship and says this is why the Big Combo works ("Should not be overlooked", ChristophCinema from United States, 19 December 2012) .I also enjoyed Robert Temple's background on (erratic) Jean Wallace ("Quite a combo", robert-temple-1 from United Kingdom, 13 September 2012). And, don't miss Terrell-4's praise of the exquisite cinematography ("John Alton's cinematography is a classic noir example...", Terrell-4 from San Antonio, Texas, 2 February 2008).Even by contemporary standards, The Big Combo (1955, directed by Joseph H. Lewis), achieves a level of tension that makes it essential viewing for fans of the film noir canon. This is a "B movie" with rather minimalist direction, but is very interesting to look at because of the skillful lighting. (Lewis is content to set up an establishing shot and hold it at length. This requires the actors to directly face the audience at length, which they often do here. If it weren't for the excellent lighting, it is doubtful this visual approach would have succeeded.) Cornell Wilde plays the obsessed and hardboiled police Lieutenant Diamond who spends most of his waking hours trying to bring down a mob kingpin. (Yes, it is hard to imagine police this dedicated today.) Richard Conte is the sadistic, misogynist and slick-talking mobster Mr. Brown. Despite their nearly limitless mutual loathing, there are strong narrative parallels between the detective and the mobster. One could say they are alter-egos.Jean Wallace (Susan Lowell) is very good as Mr. Brown's depressed girl who is on the verge of a nervous breakdown her entire time on the screen. Mr. Brown's three henchmen are all very interesting. Brian Donlevy is washed-up, shoulda-been-boss Joe McClure who tries to take over the gang. Lee Van Cleef (Fante) and Earl Holliman (Mingo) are vicious but not terribly bright hit men. (Cultural warning: There is a scene where both say lines that are such obvious references to homosexuality it is unintentionally funny today.) "First is first, and second is nobody". Mr. Brown says this repeatedly. His axiom of power resonates in these dark times. If you're a fan of film noir, don't miss "The Big Combo."

I thought that 'The Big Combo' was just an okay film, I had a hard time staying focused (it really didn't grab or keep my attention), you didn't really grow to like an of the characters, especially the main character Lt. Diamond, which in my opinion was the most important character to like. It was a little hard to follow in the beginning, I couldn't tell if they were doing a flash back or if they were just doing a "meanwhile on the other side of town" kind of intro. I understand that in 'film noir' it's supposed to be really dark and shadowy, but this was really hard to see and focus on sometimes (however, the quality could have just been affected by the network in which I watched it from). I thought the story was a good idea, I just felt that it could have been so much better.