The Big Combo **** (1955, Cornel Wilde, Richard Conte, Brian Donlevy, Jean Wallace) – Classic Movie Review 2,569

Joseph H Lewis’s classic 1955 B-movie film noir thriller The Big Combo is ultra-tough for its day. It pushed a few boundaries and got into censorship problems with its slant on a regulation tale about the police crushing a crime syndicate.

Director Joseph H Lewis’s classic 1955 B-movie film noir thriller The Big Combo is ultra-tough for its day. It pushed a few boundaries and got itself into censorship problems with its sado-masochistic slant on what amounts to a regulation tale about the police crushing a crime syndicate.

Cornel Wilde stars as Police Lieutenant Leonard Diamond, the dogged cop who challenges suspected evil racketeer and mob boss Mr Brown (Richard Conte). Diamond is ordered by Police Captain Peterson (Robert Middleton) to stop his surveillance of Brown because it is costing the department too much money and he hasn’t been able to uncover any hard evidence. So Diamond then seeks information from Brown’s girlfriend, Susan Lowell (Jean Wallace), a femme fatale who despises him.

Both male stars Cornel Wilde and Richard Conte are typecast but they perform to the hilt, while there is a driving energy here that has turned the movie into a favourite cult hit, and Lewis is deservedly a cult director. Script-writer Philip Yordan’s writing is pounding and commanding. John Alton’s chiaroscuro black and white camerawork is dazzling. David Raksin’s jazzy score with brass, trumpets, woodwinds and saxophones is unusual and striking, 

Lee Van Cleef and Earl Holliman play Brown’s henchmen, Fante and Mingo, who are suggested in the Production Code-challenging script to be a homosexual couple. Josh Whedon reused the character names in Serenity (2005).

Also in the cast are Brian Donlevy, John Hoyt, Ted de Corsia, Helen Walker, Jay Adler, Helene Stanton, Roy Gordon, Whit Bissell (scenes deleted), and Philip Van Zandt (scenes deleted).

It is the final screen appearance of Helen Walker, confined to a small role as Alicia Brown.

Wilde and Wallace married in September 1951 and this is the best among their several films together. After divorcing Wilde in 1981, she lived with a menagerie of pets, including two snakes and a tarantula, in Beverly Hills until her early death at 66 on 14 February 1990.

The Big Combo runs 88 minutes, is made by Security Pictures and Theodora Productions, is distributed by Allied Artists Pictures, is written by Philip Yordan, is shot in black and white by John Alton, and scored by David Raksin.

Release date: February 13, 1955.

Philip Yordan’s story was originally called The Hoodlum, It became a co production between Theodora, Wilde and Wallace’s production company, and Security, Yordan and Sidney Harmon’s company. Wilde changed the title to The Big Combination and Wallace shortened it to The Big Combo.

It was shot in 26 days for $500,000.

The title cards have a copyright claim but it was not properly filed, and the US Copyright Office rejected the notice in 2007. The film is in the public domain and freely available. It was released on Blu-ray by Olive Films in 2013, restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Film Foundation. Arrow Films completed a new HD restoration in the UK in 2018.

The cast are Cornel Wilde as Police Lieutenant Leonard Diamond, Richard Conte as Mr Brown, Brian Donlevy as Joe McClure, Jean Wallace as Susan Lowell, Robert Middleton as Police Captain 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 Ralph Bettini, Helene Stanton as Rita, Roy Gordon as Audubon, Whit Bissell (as Whit Bissel) as Doctor (scenes deleted), Steve Mitchell as boxer Bennie Smith, Baynes Barron as Young Detective, James McCallion as technician Frank, Tony Michaels as Photo Technician, Brian O’Hara as Attorney Malloy, Rita Gould as Nurse, Bruce Sharpe as detective, Michael Mark as hotel clerk Fred, Philip Van Zandt as Mr. Jones (scenes deleted), and Donna Drew as Miss Hartleby.

Richard Conte replaced Jack Palance.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2,569

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