The Big Combo (1955)

The Big Combo is one of those films that no one seems to recognize until they see some of the iconic screenshots from the film. The cinematography is beautiful, and it has a reputation as being an exemplar of the film noir genre. Like other films noir, it is short: only eighty-seven minutes long. But it is definitely one of those films worth seeing again and again. The Big Combo has so much going on during its brief running time. The relationships between the characters are mature, more so than usual for a film noir. There’s no femme fatale; in fact, the female characters are strong and difficult to pigeonhole, a detail that I really appreciate about the film.

The Big Combo is in the public domain. Click here to see it at the Internet Archive. The last time I searched for The Big Combo at the Internet Archive, I found six film versions, one in French. The link I provide here goes to the version I thought looked the most crisp on a computer screen. The version that I watched on DVD included the full cast list, even though some of the actors’ scenes (for example, Whit Bissell’s) were deleted from the final cut.

Viewers are introduced right away to the film’s dark themes of murder, corruption, and crime. The film starts with a boxing match, and then a woman running through the back passages of the building where the boxing match is being held. She is chased by two men, Fante and Mingo; when they catch up with her, they insist that she stay and see the fight, on the orders of Mr. Brown. They finally agree to call a cab for her when she insists on getting something to eat; they in turn insist on dining with her. The tension is already palpable in this battle of wills in the first sequence.

While eating at a dinner-and-dance club with Mr. Brown’s hired henchmen, Susan Lowell insists that now she is not hungry. She rushes away from the table to greet Mr. Audubon, someone she knew a long time ago, and she asks him to dance. Lowell admits to Mr. Audubon that she has taken pills and collapses on the dance floor. In the ensuing panic, Fante and Mingo carry her off, and police detective Sam Hill picks up her purse from the dance floor. He has been tailing her, trying to find evidence, through her, of Mr. Brown’s activities.

Viewers are then introduced to Lieutenant Leonard Diamond in his office at the local police precinct. Captain Peterson comes to talk to him about “the combination” and the investigation of it. The captain thinks too much money and resources are being spent on tailing Susan Lowell and Mr. Brown, who has taken over the combination. The captain also thinks that Lieutenant Diamond has fallen in love with Susan Lowell and that is why he is having difficulty letting go of an investigation that is not yielding anything to use in a legal case against Mr. Brown. Captain Peterson also points out that Susan has been with Mr. Brown for three and a half years.

Captain Peterson’s reference to “the combination” run by Mr. Brown is the only clue about the meaning of the film’s title. No one else uses this term, even though most of Lieutenant Diamond’s time is spent trying to bring down Mr. Brown specifically. And Mr. Brown is a formidable adversary. He is fond of saying, “First is first, and second is nobody,” and he will do whatever it takes to stay first and weed out competitors.

Lieutenant Diamond is a complicated character, and it’s not just because he seems to have developed a one-way, worship-from-afar relationship with Susan Lowell. When he isn’t busy pursuing criminals in general and Mr. Brown in particular, he visits a burlesque dancer named Rita. At first, it seems that he is taking advantage of her, but the two of them actually care about one another. But that only makes Lieutenant Diamond an even more complicated character. He is an officer of the law dedicated to rooting out corruption, but he is in an on-again, off-again relationship that doesn’t seem to include a commitment of any kind, even though the two of them are devoted to one another in their own ways. And then there is the matter of Susan Lowell: Is he in love with a gangster’s girlfriend who is sure to have her own secrets and backstory?

Before I ever saw The Big Combo, I had heard a lot about its cinematography. The cinematographer is John Alton, and the film is regarded as one of his masterpieces. I have seen the iconic shot from the last sequence, with Lieutenant Diamond and Susan Lowell silhouetted against the fog at the airport, many times, in much clearer detail than I could capture from the DVD: But almost the entire film is a study in light and shadow, and I tried to pick screenshots that show the cinematography at its noir best.

But no one mentioned that The Big Combo has some steamy scenes. They might not be risqué by today’s standards, but their restraint seems to make them more alluring. Films of the period had to abide by the industry’s movie production code when it came to desire, but the sexy scenes in The Big Combo are thinly veiled—very thinly veiled. They were a surprise to me because most films noir don’t state or show nearly so much. Here are a couple of examples, although describing them in writing doesn’t do them justice:

◊ In a wonderful scene where Rita visits Lieutenant Leonard Diamond in his apartment, they are relaxing like they are more than good friends, and she guesses that he is brooding because of another woman. Rita asks Lieutenant Diamond for a recommendation about who to see or date. She is kidding, but Diamond tells her he knows only hoodlums and detectives. Rita tells him, “Hoodlums? Detectives? A woman doesn’t care how a man makes his living. Only how he makes love.” She decides to leave and asks Diamond to hand over her shoes. When he does, she asks him to put them on, and he complies.

◊ In a scene between Mr. Brown and Susan Lowell, he reminds her why she stays with him. Her face is in close-up, and Mr. Brown is right behind her. He asks her what she wants because he is willing to give her anything. She wants to leave him, but he kisses her neck and then progresses down her back. The camera than focuses on Susan’s face as she reacts to his attention.

The Big Combo was produced by two newcomers in the movie business. Theodora Productions was owned by Cornel Wilde and his wife Jean Wallace, both of whom star in the film. Security Pictures was headed by Philip Yordan, who wrote the screenplay, and Sidney Harmon. Neither of these production companies were major studios, and it’s quite possible that details of the story were passed over by those enforcing the movie production code. By today’s standards, The Big Combo would never be called explicit, but its less direct approach makes the film even sexier.

Click here to visit a website called The Production Code of the Motion Picture Industry (1930–1968) for a thorough and detailed account of the Motion Picture Production Code.

The film has even more going for it than beautiful cinematography and mature relationships between its characters. The story held some surprises for me, and that’s always a plus. In some ways, The Big Combo is a typical noir, but the plot surprises keep it interesting. Richard Conte is one of my noir favorites, and he is particularly ruthless as Mr. Brown. Helen Walker has a small supporting role, but it’s memorable: She goes from feigning insanity to portraying raw fear with ease. The Big Combo is often talked about as representative of all that’s good about film noir, and its reputation is well deserved.

February 13, 1955, release date  •  Directed by Joseph H. Lewis  •  Screenplay by Philip Yordan  •  Music by David Raksin  •  Edited by Robert S. Eisen  •  Cinematography by John Alton

Cornel Wilde as Detective Lieutenant Leonard Diamond  •  Richard Conte as Mr. Brown  •  Brian Donlevy as Joe McClure  •  Jean Wallace as Susan Lowell  •  Robert Middleton as Captain Peterson  •  Lee Van Cleef as Fante  •  Earl Holliman as Mingo  •  Helen Walker as Alicia Brown  •  Jay Adler as Detective Sam Hill  •  John Hoyt as Nils Dreyer  •  Ted de Corsia as Bettini  •  Helene Stanton as Rita  •  Roy Gordon as Mr. Audubon  •  Steve Michaell as Bennie Smith, the boxer  •  James McCallion as Frank, the technician  •  Tony Michaels as the photo technician  •  Brian O’Hara as Attorney Malloy  •  Michael Mark as Fred, the hotel clerk

Distributed by Allied Artists Pictures Corporation  •  Produced by Security Pictures, Theodora Productions