Product Details

• Actors: Cornel Wilde, Richard Conte, Brian Donlevy, Jean Wallace, Robert Middleton
• Directors: Joseph H. Lewis
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Alpha Video
• DVD Release Date: October 26, 2004
• Run Time: 84 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0002W4SV8
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #47,648 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Platform:  DVD MOVIE Publisher:  ALPHA VIDEO Packaging:  DVD STYLE BOX Joseph H. Lewis' masterpiece The Big Combo stands alongside Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity Edgar G. Ulmer's Detour and Fritz Lang's The Big Heat as one of the truly great film noir classics. This dark film is an unrelenting and tormented catalogue of savage violence grotesquely black irony and dangerously obsessed sexuality.Police detective Leonard Diamond (Cornel Wilde) has two dangerous obsessions. He's on a reckless hell-bent crusade to bring down smooth and sadistic gangster Mr. Brown (Richard Conte) and wracked by insatiable desire for good-girl-gone-wrong Susan Lowell (Jean Wallace) Brown's captive lover. In mortal terror Susan is helpless to escape from the lust-filled nightmare of her life. Meanwhile Brown's lieutenant-in-crime McClure (Brian Donlevy) plots with cruel hoods Fante (Lee Van Cleef) and Mingo (Earl Holliman) to overthrow their boss. In Brown's unforgiving world however defection and disloyalty are punishable by cruel and unusual death. Photographed by legendary master of sinister shadows John Alton (I the Jury; He Walked By Night; The Lady and the Monster) The Big Combo is shocking and hard-boiled Hollywood noir and not for the faint of heart. Starring: Brian Donlevy & Lee Van CleefDirected by: Joseph H. Lewis DVD Details: Run Time: 84 minutesNumber of Discs: 1Originally Released in 1955Black & WhiteNo region encoding; For global distribution.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "First is first and second is nobody.", May 21, 2005

By	Dave (Tennessee United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

I'm a film noir fanatic and I can tell you this is easily one of the very best examples you'll find anywhere. It has an awesome cast, wonderful hard-boiled dialogue, a fast-paced jazzy score by legendary composer David Raksin, and incredible cinematography by the great John Alton, who is well-known for his work in film noirs like "T-Men", "Raw Deal", "The Amazing Mr. X", and "He Walked by Night". If you looked up film noir in a dictionary this movie could be the definition!

Cornel Wilde stars as Lieutenant Leonard Diamond, a "righteous" cop who's determined to take down the evil Mr. Brown (Richard Conte at his menacing best!), who controls a crime racket known as "The Big Combination". Desperate to get evidence, Diamond turns to Brown's beautiful girlfriend Susan Lowell (Jean Wallace) for help. She refuses to help him until Brown's henchmen murder Diamond's girlfriend, which convinces Susan that Brown must be brought to justice.

Diamond tries to track down potential witnesses against Mr. Brown, but Brown proves to be too crafty, and the potential witnesses are quickly eliminated. That is, until Diamond tracks down Mr. Brown's wife, who only after continuous pressure finally agrees to help the police. It all boils down to the inevitable showdown between good and evil, with Brown cornered by the persistant Diamond, who like the Mounties, "always gets his man."

"The Big Combo" was directed by Joseph Lewis, the same genius who gave us the classic "Gun Crazy". Cornel Wilde and Richard Conte were simply superb, although the obvious scene-stealer was Conte who portrayed one of the cruelest gangsters of all time. In fabulous supporting roles were Brian Donlevy (who portrayed Mr. Brown's right-hand man) and Lee Van Cleef (who portrayed one of Mr. Brown's hoodlums of course). Beautiful Jean Wallace was actually married to co-star Cornel Wilde at the time, making their scenes together even more convincing and entertaining. This movie has earned a reputation for having graphic, ahead-of-its-time violence, but trust me it's nothing you can't handle! This movie is a definite must for all film noir buffs!

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unspoken repression and graphic violence!, January 11, 2005

By	Hiram Gomez Pardo (Valencia, Venezuela) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

There is a clear and obvious sense of fatalism , hopeless and perverse sexuality found in the Big Combo ; and this is an interesting detail due it exists in just a few noir films .

The dramatic square presents the female vertex Susan Lowell a very disturbed woman emotionally invalid who needs emotional support ; she swims in two waters : the local mob Mr. Brown and eventually Leonard Diamond .

Leonard Diamond is profoundly obsessed and determined to see Brown imprisoned but you feel an obvious unspoken attraction for Susan and her behavior will accent his sexual frustration.

Mr. Brown is the hog mobster . His philosophy is evident : "First is first and second is nobody" . Despite his amoral attitude his character is direct violent without any doubt or nostalgic behavior .

Finally we have the suggested male couple Mingo and Fante who make the dirty job for Diamond `s torture .

Striking contrasts between the glorious black and white and Lewis sexual overtones make of this film a superior and original noir film in the more creative decade of this genre in the cinema story which by itself means too much.

0 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars stupid film noir movie, April 9, 2008

By	E. Payne - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you want to see a real great movie and an excellent example of film noir watch "The Maltese Falcon" or "Out of the Past". Humphrey Bogart and Robert Mitchem are a pleasure to watch...the acting in "The Big Combo" is aweful and the story is weak, if I didn't have to write a paper about it for my Film 101 class I never would have bought it.