The Big Combo
About The Big Combo
Lieutenant Leonard Diamond has spent months and a lot of the department's money trying to jail Mr. Brown, head of the Combination. Captain Peterson tells him to stop. The order does not stick, because Diamond wants Brown's mistress, Susan Lowell, who has tried to kill herself and cannot leave. In the hospital she says the name Alicia. Diamond learns from an old accomplice, Bettini, that Alicia was Brown's wife, sent toward Sicily with the former boss Grazzi and dropped on an anchor. Brown's men Fante and Mingo are sent to kill a witness. Mingo lives, weeps over Fante, and tells Diamond that Brown ordered the murders. Alicia's lead puts Diamond at a private airfield, where Brown is waiting with Susan for a plane that never comes. In the fog Susan turns the car's fog lamp into Brown's eyes. Diamond arrests him. The last shot is the two silhouettes in the hangar.
Cast & crew
More about The Big Combo
Joseph H. Lewis directed from Philip Yordan's script. Sidney Harmon produced. John Alton photographed it and David Raksin wrote the score. Allied Artists released it on 13 February 1955. Jean Wallace, who plays Susan, was Cornel Wilde's wife. Helen Walker's part is her last on screen.
Themes
Making
Lewis stages the ending in a hangar full of fog, with the arrest depending on a lamp Susan can reach, not on a backup of police cars. Alton shoots Diamond and Susan as silhouettes once Brown is taken.
Look
John Alton lights the hangar so that Brown is blinded by his own fog lamp and the last image is two black figures in white fog.
Music
David Raksin composed the score.
Preservation
The Copyright Office rejected the notice in 2007. The film is public domain in the United States. Prints and digital copies are widespread, including the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- Cornel Wilde plays Diamond. Richard Conte plays Mr. Brown. Brian Donlevy is in the gang. Lee Van Cleef plays Fante and Earl Holliman plays Mingo.
- Rita, a burlesque dancer in love with Diamond, is the woman he calls only when he needs something.
- Wikipedia records a budget of $500,000.
- The title cards carry a copyright claim. In 2007 the United States Copyright Office refused the notice, and the film is in the public domain.
- Wikidata also lists a Netflix distribution entry and a Monogram Pictures credit beside Allied Artists.
Scenes
- Susan, after the pills, says "Alicia" with Diamond at the bedside.
- Mingo survives and names Brown over Fante's body.
- Susan hits Brown with the fog lamp. Diamond takes him in the hangar.
Also available
- Internet Archive (TheBigComboCornellWilde1955BOO)
- Wikimedia Commons (The Big Combo 1955.webm)
