Watch The Big Combo (1955) Free Online

Release Date: 1955

Cast: Earl Holliman, Lee Van Cleef, Brian Donlevy, Helen Walker, Cornel Wilde, Jean Wallace, Robert Middleton, Richard Conte

Categories: Movies, Gangster, Crime Fiction, Thriller, Black-and-white, Film noir

The Big Combo (1955) is an American film noir directed by Joseph H. Lewis and stylistically photographed by cinematographer and noir icon John Alton with music by David Raksin. This violent, dark film tells of tormented Police Lt. Leonard Diamond (Cornel Wilde), who is on a personal crusade to bring down sadistic gangster Mr. Brown (Richard Conte). He's also dangerously obsessed with Brown's girlfriend (Jean Wallace), his captive lover. When Brown finds out that Diamond is on the case and means to put him behind bars, he boasts: Brown's right-hand man, the over-the-hill and hard-of-hearing... MORE

The Big Combo (1955) is an American film noir directed by Joseph H. Lewis and stylistically photographed by cinematographer and noir icon John Alton with music by David Raksin. This violent, dark film tells of tormented Police Lt. Leonard Diamond (Cornel Wilde), who is on a personal crusade to bring down sadistic gangster Mr. Brown (Richard Conte). He's also dangerously obsessed with Brown's girlfriend (Jean Wallace), his captive lover. When Brown finds out that Diamond is on the case and means to put him behind bars, he boasts: Brown's right-hand man, the over-the-hill and hard-of-hearing Joe McClure (Brian Donlevy), plots with gangsters Fante (Lee Van Cleef) and Mingo (Earl Holliman) to overthrow Mr. Brown, but he ends up getting killed himself. McClure's hearing aid, in an earlier scene, is used to torture detective Diamond with amplified sound (so as not to leave marks) in a display of violence rare for its time. Meanwhile, Diamond finds a witness that could finally nail the elusive gangster, Mr. Brown's wife—a woman who was thought to have died years ago. The film ends dramatically in a classic foggy airplane hangar shootout. Reviews of the movie today are mostly positive. LESS