If the featured image seems familiar it’s because I used it for the 11/23 edition of Saturday Odds & Sods. In that post I pledged to resume movie posting with my thoughts on the great 1955 film noir, The Big Combo. Promise kept.
The Big Combo is a film with hidden auteurs:
Star Cornel Wilde was also one of the uncredited producers of the movie.
Philip Yordan is given script credit, but it’s widely believed that blacklisted writer Ben Maddow wrote the script. Is he related to Rachel? Beats the hell outta me.
Joseph H. Lewis directed the movie but the man behind the movie’s super-noirish look was cinematographer John Alton. This shot early in the movie is almost as famous as the featured image:
The Big Combo is best described as gangster noir. It was ripped from the headlines of Senate racketeering hearings. Cornel Wilde plays a police detective who is determined to smash the local mob, much to his superior’s chagrin. If I had a Benjamin for every time someone says, “Mr. Brown is an important man,” I’d have enough money to pay for dinner at Antoine’s, which, in my opinion is overrated but that’s neither here nor there.
As usual, I’ll use the actor’s names in lieu of the character’s moniker. It’s easier to keep track of things without a scorecard that way.
Mr. Brown is played by film noir fixture Richard Conte seen here with Wilde and Brian Donlevy.
Jack Palance was originally cast as Mr. Brown, but parted ways with the producers over a casting dispute. He wanted his wife Virginia Baker to play Wilde’s stripper with a heart of gold girlfriend. That small but juicy role went to Helene Stanton:
Palance would have been good, but Conte is better. He was a subtler actor whose villainy is reflected by a constant smirk. Nobody ever called Jack Palance a subtle actor not even in his great performances in Sudden Fear and The Big Knife; both of which were featured in past Pulp Fiction editions.
An oddity of movies and TV shows featuring gangsters in the post-World War II era is that they gave clearly Italian characters generic white bread names like Mr. Brown. Unlike the days of Little Caesar, they were worried about pissing off the paisans. Conte, of course, was Italian.
The plot is relatively simple: Cop hates gangster, falls for gangster’s moll, seeks revenge against gangster; you catch my drift. It’s easy to forget the simplicity of the story because it takes a twisty and unpredictable road to what could have been a predictable ending.
Conte’s character is an evil and treacherous bastard with a dominance fetish. There are many scenes in which he turns his back on the person with whom he’s speaking in a gesture of contempt:
Conte is a sadist who delights in tormenting former movie star Brian Donlevy by messing with his hearing aid. Ironically, Donlevy became an unlikely star by playing the sadistic Sgt. Markoff in Beau Geste.
Speaking of Donlevy’s hearing aid, the movie’s notorious torture scene was 20 years ahead of its time:
It may not have a great catch phrase like “Is it safe?” in Marathon Man but the scene had the film review boards squirming. It was hard to ban because the torture was more psychological than physical except when Conte forced Wilde to drink hair tonic. The mere thought of which makes me wanna hurl.
Conte’s goonish sidekicks are played by future Spaghetti western star Lee Van Cleef and future Angie Dickinson sidekick Lee Holliman. To say that their relationship has homo-erotic undertones is an understatement. One of their main tasks is to keep tabs on Jean Wallace who plays Conte’s classy but bedraggled gun moll:
Conte is a suspicious man so the fact that he trusts Van Cleef and Holliman with Wallace is a sign that he knows they’re interested in each other, not Cornel Wilde’s beautiful real-life wife. The two gunsels do everything together: they’re even blow up together after Conte betrays them.
The Big Combo is a stylish and modern film noir. The acting is superb: Wilde, Conte, Wallace, Donlevy, and company put on a helluva show. I watched it twice in ten days and noticed different things on the second viewing. That is the sign of a film that will stand the test of time.
Grading Time: I give The Big Combo 4 stars and an Adrastos grade of A-. I’m a sucker for any movie with Cornel Wilde or Richard Conte.
Let’s talk posters. We begin with the half-sheet/quad poster.
Here’s a side-by-side shot of the American and Mexican long sheet posters:
I dig the Mexican title. It literally means gangsters in flight.
It’s time for some refreshments. Be a card and let’s all go to the lobby:
The Big Combo was originally supposed to be in technicolor. They didn’t have the budget, so John Alton worked his magic instead.
Why is that relevant? As always, the lobby cards for this black and white film are in color.
The name of Earl Holliman’s character is Mingo. A great handle for a gay gangster.
Before moving on, a musical interlude from Frank Zappa:
Let’s combine Zappa with the trailer. It should be big:
The last word goes to Eddie Muller’s Noir Alley intro and outro:
