I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

THE BIG COMBO is a rather late entry in the film noir genre but one that still packs a punch due to some violent plot twists and adult material. The storyline sees dogged police lieutenant Cornel Wilde going up against gangster kingpin Richard Conte in a battle to the finish, with various innocent parties, femme fatales, and brutal henchmen getting involved along the way.It's well-paced stuff indeed, and has atmosphere to spare especially when the fog comes down for some key moments. Really, though, this is the kind of film which works due to the efforts of the cast. Wilde is the solid lead but it's the villains who really shine in this one. Conte has never been slimier and makes for a frightening screen presence, and a delightfully icy Lee Van Cleef makes a meal playing one of his henchmen who may or may not be a homosexual. Then there's a meaty supporting role for Professor Quatermass himself, Brian Donlevy, playing Conte's old-time ally, and Jean Wallace is fine as the caught-up love interest.THE BIG COMBO works well by playing with genre tropes and offering a little more originality than the viewer is used to. There's one of the more unusual torture scenes I've seen in a film involving a hearing aid, while the climax thankfully sees the heroine of the piece using her brain for once rather than just sitting back and simpering at the men folk doing their thing.

Conell Wilde, Richard Conte, and Lee Van Cleef and others speak volumes for the talent in this cast. Writer Philip Yordan wrote a great script and with talent like this in front of the camera, this movie is a must see.While this sums up the plot -"A police Lt. is ordered to stop investigating deadly crime boss Mr. Brown, because he hasn't been able to get any hard evidence against him," it does not say how many twists and turns this one goes through.There are also some ladies along the way to keep things going. It is all a matter of getting the evidence that leads Police Lt. Leonard Diamond (Cornel Wilde) through a film noir maze of intrigue. Is it worth the trip for the viewer? You bet it is.

A detective obsessed with catching a criminal, to the point where the two mirror each other . . . not Heat (Michael Mann, 1995) but a film of 40 years earlier, The Big Combo (Joseph H Lewis, 1955). What an array of talent! Not just director Lewis, but screenwriter Philip Yordan, composer David Raksin, and director of photography, John Alton. Low budget, high art. Ars longa, vita brevis.Consider the opening 10 shots, following the credits: 1. Night, cops directing crowds across a road. 2. Dissolve to LS of boxing match. 3. Back of the stadium, lit with light and shadow, very high walls: a woman comes towards us running, chased by two men. 4. Shaft of light: the woman enters it running, then exits. 5. Repeat of shot 3, the set a little altered: the woman chased again, as if in a labyrinth. 6. Swing doors in dark and light: the woman runs through them. 7. LS of woman other side of the doors, two men still chasing. Our eye is drawn to a coffee counter at the right with a single customer. 8. The two men catch and hold the woman, then let her go. 9. Frontal MS of woman walking into the light, slight pullback of camera while a muted trumpet plays the main musical motif softly; the two men enter the frame, and one leaves. 10. MS of woman with hoodlum (Lee Van Cleef, for it is he is) in full light throwing shadows on wall, followed by camera doing a swift pan right to the coffee counter from shot 7, where it holds the shot, then as the customer finishes his coffee he walks diagonally into CU. 11. Dissolve to . . . etc.The first thing to applaud is the way the film states that the woman is running from the boxing match: she's not shown at the ring, just at the back of the stadium, in flight. The juxtaposition of the ring and of the woman running is all that is needed for us to connect the two, while at the same time conveying the notion that she is running from everything, not just a boxing match. Top economy of narrative.The second reason is John Alton's direct quote of Edward Hopper, the painter of human solitude, who liked to frame his individuals in the window so that we see them through a glass screen, rather like a film director in fact. Nor is this redundant pictorialism since the pan to the coffee counter and the man then moving forward links the two elements of the story: we've seen the hoodlums; now the film introduces a detective.The third reason is the immediate sense of claustrophobia that the sequence generates, a case of 'Start as you mean to go on': the protagonists move in spaces determined by the lighting and the shadows and silhouettes they create. A triumph of black-and-white chiaroscuro.A triumph too for classical Hollywood as opposed to the mannerist Hollywood of Heat. That was made with a massive budget, bigger stars, bigger set pieces when with The Big Combo Joseph H Lewis (and the producer Sydney Harmon) show how it can be done so much more simply without losing quality. What is more the psychology of the cop-criminal relationship in Lewis's film is far less glamorous, more gritty and more cruel than in Heat. Heat managers to give a sheen to its posturing, show-off psychopaths; in its underplayed but disturbing torture scenes, The Big Combo paints a darker interior picture to match Alton's exteriors, oppressive in their combination of darkness and blinding light.171 minutes of Heat? Well, probably. 84 minutes of The Big Combo? Yes, definitely.www.timcawkwell.co.uk

Having mostly enjoyed Cornel Wilde films, I was anxious to catch up with this rarely screened title. While it kept my interest throughout, I was surprised that by the end, I did not want to keep my recording.Following a nice main title, the film gets off to an interesting start, but this actually promises more than it delivers. The great 40's noir films had tight pacing, sharp dialog and a multi layered look and feel ~ all this is lacking here. Obviously the producers recognized this, as they themselves dropped scenes from the final cut. Whit Bisel remains on the cast, but not in the film! Even with some segments reduced the film feels much longer than it's 80+ Min's running time. I quite like slow films, but they should never feel longer than they are, and must have strong lines and situations. Its a good time filler, but don't think it will stay with too many after it's over. Wildes wife Jean Wallace is lovely to look at in the Grace Kelly school of cool blonds. The Black and White print I caught on local ABC TV was very good quality (far better than many of the soft image, and poor quality sound prints pushed out on TCM!~ when will they get it right?) Many have mentioned enjoying the films use of light and shadow, but this too is obvious and forced, looking more like cheap TV lighting, not the true 'style' of great cinema. The cast tries hard but the lines are just not there for them (substitutes violence for good dialog) OK for the easily pleased, others, don't expect too much. A decade later Wilds 'Naked Prey' while a total departure, is a far better effort.