The Big Combo (1955)
1h 28m | PG-13
Police Lt. Leonard Diamond vies to bring a clever, well connected, and sadistic gangster to justice all the while obsessing over the gangster's girlfriend.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Studio: Security Pictures
Genre: Drama, Crime
Video: 720p
Cast
Cornel Wilde
as Leonard Diamond
Jean Wallace
as Susan Lowell
Brian Donlevy
as Joe McClure
Richard Conte
as Mr. Brown
Lee Van Cleef
as Fante
Earl Holliman
as Mingo
Reviews
Cornel Wilde is quite good as the detective charged with investigating a local crime boss (Richard Conte) who thus far has proved a bit Teflon. After a few years of this relentless pursuit, he has managed to fall for the hoodlum's lady (Susan Wallace) and his captain deduces that he has become too close to remain objective and so the case is to be stopped. That all changes when Conte's thugs accidentally kill the woman (instead of him) and it all becomes truly personal! It's a well directed, pacy and, at times, suspenseful crime drama from the pen of Philip Yordan that could perhaps have been just ten minutes shorter to tighten it up.