Rent The Big Combo (1955)

Noir Classic (spoilers). - The Big Combo review by Steve

It's is a face off between a detective (Cornel Wilde) and sociopathic mob boss (Richard Conte).  The gangster defines high achievers as those most able to hate, as they will destroy others to reach their goals.  But that also applies to the cop, who will take his adversary down by any means .  

He will even sacrifice Conte's traumatised moll (Jean Wallace) who Wilde has fallen in love with. She is a cultivated, educated woman in an environment where those accomplishments have no value. The detective exploits his murdered, stripper girlfriend too: 'I treated her like a pair of gloves. If I was cold, I called her up'.

The gangster's deputy (Brian Donlevy) is a traumatised punch bag who can't take it anymore. Or dish it out. Empathy is his tragic flaw. His demise, shot in silence when Conte removes Donlevy's hearing aid is classic noir: 'I'm gonna give you a break. I'm gonna fix it, so you don't hear the bullets'.  

This is expressionist art, photographed by noir legend John Alton. There is a tough, ominous screenplay from Philip Yordan which is sometimes tender but usually brutal. By '55, censorship was being eased. The murders are violent and onscreen, and there's a pair of obviously gay hitmen. It's one of the best B films ever made.

Shadows, Silhouettes, and a Scene-Stealing Sadist - The Big Combo review by griggs

The Big Combo is classic noir, a dogged cop so obsessed with nailing the villain that he loses sight of everything else, including his own moral compass. The plot’s straightforward, even a little thin in places, but how it’s told makes it feel surprisingly modern. Cornel Wilde doesn’t leave much of a mark as the lead, but Richard Conte owns the film as the ruthless, smooth-talking Mr Brown—one of noir’s finest baddies.

Beyond the shadows and shootouts, there’s a surprisingly tender, clearly coded relationship between Mr Brown’s henchmen, Fanti and Mingo—intimate, domestic, and rather moving. Add in some eyebrow-raising elements like sadomasochism, a clear shoe/foot fetish, and even a bold nod to oral sex, and you’ve got something far more daring than your typical ’50s crime flick.

The cinematography is breathtaking—all chiaroscuro and cigarette smoke—while the film’s treatment of power, obsession and identity earns it a spot near the top of the noir canon. It’s a film that seduces with its shadows but stays with you because of what dares to play out in the dark.