Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Tymon Sutton The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

christopher-underwood Highly effective noir thriller with top performances from Cornel Wilde and Richard Conte. The latter is, of course, the big baddie but Wilde is a surprisingly ruthless cop with an agenda. Conte is almost frighteningly violent in both words and action, at the same time presenting such a charming front but Wilde is almost up there and certainly much more street wise than some cops in noir films. Jean Wallace is also very effective as the love interest for both men, although the cop is not beneath skipping out for a bit on the side while he waits. Excellent b/w photography and a good tale well told with splendid hard boiled dialogue.

SnoopyStyle Police Lt. Diamond (Cornel Wilde) investigates criminal boss Mr. Brown (Richard Conte). Nothing works and Diamond is being pressured to drop the case. There's a mysterious Alicia. He goes after Brown's girlfriend Susan Lowell (Jean Wallace).This is dripping with the hard-boiled noir style. The cinematography is mostly great. The dialog and the acting are all very mannered and stylized. It's definitely a B-movie but it's a good B-movie. My biggest problem is the lack of presence from the main actors. They're all good character actors but I wouldn't say any of them are stars. Again this is only a B-movie.

Claudio Carvalho The Police Lt. Leonard Diamond (Cornel Wilde) of the 93 Precinct is obsessed to find evidences against the hoodlum Mr. Brown (Richard Conte) and unsuccessfully exceeds the budget after four years of investigation with his partner, Detective Sam Hill (Jay Adler). Police Capt. Peterson (Robert Middleton) orders him to stop the investigation, telling that his obsession is personal since he has fallen in love with Brown's mistress Susan Lowell (Jean Wallace). But Susan tries to commit suicide and Diamond convinces his chief to follow one last lead, the name Alicia babbled by Susan in the hospital.The powerful Mr. Brown is mad with Diamond's investigation and sends his gangsters Joe McClure (Brian Donlevy), Fante (Lee Van Cleef) and Mingo (Earl Holliman) to try to stop Diamond. But the reluctant lieutenant insists in his pursue and the criminals decide to kill him. However they murder Diamond's lover Rita (Helene Stanton) by mistake. Now the obsession of Diamond becomes revenge and he will not stop until Mr. Brown is sent to justice. "The Big Combo" is a great film-noir by Joseph H. Lewis with a sleaze story of obsession that becomes revenge in the end. The duel between the characters performed by Cornel Wilde and Richard Conte is amazing, very well supported by Jean Wallace, Brian Donlevy, Lee Van Cleef and Earl Holliman. The top-notch cinematography in black and white uses lights, shades and fog to create the perfect environment for this bleak story. The "friendship" of Fante and Mingo is very suspicious, indicating that the two gangsters are more than best friends. My vote is eight. Title (Brazil): "Império do Crime" (Empire of the Crime")Note: On 23 July 2018 I saw this film again.

vladimir jaksic The Big Combo is definitely in my opinion one of the best film-noirs ever. Sometimes I wonder how that some movies (Hitchcock's Notorious for example) are better rated on film-noir top lists than this one, because "Combo" deserves to bee at least in top 10. At first story looks cheesy and well known, but later it gets more and more interesting and really drags you into this movie. Although this movie had small budget it looks better and more elegant than some A-list motion pictures from that period of Hollywood cinema. The photography is simply fantastic. Director of photography John Alton did a really great job. "The dance" of light and shadows is simply amazing. One more thing that's not in common with The Big Combo and other noirs is that The Big Combo contains slightly more violence and "black" humor. Example of that is scene where Mr. Brown with Fante and Mingo kills Joe McClure. At the end I would recommend this classic to everyone who simply want to see a great drama or to those who are into film-noir.