The Big Combo

The Big Combo follows police Lieutenant Leonard Diamond as he tries to build a case against Mr. Brown, a well-connected crime boss whose operation the authorities have been unable to touch. Diamond's superiors want the investigation shut down because it has produced nothing, but he keeps pursuing Brown, partly out of obsession with Brown's girlfriend, Susan Lowell. Susan, once a pianist, wants out of her life with Brown, and her decision to help Diamond gives him a lead he has lacked.

Joseph H. Lewis directed the film, which sits between Gun Crazy (1950) and 7th Cavalry (1956) in his filmography, from a screenplay by Philip Yordan. Cornel Wilde plays Diamond, with Richard Conte as Brown, Jean Wallace as Susan, Brian Donlevy as Joe McClure, and Lee Van Cleef and Earl Holliman as the killers Fante and Mingo. The credited cast runs to 22 performers.

Released in February 1955 and running 88 minutes, the crime drama drew modest audiences on its Allied Artists release. On IMDb it holds a 7.3 rating from roughly 9,900 votes, while on TMDB it has a 7 from about 180 votes. A critics' rating of 6.6 from 14 reviews places it close to the audience scores rather than clearly apart from them.