Public domain film noir: The Big Combo (1955)

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Full movie at youtube

Download or watch at archive.org

Director: Joseph H. Lewis

Writer: Philip Yordan

Cinematographer: John Alton

Plot: Police Lt. Leonard Diamond is on a personal crusade to bring down sadistic gangster Mr. Brown. He's also dangerously obsessed with Brown's girlfriend, his captive lover. His main objective as a detective is to uncover who "Alicia" is but cannot immediately find out from Brown or his girl. Once Diamond tracks down Alicia, she helps Diamond figure out where Brown was likely to take Susan to, the airport where Brown hopes to make a getaway plane. However, the plane doesn't show up and the film climaxes in a foggy airplane hangar shootout.

Trivia:

• The actress Jean Wallace was married to Cornel Wilde at the time of the film. Both give outstanding performances.
• Helen Walker was a very successful and promising actress before her 1947 car wreck (a possible DUI). In this incident, she allegedly took on three hitch-hikers, all WWII vets, and crashed in a drive from L.A. to Palm Springs. Sadly, one person died. Her career never recovered.
• Lee Van Cleef went on to a great career, especially in westerns.
• Earl Holliman was born to extreme poverty in Louisiana. He lied about his age and enlisted in the US Navy during WWII. While stationed in L.A., in his free time, he hung out in Hollywood theaters. When he left the Navy, he eventually graduated from UCLA and started his award-winning work in films and TV.
• The screenwriter is officially credited to Academy award-winning writer Philip Yordan, but the actual credit is disputed. Please see the recent article "The Philip Yordan Story" (filmnoirfoundation.org/PhilipYordan.pdf), if you are interested in details of the mystery.