From The Pen Of Joshua Lawrence Breslin-Getting The Bad Guys 1950s Noir Style- Cornel Wilde’s “The Big Combo”

 

Click on the headline to link to a Wikipedia entry for the 1950s film noir The Big Combo.

DVD Review

The Big Combo, starring Cornel Wilde, Richard Conte, Jean Wallace, Allied Artists, 1955

Let’s say a clean cut, some would say righteous, detective (played by Cornel Wilde), a public employee detective working for cheap dough but with some kind of white knight thing about honest work, honest cop work, and getting rid of crumb bum criminals fouling up the city streets, not the usual private dick tilting at windmills for cheap dough and maybe a roll with some femme like Phillip Marlowe, who is not subject the vagaries of fearing for his pension or loss of revenue from his cut of the kickbacks that people most film noirs takes on the big city, hell maybe the Naked City, bad guys, the connected guys, the big combo guys, and gets much grief for his efforts. Let’s say the bad guys, the big city bad guys are now led by a guy name Brown (played by Richard Conte), although everybody knows, everybody who counts knows, that the bad guys, the street bad guys are not some waspy sounding named guys, but ethnic types, Kellys, Ricos, Slezaks, and the like, cheap street growing up types who, well, who scratched and clawed their ways to the top, who have certain habits, certain, well, unfriendly habits like torture, intimidations, and occasional murder in their resumes to keep the cops, the other low life, and the average citizen tied- up tied up bad. Let’s say that good cop and that bad guy wind up in a life and death struggle to see who, or what, is going to control the Naked City. Let’s say that a beautiful blonde (played by Jean Wallace), an upscale blonde, tired of well-mannered, predictable Mayfair swell guys, looked for some unnamed thrills, some bad guy kicks, although it is not always blondes looking for such thrills before returning to marry that next door neighbor stockbroker, entered into the picture and that the cop and the bad guy are both staking claims to this beauty. Let’s say that this bad guy is really bad, ready to move might and main to keep his place at the top of the heap, and not afraid to waste half the known world to keep his little secrets, including those previously mentioned little tricks that he has perfected. Let’s suppose that that ethereal blonde got fed-up with bad guys, with guys who aren’t afraid to slap her around a little just to keep her in line, and cried copper, or wanted to. Let’s suppose that the source of the bad guy’s secret turned up after some smooth good cop detective work. And let’s suppose the bad guy’s world kept getting smaller and smaller, small enough for even him to holler uncle. Then you would have a classic 1950s film noir like The Big Combo complete with suitable noir music, suitable gritty feel, and superb black and white still shots to remember this one. And that blonde, a blonde to disturb your dreams, walking back to Main Street, not alone.