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The Big Combo

The Big Combo

Drama · Crime · 1955

Police Lt. Leonard Diamond vies to bring a clever, well connected, and sadistic gangster to justice all the while obsessing over the gangster's girlfriend.

Movie details

The Big Combo

“The Most Startling Story The Screen Has Ever Dared Reveal!”

1955 Drama · Crime 1h 28m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.0 / 10

Community rating

Police Lt. Leonard Diamond vies to bring a clever, well connected, and sadistic gangster to justice all the while obsessing over the gangster's girlfriend.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Big Combo?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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American Gangster

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The Place Beyond the Pines

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A motorcycle stunt rider considers committing a crime in order to provide for his wife and child, an act that puts him on a collision course with a cop-turned-politician.

Panic

Panic

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Alex is going through a midlife crisis and it has become a very difficult time for him. His marriage is struggling, he's worried about his son, and his job of killing people for his family has become the most stressful part of his life. He seeks the help of a therapist and meets a woman in the waiting room that he connects with.

The Outfit

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Leonard is an English tailor who used to craft suits on London’s world-famous Savile Row. After a personal tragedy, he’s ended up in Chicago, operating a small tailor shop in a rough part of town where he makes beautiful clothes for the only people around who can afford them: a family of vicious gangsters.

Sexy Beast

Sexy Beast

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Ex-safecracker Gal Dove has served his time behind bars and is blissfully retired to a Spanish villa paradise with a wife he adores. The idyll is shattered by the arrival of his nemesis Don Logan, intent on persuading Gal to return to London for one last big job.

The Enforcer

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L.A. Confidential

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Three detectives in the corrupt and brutal L.A. police force of the 1950s use differing methods to uncover a conspiracy behind the shotgun slayings of the patrons at an all-night diner.

Out of the Past

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The peaceful life of a gas station owner is disrupted when a man from his past arrives in town and forces him to return to the dark world he had tried to escape.

The Big Heat

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Joseph H. Lewis

Written by

Philip Yordan

Cornel Wilde

Cornel Wilde

Leonard Diamond

Jean Wallace

Jean Wallace

Susan Lowell

Brian Donlevy

Brian Donlevy

Joe McClure

Richard Conte

Richard Conte

Mr. Brown

Lee Van Cleef

Lee Van Cleef

Fante

Earl Holliman

Earl Holliman

Mingo

Robert Middleton

Robert Middleton

Police Capt. Peterson

Court is in session

Put The Big Combo on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Auteur Devotee

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Technique in search of a pulse.”

Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.