Here is the setup: The hardboiled detective, Diamond (Cornel Wilde) is on the trail of a blonde mob girl, Susan (Jean Wallace), in order to get to the ruthless mob boss Mr. Brown (Richard Conte). But Mr. Brown is a cautious and methodical man to pin down of any wrong doing. Also, our detective is falling for the blonde. With no evidence of crimes, his police captain is pressuring him to let go of the Brown case. But Diamond is relentless.
With Mr. Brown's henchmen Fante (young Lee Van Cleef) and Mingo (Earl Holliman) knocking off any witness or associates one by one, including Diamond's brunette burlesque girl, Rita (Helene Stanton), things are getting personal....
The Big Combo is all about John Alton the cinematographer. Jean Wallace glimmers. Lee Van Cleef's never been this angular under the dim overhead lighting. The smokes, rapid machine gun fire, and shadows, those shadows. It's all too damn gorgeous. Who cares about the morality tale if you got those shadows?
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