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The Big Combo (1955)
A minor masterpiece
"The Big Combo" is another small (and somehow forgotten) classic from Joseph H. Lewis. The director of "Gun Crazy" (1949) created an amazing array of mobsters (including the somehow sadistic gay couple personified by Lee Van Cleef and Earl Holliman, Fante and Mingo) which carried our sympathy better than the nominal hero, the gray Diamond (an stoic Cornel Wilde, he of "No Blade of Grass" and "The Naked Prey"). The centerpiece of this amazing feature is the villain played with a sinister grin with the always great Richard Conte, Mr. Brown, who despises violence and guns. The film, with its beautiful chiaroscuro, was photographed by John Alton, the great cinematographer who single handedly created the notion of film noir (and who, by chance, became a professional in Argentina 20 years before this movie). The script was written by Philip Yordan, a writer who allegedly was a front for blacklisted script writers in late 40's and early 50's. Anyway, with a lot of great visual ideas and a gripping and brutal narrative, "The Big Combo" is an undiscovered gem, a original and unique feature the revisit once in a while. And by the way, it is one of the early films to suggest cunnilingus in the history of cinema.