You clearly know very very little about the style, cinematography, and scoring involved in film noirs, as well as little to nothing about the use of nonvisual motifs in films. The Big Combo stacks up right near the top in terms of all of those categories.
There is way more going on in this film that you clearly missed on your first viewing, such as the homosexual relationship between Fante and Mingo.
Part of the reason this film is regarded so highly in the film noir genre is the fact that it brought out many different taboo themes during a film period that were considered no gos, such as the aforementioned homosexual relationship or the ideology that criminals and criminal associates should get what is coming to them.
*SPOILER* the fact that Susan lives at the end and suffers little to no consequences for her actions throughout the film (her association with Brown) goes against the grain in terms of what the Hays Code actively pushed onto films during the period. This type of ever-present yet mute rebellion by a film of the time propels The Big Combo into an elite class based purely from a film standpoint.
You commented on the lighting, which is good, except you missed a lot of the other things going on in the film's Mise-en-scène. The lighting is the easiest thing to spot in the noir genre, but there is way more going on that you clearly missed.
Also the score is incredible and again goes against this Hollywood manufactured ideology of what sounds/themes should represent which character, as Susan's theme is a Soprano sax based reoccurring theme, despite her in film penchant for classical piano.
All of these things work together to make the Big Combo one of the greats, and while the performance by Wilde is not the greatest, it works well. I fail to see how you had a problem with Donlevy though, he is a man who has essentially lost his manhood, and he plays the part excellent. The torture scene too is (at least in my opinion) one of the best and most dynamic uses of music.
You owe it to yourself to go back and rewatch this film to better grasp the bigger picture.
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franzkabuki
13 years ago
Well, to be honest the lighting does deserve a special mention even in the context of the high standard of noir because here, it really seemed to create its own world all by itself, making a movie filmed on very limited sets feel ´big´ and spacy, stuff of grand cinema at times. Not to mention the finer points, the numerous outstandingly photographed specific scenes.
Overall it´s a very successful mix of moody high style and sort of a tight minimalism, with a rather down-to-earth approach on the script level (no idea what´s supposed to be so "rambling" about it; I found it to be a pretty fierce, straight forward 83 minutes). It´s a picture with a nasty edge and lots of rather innovating devices, particularly, of course, the curious effects of the hearing aid, put to great use on more than one occasion. The only somewhat weaker aspects are Wilde´s bland, one-note central performance (although nothing nearly as awful as his work in Leave Her To Heaven) and the way the plot resolves itself in the end in quite some contrived ways - but overall it´a surprisingly fine late noir.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
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amd8404
13 years ago
*SPOILER* the fact that Susan lives at the end and suffers little to no consequences for her actions throughout the film (her association with Brown) goes against the grain in terms of what the Hays Code actively pushed onto films during the period. This type of ever-present yet mute rebellion by a film of the time propels The Big Combo into an elite class based purely from a film standpoint.
I'm not sure I agree. Pushing the boundaries of the Production Code doesn't make it a good film in itself. It does make it interesting from a historical standpoint.
Likewise the ultraconservative idea that "criminals should get what's coming to them" (death) is neither unique to this film nor is it something I especially admire. My understanding is that many films noir moved in this kind of direction around the mid 1950s (e.g. Kiss Me Deadly).
That said, I agree with the rest of your post and I think the film is pretty good.
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ridge-m-1
8 years ago
Appreciate you educating the kid man. It never ceases to amaze when someone with absolutely no clue about what they are commenting on, nevertheless finds it imperative to share their worthless opinions. This site is infamous for OP's like the one on this thread.
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