The Big Combo

Somewhere in the dreary mists of a night town, a neurotic duel between police officer Leonard Diamond and his alter ego, gangster Mr Brown, is about to start. Tenacity on one side and slickness on the other intersect in the lap of a fascinating mysterious beauty. Sophisticated directorial work with mise en scene, the magically expressive camera of John Alton, jazz music by David Raksin and chiselled dialogue by Philip Yordan touched the audience. The legendary scene of oral sex then outraged the censors. It is the darkest one of all films noir where only here and there a ray of light may flicker into the pervasive darkness.