The Big Combo

A sadistic crime boss mixes it up with a hard-nosed cop in a nerve-wracking tale of obsession and revenge. Coming nearly at the end of the noir cycle, this seminal film is a stylish blend of traditional noir themes and images with an increasing tendency toward modern violence and brutality. It doesn't hurt either that John Alton, the premier noir cinematographer shot it, providing us all with further incontrovertible evidence of his mastery of light and shadow. Ripe with homoerotic undertones, unsettling and ultimately exhilarating,