1950s crime thriller 'The Big Combo' has some good points: some nice acting in the minor roles (Lee van Cleef's performance among them), an interestingly sympathetic portrayal of some of the lesser villains, and a lively, entertaining pace. But it also has a ropey plot, poor acting from the three leading women (including the beautiful Jean Wallace) and its one leading man, Cornel Wilde, and a suave but unmenacing villain, the blandly-named Mr. Brown. There are also some moments where low production values produce moments that might be from a comic strip: the private airport set identified by nothing (such as an aeroplane or runway) that reveals its function but simply by a sign reading "Private Airport", for example; or the box of labelled dynamite. The ending is also weak, not because the idea (a shoot-out in the fog) is bad, but because it's impossible to believe, while watching it, that you're seeing anything other than one man alone in a studio pretending to be in a fight. It's still quite fun, but if they don't make movies like this any more, there is a reason for it.