Movies that feel likeThe Big Combo (1955)

Name: The Big Combo
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Genre: drama, crime
Released: 1955

Police Lt. Leonard Diamond vies to bring a clever, well connected, and sadistic gangster to justice all the while obsessing over the gangster's girlfriend.

If you loved The Big Combo, the closest films we have are Force of Evil (1950), The Set-Up (1949) and Gun Crazy (1950). All three share The Big Combo's contemplative and gritty feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Blast of Silence (1961).

🍅 93% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.3 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Joseph H. Lewiscontemplative gritty atmospheric

6 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Criterion Channel

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If The Big Combo hit the spot, these will too

Force of Evil

1950 · dir. Abraham Polonsky

🍅 100%★ 7.2crime · drama

Both keep coming back to the same thing: film noir

Lawyer Joe Morse wants to consolidate all the small-time numbers racket operators into one big powerful operation. But his elder brother Leo is one of these small-time operators who wants to stay that way, preferring not to deal with the gangsters who dominate the big-time.

The Set-Up

1949 · dir. Robert Wise

🍅 85%★ 7.8drama · crime

One thread runs through both: film noir

Expecting the usual loss, a boxing manager takes bribes from a betting gangster without telling his fighter.

Gun Crazy

1950 · dir. Joseph H. Lewis

🍅 91%★ 7.6crime · romance · drama

Joseph H. Lewis directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

The difference: Leans harder into romance than The Big Combo does

Bart Tare, an ex-Army man who has a lifelong fixation with guns, meets a kindred spirit in sharpshooter Annie Starr and goes to work at a carnival alongside her. After upsetting the carnival owner who lusts after Starr, they both get fired. Soon, at Starr's behest, the couple embarks on a crime spree for cash.

Blast of Silence

1961 · dir. Allen Baron

🍅 83%★ 7.4crime · drama · thriller

The same mix in both: stillness, then grit

The difference: Sits closer to thriller than The Big Combo does

A hired killer from Cleveland has a job to do on a second-string mob boss in New York. But a special girl from his past and a fat gun dealer with pet rats get in his way.

Scarlet Street

1945 · dir. Fritz Lang

🍅 100%★ 7.7drama · crimePrime Video

Drama built on atmosphere, twice over

Cashier and part-time starving artist Christopher Cross is absolutely smitten with the beautiful Kitty March. Kitty plays along, but she's really only interested in Johnny, a two-bit crook. When Kitty and Johnny find out that art dealers are interested in Chris's work, they con him into letting Kitty take credit for the paintings. Cross allows it because he is in love with Kitty, but his love will only let her get away with so much.

Kansas City Confidential

1952 · dir. Phil Karlson

🍅 79%★ 7.3crimePrime Video

Common ground: police shootout

The difference: Easier on the stillness than The Big Combo

An ex-convict sets out to uncover who framed him for an armored car robbery.

Mildred Pierce

1945 · dir. Michael Curtiz

🍅 88%★ 7.9crime · drama

Contemplative crime, and it commits to that

A hard-working mother inches towards disaster as she divorces her husband and starts a successful restaurant business to support her spoiled daughter.

Angels with Dirty Faces

1938 · dir. Michael Curtiz

🍅 100%★ 7.8crime · drama

Both lean on grit more than on drama

Childhood chums Rocky Sullivan and Jerry Connelly grow up on opposite sides of the fence: Rocky matures into a prominent gangster, while Jerry becomes a priest, tending to the needs of his old tenement neighborhood.

The Big Risk

1960 · dir. Claude Sautet

🍅 100%★ 7.5crime

Crime with a pulse of atmosphere, in both cases

The difference: Trades the stillness of The Big Combo for an angle of its own

Two men pull off a daring daylight payroll heist in Milan, making a fast getaway. One is returning to France after years in hiding, needing money to start fresh with his family.

Odd Man Out

1947 · dir. Carol Reed

🍅 100%★ 7.6crime · drama · thrillerMax

Contemplative drama in both cases

Belfast police conduct a door-to-door manhunt for an IRA gunman wounded in a daring robbery.

The Asphalt Jungle

1950 · dir. John Huston

🍅 98%★ 7.8crime · drama

Crime built on grit, twice over

Recently paroled from prison, legendary burglar "Doc" Riedenschneider, with funding from Alonzo Emmerich, a crooked lawyer, gathers a small group of veteran criminals together in the Midwest for a big jewel heist.