The Big Combo

"I know his name. The name of a man who will pick up a phone and call Chicago and New Orleans and say "Hey Bill, Joe is coming down for the weekend. Advance him fifty thousand," and he hangs up the phone and the money's advanced, protection money. A new all night bar opens, with gambling outside city limits. A bunch of high school kids come in for a good time. They get loaded, they get irresponsible, they lose their shirts. Then they get a gun, cause they're worried, they want to make up their losses. And a filling station attendant is dead with a bullet in his liver. I have to see four kids on trial for first degree murder. Look at it. First degree murder, because a certain Mr. Brown picked up a phone."

"So you lost. Next time you'll win. I'll show you how. Take a look at Joe McClure here. He used to be my boss, now I'm his. What's the difference between me and him? We breathe the same air, sleep in the same hotel. He used to own it! [yelling into McClure's sound magnifier in his ear] Now it belongs to me. We eat the same steaks, drink the same bourbon. Look, same manicure. [lifting and pointing at McClure's hand] Same cufflinks. But there's only one difference. We don't get the same girls. Why? Because women know the difference. They got instinct. First is first, and second is nobody."

"I'm gonna give you a break. I'm gonna fix it, so you don't hear the bullets. [Removes McClure's hearing aid]"

"If they take you to police headquarters, shoot yourself in the head. It'll make everything a lot simpler."

"People tell me all sorts of things. I don't listen."

"A woman doesn't care how a guy makes a living, just how he makes love."

"Police Capt. Peterson: You're a cop, Leonard. There's 17,000 laws on the books to be enforced. You haven't got time to reform wayward girls. She's been with Brown three and a half years. That's a lot of days... and nights."

"Alicia Brown: I'd rather be insane and alive, than sane... and dead."

"Cornel Wilde - Police Lt. Leonard Diamond"

"Richard Conte - Mr. Brown"

"Brian Donlevy - Joe McClure"

"Jean Wallace - Susan Lowell"

"Robert Middleton - Police Capt. Peterson"

"Lee Van Cleef - Fante"

"Earl Holliman - Mingo"

"Helen Walker - Alicia Brown"

"Jay Adler - Sam Hill"

"John Hoyt - Nils Dreyer"

"Ted de Corsia - Bettini"

"Helene Stanton - Rita"