Crime Wave (1954)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

André De Toth

Writers:

Bernard Gordon (adaptation)
John Hawkins (story)

Release Date:

6 March 1954 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Film-Noir | Drama

Plot:

Reformed parolee Steve Lacey is caught in the middle when a wounded former cellmate seeks him out for shelter.

Plot Keywords:

Gas Station | Home Invasion | Escaped Convict | Interrogation | Lapd

Cast

Sterling Hayden	...	Det. Lt. Sims
Gene Nelson	...	Steve Lacey
Phyllis Kirk	...	Ellen Lacey
Ted de Corsia	...	'Doc' Penny
Charles Bronson	...	Ben Hastings (as Charles Buchinsky)
Jay Novello	...	Dr. Otto Hessler
Nedrick Young	...	Gat Morgan
James Bell	...	Daniel O'Keefe
Dub Taylor	...	Gus Snider (as Dubb Taylor)
Gayle Kellogg	...	Detective Kelly
Mack Chandler	...	Sully

Also Known As:

The City Is Dark (UK)

Runtime:

73 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

West Germany:16 (nf) | Finland:(Banned) (1953) | USA:Approved (PCA #16297) | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

A few seconds of footage in Crime Wave are borrowed from _Deadly Is The Female (1950)_. When suspects are rounded up following the attack on the gas station, we see police cars stopping by the entrance of a police station and letting out their suspects. This piece of footage can be seen in Deadly Is The Female, just after the payroll holdup, when police launch their dragnet.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Nedrick Young (as Gat Morgan) is first shot, he grabs his chest by the right pectoral. When he grabs his wound later, it has migrated to the lower center abdomen.

Quotes:

Det. Lt. Sims: You know, it isn't what a man wants to do, Lacey, but what he has to do. Now take me - I love to smoke cigarettes, but the doctors say I can't have them. So what do I do? I chew toothpicks, tons of them.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Decoy: A Map to Nowhere (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

Bringing in the Sheaves

Brilliant B-Movie Noir

An American Cinematheque presentation at The Egyptian.

A great little 'second feature' noir. Hayden is brilliant as the tough and cynical cop willing to break any rule to catch a couple of cop killers, and Phyllis Kirk oozes B-movie sex-appeal as the good-girl caught in the middle. With some genuinely funny dialogue, solid performances all round, and wonderful location filming around downtown Los Angeles, Chinatown and Glendale, the movie is a brilliant testament to the quality of so many cheap post-war crime thrillers. Of particular interest is the location filming inside the LAPD offices and dispatch room in City Hall.

Charles Bronson plays a tough-guy killer in an early supporting role. Timothy Carey shows up to chew the scenery as a bizarre, bog-eyed, dope-fiend, rape-o. And there's a great car chase through the Downtown city streets at night.

A minor classic. Entertaining throughout.