Crime in the Streets (1956)

Social worker tries to befriend local slum gang.

Director:

Don Siegel (as Donald Siegel)

Writers:

Reginald Rose (story), Reginald Rose (screenplay)

Stars:

John Cassavetes, Sal Mineo, James Whitmore

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
James Whitmore	...	Ben Wagner
John Cassavetes	...	Frankie Dane
Sal Mineo	...	Angelo Gioia
Mark Rydell	...	Lou Macklin
Virginia Gregg	...	Mrs. Dane
Peter J. Votrian	...	Richie Dane (as Peter Votrian)
Will Kuluva	...	Mr. Gioia
Malcolm Atterbury	...	Mr. McAllister
Denise Alexander	...	Maria Gioia
Dan Terranova	...	Blockbuster
Peter Miller	...	The Fighter
Steve Rowland	...	Glasses

Storyline

On a city's mean streets, the boys join gangs at 15. Frankie leads the Hornets: he's 18, seething, coiled. When a neighbor goes to the cops after seeing one of the Hornets with a zip gun, Frankie vows to kill the old guy, hatching a plan using Lou, who smiles and smokes, and "Baby," the 15-year-old son of an immigrant shopkeeper. Ben Wagner, the social worker at a neighborhood settlement house, gets wind of the plan and tries to break through to Frankie. Frankie's brother Richie, who's about 12, worships and fears Frankie; he also figures out what his brother is up to. Is Frankie doomed to crash and burn at 18?

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Plot Keywords:

poverty row film | low budget film | double feature film | death of family member | damsel in distress | 

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Taglines:

How Can You Tell Them To Be Good When Their Girl Friends Like Them Better When They're Bad!

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Thriller

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

10 June 1956 (USA)

Also Known As:

Face au crime

Filming Locations:

Samuel Goldwyn Studios - 7200 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, California, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$1,200,000, 31 December 1956

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lindbrook Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Don Siegel says in his biography that he argued much on the set with actor Mark Rydell because he did not shoot Rydell's face enough.

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Goofs

After McAllister slaps Frankie, a shadow of the camera is visible on Frankie as it pulls back.

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Quotes

Frankie Dane: Why don't you stop sucking around? What, are you in love with us or something?
Ben Wagner: Sucking around is my job.

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Connections

Remake of The Elgin Hour: Crime in the Streets (1955)

User Reviews

Mean Streets

Working on a painfully thin budget from Allied Artists, Don Siegel managed to fashion an urban tale of violence and juvenile delinquency in Crime In The Streets. The urban sets remind me a lot of Otto Preminger's The Man With A Golden Arm which came out a year before. And the delinquents aren't romanticized as they are in West Side Story.

James Whitmore stars as a local social worker working out of a settlement house who keeps his ear to the ground for any rumblings of a rumble on the mean streets of his urban neighborhood. With two gangs, the Hornets and the Dukes, he's got his hands full.

It's the Hornets here that concern the viewer of Crime In The Streets. They have a charismatic leader in young John Cassavetes who at 27 is way too old to be playing an 18 year old, but so did most of the kids look way too old in Glenn Ford's class in The Blackboard Jungle. Cassavetes is repeating his role from this same story made as television drama two years earlier. Also repeating are Mark Rydell as one of Cassavetes lieutenants who really isn't wrapped too tight and Will Kulava as Sal Mineo's father.

When local citizen Malcolm Atterbury reports one of their peers for having a zip gun, Cassavetes sets in motion a plan to kill him. Mineo and Rydell are in on it. Whitmore gets wind of it and does what he can to stop it.

Don Siegel gets good performances out of his ensemble cast. One player I failed to mention is Virginia Gregg who may have gotten her career role as the mother of Cassavetes and Peter Votrian. Cassavetes she feels is a lost cause, she's concerned about Votrian who idolizes his brother and might get into the gang culture. Gregg is great example of one who was probably a battered wife when she had a husband living in the place and one who is too shell shocked to deal with her rebellious son.

Though it's dated Crime In The Streets is still entertaining and it's a good sociological treatise on juvenile delinquency.