Crime Wave

After a great opening scene, stuff just falls apart. The structure of this movie is like an amorphous blob. Not that it's hard to follow or anything, but each new scene just doesn't flow smoothly after the last, and the whole thing feels pretty disjointed. The acting isn't all that great either, and even Sterling Hayden seems to be just shelling out lines from the script with little interest of his own. I did like seeing a young Charles Bronson though.

Crime was portrayed as very tame in that period of cinema history, but I sense that Crime Wave may have had a slight edge over other films. Young Charles Bronson and Timothy Carey are as tough and rugged as characters were allowed to be in 1950's Hollywood. Sterling Hayden's police detective is almost as convincing. But it's hard to ignore the film's general hokeyness.

Nothing is stellar but it does everything very well and there's nothing to fault it for. The story's tight and incredibly compelling, the performances are a bit rough but set the right tone, the pacing is excellent. It's an interesting study on the concept of redemption that concentrates on the little things as opposed to large heroic acts. Nelson really sells the inner conflicts of his character and I loved the way he reacts to pretty much every turn of the plot. Hayden and Carey are cool too.

I liked it but hours later, it already feels forgotten. I really liked Sterling Hayden in it though, plus young Timothy Carey and an unrecognizably young Charles Bronson. It also felt really modern to me. It has some good characters, it moves quickly and it has a good leading man in Gene Nelson.

An atmospheric noir, with a great beginning, a fine cast, and a rushed ending.

Checks all the boxes for this kinda flick. Great performances. Not as good as the 80's movie Crime Wave

Good story, deftly directed. Good cast as well, especially Nelson, Kirk and de Corsia; the only debit is Hayden's over-the-top villainish portrayal of the detective. Timothy Carey was also a hoot as the addle-brained, perpetually grinning Johnny; he was very nearly as bonkers as Neville Brand was in DOA.

This 74 minutes of pure noir goodness races by too quickly. Probably one of the most straightforward noirs I've seen, Crime Wave does almost everything perfect to separate itself from other crime thrillers of the era. There are noirs with more to say and others are more original, but Crime Wave is probably the purest form of pulpy American film noir.

Star Rating: ★★★1/2

Ham-fisted acting and completely predictable story.

I liked it well enough. It's a noir archetype (ex-con pulled back into one last job), but it's done well enough, and moves along quickly, and it's got a nice focus on character. And hey, Charlie Bronson!

A decent thriller, albeit one that's a bit formulaic and predictable. A fairly interesting cast of characters helped to keep me interested - the hard-nosed cop, the alcoholic dog doctor, the ex-con trying to stay on the straight and narrow, the deranged gang member... they all keep the film zipping along at a brisk pace, even though nothing remarkable ever happens. The bank job itself was quite exciting, though, and I thought the ending was very cleverly done.

The story is a noir staple (ex-con trying to go straight gets pulled back into crime) and de Toth doesn't really pack any surprises here, but it's fun to watch. I don't think I've ever come across a noir that I really hated. Interesting to see Tim Carey (in a very small but memorable role) and Sterling Hayden in a film noir together two years before The Killing. Also a young Charles Bronson.

Noir by the book. And the noir bible is one of favorite books. Also, this has Sterling Hayden rocking a toothpick throughout the film.

Em honra do centenário de Gene Nelson hoje. O assisti duas vezes seguidas, uma só o filme, a outra com os comentários de áudio de James Ellroy que torna o filme ainda mais interessante. Box Versátil Coleção Filme Noir Volume 5.

Rugged, plain and straightforward.

This is a gritty little crime flick shot on the cheap on real locations in less than 2 weeks by André De Toth. Nelson, who's previous film roles were all in musicals, is fantastic as the ex-con put in an impossible position. Charles Bronson, still credited as "Charles Buchinsky", absolutely shines as the more unstable of the 2 crooks. Jay Novello is great as the alcoholic doctor turned vet who almost treats young, and Dub Taylor turns up as the robbery victim at the film's start.

There's nothing necessarily wrong with this, but also very little clearly right. It feels totally generic but at barely over 70 minutes it's not a bad way to spend an hour and change. Bronson is solid, but the aspect that jumped out most to me was Johnny, who steals the limited scenes he's in as a tertiary (at best) villain. I wanted more. The other thing was a distractingly terrible line reading from Hank Worden (who has like three lines.) It's ok but I'll have forgotten it three days from now.

Routine story heightened by strong performances, steady direction and unique noir photography. Some of the police station scenes are fantastically lensed, very 'fluorescent noir'.