CRIME WAVE

CRIME WAVE (1954) opens with a bang. Newly escaped from San Quentin, a gang of hoods including Doc Penny (Ted de Corsia) and Ben Hastings (Charles Bronson), rob a Los Angeles gas station. They pistol whip the gas station attendant (the great character actor Dub Taylor and any movie that features Charles Bronson and Dub Taylor automatically gets extra points in my book). One of the gang is wounded by a passing LA motorcycle cop, the cop is shot dead and and the gang splits up.

Homicide detective Lt. Sims (Sterling Hayden, obsessively chewing toothpicks to avoid smoking cigarettes), investigates the cop killing and sets out to capture the escaped cons. The wounded hood dies but Penny and Hastings find fellow convict Steve Lacey (Gene Nelson) and his wife Ellen (Phyllis Kirk) and hold them hostage while they plot an elaborate bank hold up. Lacey has served his time, been paroled and has gone straight but he's forced to co-operate in the plan while his wife is held captive by the insane Johnny Haslett (Timothy Carey in a truly bizarre performance).

Shot largely on location in Los Angeles and surrounding  communities, CRIME WAVE is an efficient, tight little noir (the running time is only 73 minutes) brilliantly directed by Andre DeToth. DeToth, who had a two week shooting schedule, gets maximum impact out of the locations, both exterior and interior. He makes good use of cameras mounted in cars and his interiors (especially at police headquarters) are lit with a harsh, fluorescent light source by cinematographer Bert Glennon, which serves to heighten the realistic atmosphere of the film. DeToth also repeatedly shoots Hayden from extreme low angles making the big tough guy loom even larger (director Stanley Kubrick would later film Hayden in much the same way in DR. STRANGELOVE (1964)). It's amazing that DeToth had such a strong visual sense, given the fact that he only had one eye.

Bronson and Kirk had worked with DeToth the previous year in HOUSE OF WAX (1953), the classic 3-D shocker that made Vincent Price a horror icon. Author James Ellroy names CRIME WAVE as one of his all-time favorite noirs and the look and the feel of the film was a huge influence on his masterful, epic noir novel L.A. CONFIDENTIAL. In fact, Ellroy based his detective hero Bud White (played by Russell Crowe in the film version) on Hayden's character, Lt. Sims.

CRIME WAVE is a simple, straightforward noir tale of cops and robbers that moves like a shot. It's a terrific look at the now long lost world of mid-century Los Angeles. It's got one helluva great cast and visual style to spare. Highly recommended.