CRIME WAVE (1954)

This taut film is a good one of the era. Plenty of Los Angeles location filming help carry off the believability factor with all the Ford Motor Company offerings one can handle. A world-weary, disgruntled, and toothpick-chewing Sterling Hayden plays a detective without much compassion. He had just played a policeman in the action-thriller, Suddenly, in which any tender piece of dialogue with his love interest is delivered with the sensitivity of a television defense attorney. Hayden's studio prop “driving” is hilarious. Staring out the windshield unconsciously, mesmerized by traffic as the car and steering column rocks back and forth in repetition. The GIF below works great with the Steely Dan hit, "Peg."

Once again Ted De Corsia plays a mobster. After release from prison his latest robbery scheme pressures former cellmate, Gene Nelson, to join in. Now going legit, Nelson wants no part of it. But after his wife’s life is held accountable he plays along for her safety. And with clever end results. Phyllis Kirk plays the wife, here reunited with her co-star from, House of Wax, though by now renamed Charles Bronson. Though a small part, Bronson is solid in another of his early performances. Timothy Carey’s uncredited role as “Johnny” is about as creepy as it gets. His cult status character has significant mental and emotional problems. He almost seems out of place in the film since we have no connection to him before he just shows up in the last third of the film. And he is unforgettable. In the end, there is a beating heart inside Hayden and understands Nelson’s motive for eluding the authorities.

Note: The production values and strong cast propel this film up several rungs of the B-movie ladder. Directed by Andre DeToth and produced by Bryan Foy, the eldest of the "Seven Little Foys," this seventy-three-minute film was inspired by the "The Saturday Evening Post" story, "Criminal Mark," by John and Ward Hawkins. It was distributed by Warner Brothers. Hats off to Bert Glennon for his great cinematography.