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Charles Bronson in CRIME WAVE Year: 1953 Rating: **** |
The steady and stalwart yet vulnerable and manipulated buried lead in CRIME WAVE aka THE CITY IS DARK... overshadowed by rigid
cop Sterling Hayden, a young Charles Bronson, lead thug Ted de Corsia
and a thoroughly demented Timothy Carey... is played by Gene Nelson...
Prhaps the most incredible dancer before and after, he remains cool
and tough in his first ultra-serious role as Steve Lacey, an ex-convict
paid a surprise visit by three of his old friends...
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Phyllis Kirk, Tod de Corsia, Gene Nelson and Charles Bronson, CRIME WAVE |
You can put quotes
on that since these guys are hardly pals. They all shared a prison
stint, and the trio, after escaping, kill a cop... One gets shot and now
they need a place to hole up DESPERATE HOURS style, much to Lacey’s
even-keeled, slowburn chagrin...
He has a great job as an airplane
mechanic, and a beautiful wife in Phyllis Kirk’s Ellen, who, during the
eleventh hour, has to weather Timothy Carey going so dynamically,
eye-blinking wacko he’s well worth the wait...
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from CRIME WAVE |
Especially after all the edgy build-up where Bronson’s Ben
Hastings has his own narrowed, non-trusting, lethal eyes on a shifty
veterinarian; de Corsia’s Doc Penny stresses an upcoming (and ultimately
rushed) bank job...
And Sterling Hayden in a fitfully basic, toothpick
chomping role as Detective Lt. Sims, doing a low budget version of what
John McIntire wanted from Hayden's gang in ASPHALT JUNGLE: to bust ‘em
all…
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from CRIME WAVE |
We go from the scantly designed, noticeable anemic budgeted
police station set to the fitfully claustrophobic apartment locale, the
best scenes involve flowing exterior direction by André De Toth out on
the gritty streets, for real...
As if the City of Angels consisted only
of purgatory alleyways and dilapidated buildings: A viciously sparse
canvas that the characters exist in and can’t escape from: the good
guys, the bad guys, and like all true Noirs, those ambiguous unlucky
souls caught desperately in-between.
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Timothy Carey, Gene Nelson and Sterling Hayden in CRIME WAVE |
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Sterling Hayden in CRIME WAVE |
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CRIME WAVE is a Noir that went out of the studio and into the streets |
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Phyllis Kirk faces Sterling Hayden in CRIME WAVE |
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Gene Nelson and Sterling Hayden in CRIME WAVE |
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Gene Nelson and Ted de Corsia, CRIME WAVE |
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Timothy Carey's signature teeth-grating smile w/ Charles Bronson in CRIME WAVE |
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Gene Nelson pressured by Sterling Hayden in CRIME WAVE |
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Sterling Hayden and Gene Nelson in CRIME WAVE
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Phyllis Kirk and Timothy Carey in CRIME WAVE |
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Charles Bronson in CRIME WAVE |
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Sterling Hayden and Gene Nelson in CRIME WAVE |
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Phyllis Kirk and Timothy Carey in CRIME WAVE |
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Phyllis Kirk and Charles Bronson in CRIME WAVE |
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