An ex con tries to go straight, but some other hoodlums won't let him.This movie has more message than story. Sterling Hayden steals most of the screen time as the usual tough cop, enhanced by his famous gigantic frame.His attitude is very modern. His detective character seems to think he is front of a camera all the time. Or it could be he is always on his toes, on the job, never giving an inch.His intuition is understandable, as he figures out what is going on, and that the ex con and his beautiful newlywed wife are unwilling participants in a scheme.The best message here is something that people knew in this era, then forgot, and now remember again.Crooks are stupid. The "mastermind" keeps boasting how smart he is, and his cronies agree, but they are just as stupid and backward thinking as the saner characters say they are.The public used to know this. The Godfather series, which is basically again a thug talking about how smart his fellow thugs are, changed that. The Godfather debacle gave the ignorant masses the delusion they love, "organized" crime. It's always been disorganized, even when thugs sit in rooms and have meetings.The Mafias of the world need the Godfather to buffalo the ignorant masses.This movie tells it more like it is. Simpletons who think they're supermen.It would score higher with better acting. Even Bronson looks like an actor playing a role here. It doesn't have a natural look, but the message is better than the way the story is told.

Dancing movie star tried something different in this 1954 film. As Steve Lacey, married to Phyllis Kirk, he is an ex-convict going straight and living a decent life with a good job. All this changes when his former gang pulls a robbery where a police officer is killed, and the wounded bandit comes to Lacey's home before expiring.Lacey becomes implicated and despite the protestations of a very sympathetic parole officer, he is dodged constantly by officer Sterling Hayden, who is as tough as nails and will never forgive or forget Lacey regarding his past.We have the general hostage situation involving Kirk, when Lacey is forced to drive the get-away car in another bank heist.Notice a very young Charles Bronson, as a violent gang member.The story just shows you how hard it can be for a convict trying to live an honest existence. It's as if he is also being pursued by a Jean Valjean character of "Les Miserables."Hayden shows that he finally has heart by the film's end; so does this film.

"Crime Wave" is a very good example of a forgotten film noir picture that deserves to be seen. Its strengths are its directness--it is compactly told, brutally violent and lacking in the glamor and glitz you find in some of the 'pretty' examples of noir. Heck, to me noir pictures should NOT be pretty--they need ugly actors, dark camera work and relatively modest production values--not the flashy Hollywood type of actors or sets. In this sense, the film is quite a success--with the most notable actor being the rugged but far from pretty Sterling Hayden (a veteran of noir) and the rather obscure Gene Nelson.The story itself is pretty simple. A gang of vicious robbers commit a strong-arm robbery and kill a cop. One of the gang is mortally wounded in the robbery but manages to make it to the home of an ex-con who lives nearby. The con has gone straight and wants nothing to do with crime--he's happily married and has a decent job. But, when the other two gang members later show up as well and demand he become the new third member of the gang or they'll kill his wife, he's stuck. Should he help them or go to the cops? As for Hayden, he plays an amazingly cynical cop who's tough to like. He is in many ways a jerk--and a lot less likable than the ex-con. I like that juxtaposition and the film is exciting throughout--making it well worth your time.By the way, while not long enough, there's a nice making of DVD extra included with this film as well as the movie "Decoy" on the same disk.

Sterling Hayden, Gene Nelson, Phyllis Kirk and Charles Buchinsky (Bronson) stars in this relatively forgotten but excellent film that centers on the life of an ex-con (Nelson) who's trying to go straight after mixing with the wrong crowd. Some of his ex-friends are creating a crime wave of robberies and need someplace to hide out. And, when they find him, he tries to tell them to get out. The movie is very adult and in your face with its no-holds-barred attitude and makes the viewer feel as if it could be happening today.Sterling Hayden is absolutely great and thoroughly convincing as a cop, who's gotten burnt out and treats all cons as scum and believes once a thief.... And, Gene Nelson is good too, who incidentally looks great here. I had never really noticed him much in "Oklahoma," but here, wow! And, there is a neat little twist to it at the very end, that you don't see coming. If you're a lover of film noir, then buy this on DVD today in a classic film noir set #4 and watch the whole set and start your own wave.