Crime in the Streets

6/10/19561h 31m

Theatrical Release (US)

~ How can you tell them to be good when their girl friends like them better when they're bad!... ~

Overview:

A social worker tries to end juvenile crime by getting involved with a street gang.

Director:

Don Siegel

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$0.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Key words:

street gang
juvenile delinquent

Cast

James Whitmore

~ as ~

Ben Wagner

Sal Mineo

~ as ~

Angelo 'Baby' Gioia

John Cassavetes

~ as ~

Frankie Dane

Mark Rydell

~ as ~

Lou Macklin

Virginia Gregg

~ as ~

Mrs. Dane

Peter J. Votrian

~ as ~

Richie Dane (as Peter Votrian)

Will Kuluva

~ as ~

Mr. Gioia

Malcolm Atterbury

~ as ~

Mr. McAllister

Denise Alexander

~ as ~

Maria Gioia

Dan Terranova

~ as ~

Blockbuster

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

John Chard
Written 5 year(s) ago
6
Sucking around is my job.

Crime in the Streets is directed by Don Siegel and written by Reginald Rose. It stars John Cassavetes, James Whitmore, Sal Mineo, Mark Rydell, Virginia Gregg, Peter J. Votrian, Will Kuluva and Malcolm Atterbury. Music is scored by Franz Waxman and cinematography by Sam Leavitt.

Social worker Ben Wagner (Whitmore) tries to help local slum gang, The Hornets, especially their troubled leader Frankie Dane (Cassavetes).

When your body hits that sidewalk nobody will even turn around to look at yah.

Decent "juve delinquent" lecture movie, Crime in the Streets boasts some mightily impressive performances and closes on a (expected) piece of dramatic worth, but the screenplay is staid and pic is claustrophobic for all the wrong reasons. There's a cramped cheapness to the production that doesn't suit the narrative and you can feel Siegel straining with every sinew to light a tinderbox with a damp match.

However, Cassavetes' intense firecracker performance is worth the time of any classic era film fan, and with Whitmore doing good and controlled earnest and Gregg (sadly underused) tugging away at the maternal heart strings, it still comes out in credit. There's a bonus, too, in the form of Waxman's blending of stabby jazz shards with momentum building percussion, it's quality, even if ultimately it deserves a better movie. 6/10