Rua do Crime

For revenge and thrills, juvenile delinquent gang leader John Cassavetes (as Frank "Frankie" Dane) plots to kill a man. Nail-biting Sal Mineo (as Angelo "Baby" Gioia) will lure the man into an alley, open-mouthed Mark Rydell (as Lou Macklin) will hold him down, and Mr. Cassavetes will slice and dice him to death. Little brother Peter Votrian (as Richie Dane) overhears Cassavetes planning the murder, and tells concerned social worker James Whitmore (as Ben Wagner). But, try as he might, Mr. Whitmore is unable to reform Cassavetes before the scheduled stabbing.

The excellent script for "Crime in the Streets" was written by Reginald Rose, and had previously been seen as a live installment ABC-TV's "The Elgin Hour" (a dramatic anthology series). Television in the 1950s became fertile ground for great performances, and Whitmore's last attempt to reach Cassavetes, on the fire escape, is certainly high drama. The entire production is wonderfully acted; and, while Cassavetes is clearly far too old for the part, at least he gets a chance to repeat his role for film.

Mineo gives the "Hornets" some youth appeal, and shows off his ability to react to other actors. Rydell, who became quite a successful director, is interesting. The lesser roles are fine. And, seeming to come out of left field, young Votrian is startlingly good. The specially designed outdoor set gives it a surreal quality, and director Don Siegel manages it beautifully. The plot is almost Shakespearian, and with the addition of music, you could imagine a certain "West Side Story" being born...

********* Crime in the Streets (6/10/56) Don Siegel, Reginald Rose ~ John Cassavetes, James Whitmore, Sal Mineo, Peter Votrian

Working on a painfully thin budget from Allied Artists, Don Siegel managed to fashion an urban tale of violence and juvenile delinquency in Crime In The Streets. The urban sets remind me a lot of Otto Preminger's The Man With A Golden Arm which came out a year before. And the delinquents aren't romanticized as they are in West Side Story.

James Whitmore stars as a local social worker working out of a settlement house who keeps his ear to the ground for any rumblings of a rumble on the mean streets of his urban neighborhood. With two gangs, the Hornets and the Dukes, he's got his hands full.

It's the Hornets here that concern the viewer of Crime In The Streets. They have a charismatic leader in young John Cassavetes who at 27 is way too old to be playing an 18 year old, but so did most of the kids look way too old in Glenn Ford's class in The Blackboard Jungle. Cassavetes is repeating his role from this same story made as television drama two years earlier. Also repeating are Mark Rydell as one of Cassavetes lieutenants who really isn't wrapped too tight and Will Kulava as Sal Mineo's father.

When local citizen Malcolm Atterbury reports one of their peers for having a zip gun, Cassavetes sets in motion a plan to kill him. Mineo and Rydell are in on it. Whitmore gets wind of it and does what he can to stop it.

Don Siegel gets good performances out of his ensemble cast. One player I failed to mention is Virginia Gregg who may have gotten her career role as the mother of Cassavetes and Peter Votrian. Cassavetes she feels is a lost cause, she's concerned about Votrian who idolizes his brother and might get into the gang culture. Gregg is great example of one who was probably a battered wife when she had a husband living in the place and one who is too shell shocked to deal with her rebellious son.

Though it's dated Crime In The Streets is still entertaining and it's a good sociological treatise on juvenile delinquency.

"Crime In the Streets" tells the story of growing up in the slums, and what some young people will do to get out, or just to have a few kicks to help them forget their dead-end lives. This film's non-existent budget actually helps to add to the realism, with sets that are bleak and cheap-looking. Back alleys never looked so lurid and dangerous as they do in this sadly forgotten film. "Crime In the Streets" features some wonderful performances, especially Sal Mineo, who doesn't have enough scenes, but when he is on camera, the magic is there. Anyone who is familiar with Mineo's work knows what I'm talking about. The scene between Sal and his father is unforgettable. The actress who plays Frankie Dane's mother also gives an amazing, dramatic performance as the over-worked waitress, abandoned with two sons, all living in a dismal tenement apartment. John Cassevetes is waaaaay too old to play the 18 year old delinquent, though his performance is fine. It is depressing to witness how badly people treat each other in this film, and it is particularly disturbing to see Frankie abuse his little brother. He really treats this child savagely, hitting him, threatening him, and holding knives to his throat. I also should mention the fantastic jazz score featured, that compliments the dark, shadowy images and the taught drama unfolding on the screen. "Crime In the Streets" is almost impossible to find as there has never been an official video or DVD release. My copy is a bootleg DVD, and the quality is good enough. This and other early Sal Mineo films deserve to be re-discovered, but I don't imagine this one being re-issued any time soon. This is probably one of the best in the 50's 'JD' category.

It's New York City. The neighborhood has gone to hell as gangs of youths beat up on each other. Frankie Dane (John Cassavetes) leads the Hornets. Local Mr. McAllister talks to the police and gets Lenny arrested. Frankie vows revenge while social worker Ben Wagner (James Whitmore) tries to save him.

Cassavetes is in his mid 20's while playing an 18 year old. He looks too old and is already graduated to a gangster. Along with the stage set and play aesthetics, there is an artificiality to the film. Despite that, Cassavetes delivers a good energy in his character with more brutality than an afterschool special. All in all, this is interesting for Cassavetes fans.

I don't want to elaborate too much on what's already been said, but 1956's "Crime in the Streets" becomes claustrophobic very quickly because of the shabby, back-lot "New York street" that screams artificial 1930s Hollywood set a la "Dead End" and "Scarface." Since this is an Allied Artists film, I'm guessing it was shot at the old Monogram Studios on Sunset Boulevard in East Hollywood, which was shabby even in the 1930s. Perhaps Don Siegel was looking for claustrophobia and delapidation to enhance the atmosphere, but more likely they were simply a product of a low budget. (After all, Siegel had already used the real-life streets of Hollywood and the nearby town of Sierra Madre to great effect a year earlier in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers.") Though no source material is given for "Crime in the Streets" except for the original teleplay, it owes quite a lot to Hal Ellson and other social workers-turned-writers who cranked out top-selling novels in the late '40s and early '50s, such as "Duke" and "The Golden Spike," that explored the tribulations of growing up in poor, urban, ethnic American neighborhoods. Also unacknowledged is Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters' rhythm and blues hit, "Such a Night," which provided Mark Rydell's character (clearly the movie's most interesting) with the "ba-dooby-dobby-doo" riff that became a jazz motif when the boys were awaiting their big crime in the alley.