Crime Wave

Crime Wave. Sterling Hayden plays a hard-boiled cop who is sure that a parolee is not going straight after a series of hold-ups. Gene Nelson and Phyllis Kirk also star as the parolee and his wife in this 1954 drama set in the mean streets of LA. A young Charles Bronson, then acting under the name Charles Buchinsky, appears as one of the gang members. 74 minutes. CC. 

Andre de Toth directed this film in realistic fashion. Much of it was shot outdoors and it is hard to imagine the streets of mid-twentieth century LA depicted any better. He also avoided big name stars and the cast looks like ordinary Americans. Sterling Hayden played a criminal in noir classics like The Killing, and The Asphalt Jungle but here he is equally fine as a jaded police detective. Gene Nelson was a song and dance man who is best known for his appearance in the film version of Oklahoma. Phyllis Kirk had previously played only small roles in musicals and light comedies.

For a fine introduction here is a link to the intro by Eddie Muller of TCM's Noir Alley.

Phyllis Kirk and Gene Nelson

The Asphalt Jungle

The Asphalt Jungle. John Huston directed this 1950 classic heist drama that has often been copied but never equaled.  Huston humanized all the characters in this great cast. They are all flawed human beings who in one way or another elicit our sympathy. It is hard for an audience not to hope they will succeed in pulling off the heist.

 Sterling Hayden, Sam Jaffe, and Louis Calhern star as the principals in a plot to steal a fortune in jewels. The film also features Jean Hagan and Marilyn Monroe in the role that launched her into stardom. The musical score is by Miklos Rozsa. 112 minutes. CC.

 Sterling Hayden portrays one of the classic good bad guys in film history. He is a "hooligan", a menacing street tough barely eking out a living pulling off petty armed robberies, but he has a sense of honor. How can we not pull for him as mortally wounded he tries to make it back to the family horse farm?

 Sam Jaffe gives an Oscar nominated performance as a criminal mastermind with an obsession for pretty young women. Louis Calhern is somehow sympathetic playing a crooked attorney who two times his bed ridden wife for an incredibly sexy young woman played stunningly by Marilyn Monroe. 

Jean Hagan plays a down and out B-girl who remains faithful to her man right to the end. Two years later she would become immortal playing Lina Lamont, a blonde silent screen star in Singing in the Rain.

Here is a link to the movie trailer that highlights each of these characters. ###

Jean Hagan and Sterling Hayden

The Killing

The Killing: Sterling Hayden and Coleen Gray star in this 1956 heist caper directed in a revolutionary way by a young Stanley Kubrick at the outset of his famed career. Femme Fatale Marie Windsor practically steals the show along with a fine supporting cast that includes Elisha Cook Jr. and Ted DeCorsia. “The Killing” is tough, taut, tense, and one of the great heist thrillers. 84 minutes. CC. Here is a link to a fine intro to the film by TCM's Eddie Muller.

Sterling Hayden plays Johnny Clay, who has just been released from prison after serving a five year sentence for robbery. While in prison he developed a plan for a really big job that would set him up for life. His plan is to steal the daily proceeds from a race track that would amount to a couple of million. For help he turns, not to criminals, but to track employees and other ordinary men down on their luck and in need of money. The plan requires split second timing and the heist is pulled off without a hitch. But then things start to go wrong.

Stanley Kubrick regarded this low-budget film as his real starting point. From there he would go on to become one of Hollywood's most noted and respected directors. The horse racing scenes are especially dramatic, and make you wonder why anyone would want to ride a race horse.

 The musical score of the film was composed and conducted by Gerald Fried, a boyhood friend of Kubrick's from the Bronx. Fried had studied oboe at the Julliard School of Music and accepted Kubrick's invitation without any prior experience. He would go on to a multi Emmy award winning career. I met the wheelchair bound Gerald Fried a few years before his death in 2023 when I presented The Killing as part of a film series at a local Senior residence. He was in attendance and we had a nice chat afterwards where he passed on a couple of anecdotes about Kubrick and the film. 

Elisha Cook Jr. and Marie Windsor