Crime Wave (1954 film)

Crime Wave (also known as The City is Dark) is a 1954 film noir, directed by André De Toth. It was adapted from a short story which originally appeared in The Saturday Evening Post - Criminal Mark by John and Ward Hawkins.

Plot

'Doc' Penny (Ted de Corsia) and his gang rob a gasoline station and in the process a police officer is killed and one of the gang members is wounded. The wounded thug imposes himself on Steve Lacey (Gene Nelson), an ex-con trying to start a new life, and demands he call a disreputable doctor for help. The doctor arrives, but too late. The gang member is dead. After his death, Lacey calls his parole officer who involves a hard-nosed cop, Detective Lieutenant Sims (Sterling Hayden), who doesn't think he can reform.

Later, the remaining gang members show up at Lacey's apartment. Fearing for his wife's (Phyllis Kirk) safety, he decides to let the men stay. Subsequently, Penny forces Lacey to rob a bank with them, but Lacey alerts the police (by planting a note in his medicine cabinet) who staff the entire bank with police officers and ambush the robbers. In the end, most of the gang is killed, but Lacey and his wife are safe.

Main cast

• Sterling Hayden as Detective Lieutenant Sims
• Gene Nelson as Steve Lacey
• Phyllis Kirk as Ellen Lacey
• Ted de Corsia as 'Doc' Penny
• Charles Bronson as Ben Hastings (credited as Charles Buchinsky onscreen)
• Timothy Carey as Johnny Haslett

Production notes

• Much of the film was shot on location in Los Angeles and in......
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