James Whitmore

Sal Mineo

John Cassavetes

Mark Rydell

Virginia Gregg

Peter J. Votrian

Will Kuluva

Malcolm Atterbury

Denise Alexander

Dan Terranova

Steve Rowland

Duke Mitchell

Peter Miller

Reginald Rose

Sam Leavitt

Don Siegel

Vincent M. Fennelly

Franz Waxman

Richard C. Meyer

Serge Krizman

Victor A. Gangelin

Walter Mirisch

Crime

Drama

Thriller

Crime in the Streets

Lindbrook Productions

Allied Artists Pictures

United States of America

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

English

Sal Mineo - Crime in the Streets