Crimewave

A banquet of character actors

One of the things I love about watching Film Noir are the casts. There were likable leading men: Alan Ladd, John Payne, Robert Mitchum, Dana Andrews, and Edward G. Robinson. There were delightful femme fatales: Barbara Stanwyck, Lizabeth Scott, Mary Astor, Jane Greer, and Gloria Grahame.

But what I really love are the character actors, the ruthless henchmen, the psychos, the smirking goons. Raymond Burr, Lee Van Cleef, Charles McGraw, Lawrence Tierney, the ubiquitous Elisha Cook Jr., and the wonderful Dan Duryea. I will automatically watch any movie with Dan Duryea in it. Nobody else makes evil look so likable.

An average Film Noir can be elevated by a great supporting cast. Such is the case with Crimewave.

A trio of convicts break out of San Quentin and head south, committing stick ups along the way to finance their getaway. At one stop in L.A. they are in the middle of robbing a gas station when a motorcycle cop rolls up to investigate. He is gunned down by Hastings (Charles Bronson) but manages to get off a shot, wounding Gat (Nedrick Young). The gang leader, 'Doc' Penny (Ted de Corsia) sends Gat off to get medical attention and flees with Hastings.

Gat winds up at the apartment of Steve Lacey (Gene Nelson) a former inmate at San Quentin who is trying to go straight. A quack underworld doctor arrives to treat Gat, just as he expires. The doctor flees with Gat's share of the robbery money; at his wife's urging Lacey calls his parole officer to ask for help. Unfortunately, shortly afterward, the police led by Lt. Sims, arrive and take Lacey into custody because of the missing money.

Sims is played by Sterling Hayden at his toughest best. Sims is a ruthless, unforgiving cop who believes that once someone has turned to criminality, they are marked for life and unredeemable. He puts pressure on Lacey to help him set up Hastings and Doc Penny, but Lacey refuses to go along. Sims keeps him in jail for a few days, but eventually releases him. He returns home, but is soon visited by Hastings and Doc Penny. Using his wife as blackmail, Doc Penny strong arms Lacey into acting as a driver for a bank job he has planned.

The four of them, including Lacey's wife, head to a hideout where they are joined by two other crooks, Zenner and Johnny (played by crazy Timothy Carey). Lacey, Zenner, and Doc Penny head out to knock of the bank, leaving Mrs. Lacey in the care of Johnny, which is a very bad idea, since Johnny has been making lecherous remarks about Mrs. Lacey since she arrived at the hideout. Plus it's crazy Timothy Carey, so of course it doesn't take long before he's pawing her and acting crazy.

Fortunately Mrs. Lacey escapes her fate worse than death and the robbery blows up in a blaze of gunfire. Along the way, Hayden glowers and grumbles while gnawing at toothpicks.

Hayden's character in Crimewave was so indelible that master crime novelist James Ellroy based his character of Bud White in L.A. Confidential (played in the film by Russell Crowe) on Sims. I have also used Sims as a basis for the character of deranged FBI agent Carl Pinchon in my current work in progress The Laszlo Device.

Ted de Corsia was a classic movie tough guy, memorable in roles in The Lady from Shanghai, The Killing, and The Naked City and dozens and dozens of guest villain roles on television. My favorite is the crazy ex-wrestler in The Naked City who is hunted by the police in a dramatic showdown on the Williamsburg Bridge.

And of course Charles Bronson is suitably tough as the slightly dumb escapee.

If you take a few minutes to think about the plot of Crimewave, you may question how believable the course of events play out. Everybody closes in on Lacey's apartment and in very convenient order. If I knew a bunch of escaped criminals were looking for me, I might head out of town for a few days. At one point, Lt. Sims says the gang headed down to San Diego, hoping to get across the border. Then they head back to L.A? Because the only ex-con they know on the outside is Lacey?

It doesn't matter in this case because the supporting cast carries it off with such verve, along with Hayden. And I haven't even mentioned the charming Dub Taylor as the gas station attendant and the very familiar Jay Novello as the soused doctor.

I wish more movies paid more attention to their supporting characters; the extra work really pays as it does here in Crimewave.