Crime Wave

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Crime Wave

1954,

1h 14m,

Crime/

Drama

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Watchlist

75%

12 Reviews

Tomatometer

72%

500+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

75%

Tomatometer

12 Reviews

72%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

Former jail mates make it difficult for a paroled man, hounded by a suspicious detective, to go straight.

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New York Times

Aug 8, 2006

By shuffling some standard ingredients with quiet competence, "Crime Wave," the new Warners film on the Holiday's screen, manages to look a good deal better than it is.

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Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

May 22, 2006

B+

A neorealist noir gem.

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Eric Henderson

Slant Magazine

May 1, 2006

If the maxim "crime doesn't pay" is noir's given, then Crime Wave spins it to answer "but virtue barely scrapes up a living wage."

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Aug 30, 2026

3/4

Prime crime material.

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David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

Oct 19, 2025

3/4

...a mostly compelling endeavor that succeeds as both a police procedural and a tense film noir...

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Francois Truffaut

Cahiers du Cinéma

May 3, 2022

[Crime Wave] has the merit of showing us [an American couple] belying in one fell swoop the terrible, backbiting, imported legend according to which there is supposed to be, on the other side of the Atlantic.

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Ron G

May 24, 2018

Three criminal thugs of Gat Morgon (Ned Young), Ben Hastings (Charles Bronson) and their leader Doc Penny (Ted de Corsia) hold up a gas station. Leaving the gas attendant conscious after he was knocked out and an officer dead, during their escape. While Hastings died and was unable to succumb to his wounds, the other two criminal thugs eventually take refuge at an ex-con, Steve (Lacey Gene Nelson) along with his wife, Ellen Lacey (Phyllis Kirk) attempting to go straight to join them to a pre- plan bank job, with Det. Lt. Sims (Sterling Hayden) on their tail.

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Hagrid L

May 9, 2015

Saw this with Rich. It has its moments, but not one that I need to see twice.

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Andre de Toth

Director

Sterling Hayden

Det. Lt. Sims

Gene Nelson

Steve Lacey

Phyllis Kirk

Ellen Lacey

Ted de Corsia

`'Doc'` Penny

Charles Bronson

Ben Hastings

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Synopsis

Former jail mates make it difficult for a paroled man, hounded by a suspicious detective, to go straight.

Director: Andre de Toth
Producer: Bryan Foy
Screenwriter: Crane Wilbur
Production Co: Warner Bros.
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 21, 2016
Runtime: 1h 14m

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