Now HERE'S a film that should be taught in film classes to audiences of wide-eyed young film-makers. Crime Wave is a marvelous film and an exercise of cinematic simplicity. Notice, I didn't use the word minimalism. The two words are not the same. Crime Wave, clocking in at only 73 minutes, is one of the leanest and tightest crime films that I have ever witnessed. Not a line nor a shot is wasted as director André De Toth dives into this dark world of crime. Steve Lacey is a reformed ex-con who wants nothing more than to live out the rest of his days quietly with his wife. However, a bunch of his old "associates" force him back into the life after one of them is mortally wounded in a gas station stick-up and comes to his home for medical aid. After he dies, Lacey calls his parole officer who notifies the police. The police are determined to somehow pin the murder, and the robbery, on Lacey. "Once a crook, always a crook," is their logic. But Lacey's parole officer manages to get him released after he is wrongfully arrested. However, things are even further complicated when two other crooks force him at gunpoint to participate in a bank robbery. If he doesn't comply, they will kill his wife. Crime Wave's plot is hard to summarize because it contains so little fluff. Indeed, the only way to really discuss the film is to give a play-by-play of the entire thing. I have tried to give the shortest description of the plot here. And still, I feel like I've only described a fraction of the story. Crime Wave is both a nail-biting thriller and a devastating film noir that proves that sometimes life just won't let you walk away from your past.
9/10
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