“The youth these days! When I was young it all was different!!” Is that something that really true or do you start to forget how it was as you get older? Crime in the Streets shows that even in the fifties there were issues with teenagers hanging out on the streets and causing trouble. In this movie they have formed a gang that terrorizes the neighbourhood. The gangs leader is Frankie, who won’t allow anyone to touch him and overreacts when someone does. He is so annoyed by his neighbour that he suggests killing him. The neighbourhood has a social worker who tries to talk to these kids and with the attention he’s giving them he tries to change things for them.
With this film it’s very clear that it has been shot on an indoor set. If the acting is ok and some good sound effects are used something like that really does not matter. But in this movie it was so obvious as it felt like watching a bad play. Some actors are really over-acting which really started to annoy me quickly. It also turns the characters into caricatures. There was one actor who did impress me and that was Sal Mineo, playing Angelo ‘Baby’ Gioia. He reminded me of Marlon Brando. Unfortunately he died on a relatively young age as he was stabbed just before doing a play.
It’s obvious that the screenwriters were set on delivering a message with this movie, which is that the youth can still be saved if only we talk to them and also listen to their ideas. Of course this is still relevant, but in this movie the message is so obvious which does annoy. Together with the bad set, the overacting it results in a movie which just is not very good.
Score: 5