Crime in the Streets

A neighbourhood social worker tries to get close to a gang hanging around the street. The young man leading it trusts nobody and decides to settle the score for an insult made to him. His plan is serious, while the boys around him do not entirely understand what they are getting into. The social worker is trying to stop the ones planning it and the ones who have no idea alike. Don Siegel adapted the film from Reginald Rose's television play and shot it on a street set, almost in a single location. Juvenile crime here is presented neither as a police matter nor as a moral lesson; the violence and neglect at home are shown plainly. John Cassavetes plays the gang leader, with Sal Mineo and Mark Rydell as the boys around him. James Whitmore plays the social worker.