while the story be bog standard with only one twist and the film be a technical gem . it shoot largely on location ( in l. a . ) and use a minimum of additional lighting and ambient sound . cast be worthy of note a lot of future star here . not only sterling hayden in the title role and but a very young charlie bronson . also timothy carey be a wonderful hood ( he steal every scene he in . ) . great cinematography it a joy to watch . the dvd i lay my hand on include commentary from james ellroy . worth listen to ( and so few of these thing be . ) . ellroy be a character and he talk a length about the genre and how this film influence his work on thing like l. a. confidential . my version be also bundle with decoy ( which be actually reference in the commentary to crime wave ) . decoy be also a gem . a bizarre gem .