The driver is a frightened teenage girl who calls the police, and Sherill spends an uncomfortable night in jail before Koleski has him released.

[3] Film rights were purchased by producer Charles Schnee, who had just left MGM and signed a deal with Columbia Pictures.

[6] Production plans were delayed when Schnee announced his departure from Columbia, frustrated with the studio's inability to advance any of his films to the development stage because of "almost insurmountable casting difficulties.

He said: "The story concerned a teen-age gang from Los Angeles' east side, but I suggested locale be switched to the swank purlieu of Bel-Air.

"[10] Ladd also asked for the number of gang members to be increased from three to six, saying: "You can't have a hero fighting just three kids.

[12] In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Howard Thompson wrote: "The first half of '13 West Street' is pretty darn good.

It maintains a man shouldn't take the law into his own hands and then whips up a hot melodramatic lather to prove it.

"[13] Reviewer Cyrus Durgin of The Boston Globe wrote: "This sort of story perhaps can be told better in the larger form of the novel, but screenwriters Schoenfeld and Presnell, and director Leacock have done a respectable job with it.