The Bloody Brood

Just two years after their paths crossed on the set of this sleazy little exploitation quickie shot in Toronto, Peter Falk was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in 'Pocketful of Miracles' while cameraman Eugen Shufftan actually won for his work on 'The Hustler'!

In just his second feature film Falk feeds a delivery boy a hamburger laced with ground glass in a manner reminiscent of Leopold & Loeb, and was creepy enough find plenty of work for the next few years playing hoods before the role of Lt. Columbo found him a second niche as unkempt eccentrics.

As a kid I grew up watching Columbo, so seeing "The Bloody Brood" recently was an exciting experience. Falk plays Nico, a drug dealing thug, who hangs out at beatnik parties. Just like in "Rope", he talks about committing murder and getting away with it cuz he's bored with the scene, man! He feeds a hamburger laced with ground glass to kid who dies. The kid's brother starts to investigate the crime and infiltrates the beatnik scene.

The hip talk are priceless and Falk is brilliant and scary in his 2nd role - fans of Corman's horrorbeatnik epic "A Bucket Of Blood" (from the same year!) should be able to get their bongodrummin', poetryreadin' thrills! Not for squares, man!

The Bloody Brood would be a much forgotten film except for the presence of Peter Falk in his first big screen role. In his second big screen part that Abe Reles in Murder, Inc., Falk got an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. I have no doubt that his casting in The Bloody Brood led to the latter breakthrough part.

In this film Falk plays part hoodlum, part beatnik who when he sees an old man who delivered newspapers to the club he frequents die of a heart attack, he decides just for kicks to kill somebody. As has been pointed out before, echoes of Alfred Hitchcock's Rope and I also might add Compulsion which came out the same year as The Bloody Brood.

To satisfy his sick humor Falk feeds a telegraph messenger boy a hamburger with ground glass in it. The police are stymied in their investigation, but the kid's brother Jack Betts doesn't stop until he has the culprits identified and pulls a trick from the beatnik lifestyle to expose the culprits. I should also say that Falk's own greed has a lot to do with his eventual problems.

The Bloody Brood was an independent production shot in Canada and at that time Canadian production facilities weren't the greatest. Some of the noir stuff earlier in the decade had better values. Still Falk's performance is mesmerizing and gave a big clue as to what a great talent he developed into.

This movie is good. The beatnik scene, with its pseudo-intellectualism, is played to the hilt. The atmosphere brought to life via a knowledgeable use of black and white, with good sets and staging, helps a lot. Peter Falk ( and I'd never seen him play a role quit like THIS one before ) comes across as wonderful talent. Frankly, his portrayal of Nico has Oscar nominee written all over it. I've said it before and I say it here again ... Low budget doesn't mean no quality. This movie is good quality. Its a credit to the crime drama genre. And there is a sound psychology to both the plot line and the character development that I liked very much. Think: Peer pressure. The part I thought both funny and prophetic ... Heres the future Colombo with a detective on his tail. The name of the detective? McLeod.

This is pretty darn good crime-drama - Peter Falk is our beatnik psycho who deals drugs and likes to kill people. He throws neat-o parties complete with bongo drummers and dancing chicks. But his favorite thing murder - murdering in creative ways (you'll want to think twice before you eat a hamburger after seeing this film... I don't think ground glass is a good seasoning).

It's a pretty cool story, some neat cinematography in some scenes, swinging artsy fartsy beatniks, a bit of jazz music and some bongo music, a bit of a dark film overall... makes a pretty good prime time film I think or a late night flick!

7.5/10