Crime, société anonyme

Peter Falk's almost scarily authentic performance as Reles steals this otherwise mediocre account of the real-life Murder Inc., which made latter-day gangsters like the characters in Goodfellas seem like choir boys in comparison. Though allegedly based on the Turkus-Feder book, most of this is complete fantasy. The central "love story," the Whitman and Britt characters, is utterly ridiculous as well as completely fictitious. The portrayals of Lepke and Mendy Weiss are interesting; the fatso playing Albert Anastasia is completely mischast.

The scene at the end is a copout, evidently for fear of offending the NYPD.

The real story of Murder Inc. would be a fascinating movie, instead of this drivel. Even so, this is worth watching because of Falk.

How much truth there is in this "true story" with "real people" is a question best left to historians of organized crime. The subplot of Stuart Whitman ("Joey") and May Britt ("Eadie") as a loving couple caught up in nasty doings certainly seems like the stuff of fiction. In any case, this is a low-budget "B" picture with limited resources for portraying the 1930s setting and documenting the historical events with authentic detail.

The one extraordinary element in the movie is the performance by Peter Falk as a contract killer. He is not only completely believable in the role but downright original, giving us a character who is merciless and vicious yet quick to take offense if anyone finds this objectionable. He can sound plaintively sincere even as we quickly come to see that he is incapable of sincerity. He has a host of minor quirks and tics that are fun to watch.

Face it, evil can be fascinating and even attractive, in a disturbing way. Another example in this movie is the portrayal of crime kingpin Louis "Lepke" Bucholter by David J. Stewart. While certainly not achieving the high level of Falk's performance, Stewart shows real style as the milk-drinking mobster.

There is one other bonus in this film: Sarah Vaughan, looking young and pretty, sings a nice song with that inimitable voice.

Crime czar uses contract killers to take out those who would undermine his organization. The unfeeling crime boss, Lemke, who constantly complained about his stomach problems, and his blindly loyal enforcer, Mendy, were frightening in their deadly lust for power. Peter Falk's portrayal of the psychotic Reles was chilling with his murderous, take what you can attitude. This was a gritty look at the New York underworld during the depression. The ending was a tad abrupt, but overall this was a pretty good film.

During the very late 50s and early 60s, Hollywood made a bunch of real life crime biographies. I am pretty sure this was due to the success of "The Untouchables" on television and, like "The Untouchables", these movies kind of stuck to the facts....sometimes. Well, at least the names were right. But they were very entertaining.

The movie is about a group dubbed 'Murder Inc.". It was a clever creation of the mob...a contract killing organization that could not be connected easily to any of the murders since they simply were doing it for the cash. The film is about some of their activities but is mostly concerned with the government's efforts to prosecute them.

Although this story gives Stuart Whitman and Mai Britt top billing, their parts are really underdeveloped and you never get to know who these people were--especially Whitman's character, Joey Collins. There really is no star in this film...but a few of the hoods come off much better. Folks loved Peter Falk as Abe Reles, one of the most feared hitmen of all time....and he received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for this. David Stewart was also excellent as the gang leader, Lepke.

A few times during the film, the filmmakers pulled their punches--especially concerning Reles. Although it did show him making a few hits using an ice pick, apparently this monster was known for stabbing his victims in the brain with the ice pick. Nice guy, huh?! This didn't bother me too much, as it was perhaps too ghoulish for 1960 audiences. What bothered me more was how the hairstyles (particularly Mai Britt's) were purely 1960...not late 1930s like they should have been.

So is it any good? Yes...it's very watchable but also a tad superficial and I felt after seeing it that there was so much more to the story...which there was. Worth your time...not great but quite good.

While Murder, Inc. mainly revolves around the capture of gangster Lepke, the most compelling character is hit man Abe Reles, excellently played by Peter Falk in one of his earliest movie roles. He got an Oscar nomination as a result. Those who know him mostly as the calm Lt. Columbo will be very surprised by the intense rage Mr. Falk puts in his performance especially during his "take" speech he gives to a married couple who have no choice but to accept his offer of an apartment he gives them. Also noteworthy are Vincent Gardenia as his lawyer (loved his "I'd rather you were dead" aside before Reles-having overheard him-asked, "What did you mean by that?" "It was just a figure of speech,"comes the reply), May Britt as wife in aforementioned couple, Sarah Vaughan as a nightclub singer (in a musical interlude), and Morey Amsterdam as a comic who meets a tragic end in the beginning. Based on a true story but with, as always, some dramatization involved. One of the two directors was Stuart "Cool Hand Luke" Rosenberg. Well worth seeing for gangster movie fans.