Murder, Inc. (1960)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Directors:

Burt Balaban
Stuart Rosenberg

Writers:

Mel Barr (writer)
Sid Feder (book)

Release Date:

14 October 1960 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama | Crime

Tagline:

The Super-Corporation of Crime!

Plot:

Based on the true-life book of lawman Burton Turkus, this movie chronicles the rise and fall of the organized crime syndicate known as Murder...

Plot Keywords:

Organized Crime | Murder | Newspaper Headline | Criminal Organization | Murder For Hire

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Stuart Whitman	...	Joey Collins
May Britt	...	Eadie Collins
Henry Morgan	...	Burton Turkus
Peter Falk	...	Abe 'Kid Twist' Reles
David J. Stewart	...	Louis 'Lepke' Bucholter
Simon Oakland	...	Lt. Detective William Flaherty Tobin
Sarah Vaughan	...	Nightclub Singer
Morey Amsterdam	...	Walter Sage
Eli Mintz	...	Joe Rosen
Joseph Bernard	...	Mendy Weiss
Warren Finnerty	...	Bug Workman
Vincent Gardenia	...	Syndicate Lawyer Lazlo
Helen Waters	...	Mrs. Rose Corsi
Leon B. Stevens	...	Loughran
Howard Smith	...	Albert Anastasia (as Howard I. Smith)

Runtime:

103 min | USA:99 min (FMC Library Print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1960) | Canada:PG (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

New York, USA

Company:

Princess Production Corporation

Trivia:

Average Shot Length = ~10.5 seconds. Median Shot Length = ~10.1 seconds.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During the credits, when Abe Reles' first victim is shown lying on the stairs dead after being shot, he is clearly breathing.

Quotes:

Joey Collins: Why'd you do it? Why did you kill him?
Abe "Kid Twist" Reles: He had bad breath.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Notorious Landlady (1962)

Soundtrack:

Fan My Brow

Highlight Is The Interesting Cast Led By Falk's Fantastic Screen Debut; Nice To See This In B&W CinemaScope, Too

Those who comment that Peter Falk elevated this movie to a very interesting one are right on the money. Falk, in his first role on screen, definitely plays the most interesting character. Of course, anyone who is a deranged killer is likely to be the focus of viewers' attention. However, the actor still has to be convincing and Falk does a fine job here as "Abe Reles."

He's convincing!

What made this film fun for me was not only Falk, but seeing a few other faces I haven't seen in years, such as May Britt, Henry Morgan and Stuart Whitman. Having watched a few "Night Stalker" TV episodes, I was still very familiar with Simon Oakland. The above actors were all very good in here, as was the rest of the cast, except maybe David Stewart as head crime boss "Lepke." He was too bland for his role.

We even get a song from a young Sarah Vaughan and a comedy routine from Morey Amsterdam!

Falk is the undisputed star of the film but second-place, to me, went to Morgan, who was quietly fascinating as the cop "Turkus."

Another nice thing was the DVD which gives us the original widescreen transfer of the film. There aren't many black-and-white CinemaScope pictures available for us movie fans to see, so it was pleasure to view this.