Murder, Inc ***½ (1960, Stuart Whitman, May Britt, Henry Morgan, Peter Falk, David J Stewart) – Classic Movie Review 12,534

The 1960 factual gangster film Murder, Inc stars Stuart Whitman, May Britt and Peter Falk, who was Oscar nominated as vicious killer Abe Reles, hitman leader of the real-life Murder, Inc gang. 

Directors Burt Balaban and Stuart Rosenberg’s 1960 Cinemascope black and white American factual gangster film Murder, Inc stars Stuart Whitman, May Britt, Henry Morgan, David J Stewart, and Simon Oakland. Peter Falk was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as vicious killer Abe Reles, key head hitman of the Murder, Inc gang, It was his first major film role and he credited it for launching his career.

Falk was nominated but alas he didn’t win at the Oscar awards ceremony. He recalled: ‘Now we’re in our seats. It’s my category and I heard a voice say “And the winner is Peter…” I’m rising out of my seat “…Ustinov”. I’m heading back down. When I hit the seat, I turn to the press agent: “You’re fired.” I didn’t want him charging me for another day.’

Also co-starring are a very lively bunch of David J Stewart, Morey Amsterdam, Vincent Gardenia, Seymour Cassell, Sarah Vaughan (who sings a number), Joseph Campanella, Joseph Bernard, and Sylvia Miles. It is a key cast of the era. The screenplay by Mel Barr and Irve Tunick is based on New York district attorney Burton Turkus’s book telling the true story of Murder, Inc, a Brooklyn gang operating in the 1930s.

Whitman stars as singer Joey Collins, who is dragged into a 1930s Brooklyn crime ring when he borrows money from killer Abe ‘Kid Twist’ Reles (Falk), a vicious thug who led the Murder, Inc murder gang as payroll contract killer, and committed 30 unprosecuted murders. Joey Collins can’t pay back the money he owes, and, to wipe out the debt, Reles gets him to lead him to his next kill, Catskills comic Walter Sage (Morey Amsterdam).

May Britt plays Whitman’s dancer girlfriend Eadie Collins; David J Stewart is Falk’s neurotic boss, the notorious syndicate head Louis ‘Lepke’ Buchalter; Joseph Bernard is his canny goon Mendy Weiss; Simon Oakland is the dogged police detective lieutenant William Flaherty Tobin, and Henry Morgan as the crusading New York district attorney Burton Turkus.

Murder, Inc is an involving, credibly portrayed real-life crime drama, and the big pluses are Falk’s genuinely creepy performance in his nasty character, David J Stewart as crime boss Lepke, the rest of that stalwart cast, Frank De Vol’s stylistic score, Gayne Rescher lively and inventive black and white Cinemascope cinematography, and the New York settings. Inevitably, Whitman and Britt are the weakest links, because their roles are the least interesting, and also because the quality of the support acting is so high. The film has an excellent low-budget B-movie feel, triumphing over its limited resources, actually make a virtue of them.

Also in the cast are Eli Mintz, Warren Finnerty, Helen Waters, Leon B Stevens, Howard I Smith, Josip Elic, and Lou Polan.

It runs 103 minutes.

Murder, Inc. is based on a 1951 book by former New York district attorney Burton Turkus and Sid Feder. The book was optioned by Princess Pictures, the production company of Burt Balaban, the son of Paramount executive Barney Balaban. Princess Pictures made the film in association with Robert L. Lippert’s Associate Productions and with 20th Century Fox, who released it on June 28, 1960.

Shooting started on 15 February 1960 at Filmways Studio and location at Manhattan and Brooklyn. On 27 February 1960, Balaban took over as director from Rosenberg, and Gayne Rescher replaced Joseph Brun as cinematographer. The cast is largely from off-Broadway theatre.

It launched Stuart Whitman as a star, and is the first film directed by Rosenberg, who made the Paul Newman movies Cool Hand Luke (1967), WUSA (1970), Pocket Money (1972) and The Drowning Pool (1975). It marks the screen debuts of Sylvia Miles and Sarah Vaughan, while Seymour Cassel is an unbilled extra.

Murder, Inc (1960) is factually based but it is preceded by the fictional film The Enforcer (1951) with Humphrey Bogart, released in the UK as Murder, Inc. Bogart plays a Turkus-style crusading district attorney, Everett Sloane plays a Lepke-type character and Ted De Corsia plays a Reles-type character.

Falk said production was accelerated because of an impending actor’s strike. Rosenberg was fired and replaced by Balaban, who had no experience as a director. Falk said Balaban ‘stayed out of the way’ while the cast and crew got on with it. Filming was set for 20 days, but because of the strike, they decided to film in nine days, extending shooting days from 9 am to 11 pm, working at the weekend, and rearranging the schedule.

Production took place up to the last moments before the actor’s strike. The last scene shot was the murder of Catskills comic Walter Sage (Morey Amsterdam) by Abe Reles, implicating Joey Collins, filmed minutes before the strike started at midnight. They may have been working against the odds, and there are a lot of rough edges, but they have come up with something real good here.

Stuart Rosenberg was signed to make his feature debut as director after directing on Alfred Hitchcock Presents. After his last film My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys (1991) in 1992, Rosenberg became a teacher at the American Film Institute. He also directed Voyage of the Damned (1976), The Amityville Horror (1979), and The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984).

More on Alfred Hitchcock Presents… David J Stewart plays a magician (played by Stewart) whose act includes sawing his wife in half  in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, which was judged too gruesome by sponsor Revlon and NBC Television, which cancelled their network broadcast. But it was later syndicated to local stations and is in the public domain.

Robert Evans regretted turning down the role of Reles, because it was ‘not the lead role’, after Peter Falk was Oscar nominated. Falk was also Oscar nominated in 1962 as Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Pocketful of Miracles.

David J Stewart (January 8, 1915 – December 23, 1966) plays Louis ‘Lepke’ Buchalter, the real-life crime boss whose activities are central to Murder, Inc. (1960).

The cast are Stuart Whitman as Joey Collins, May Britt as Eadie Collins, Henry Morgan as Burton Turkus, Peter Falk as Abe ‘Kid Twist’ Reles, David J Stewart as Louis ‘Lepke’ Buchalter, Simon Oakland as Lieutenant Detective William Flaherty Tobin, Sarah Vaughan as nightclub singer, Morey Amsterdam as Walter Sage, Eli Mintz as Joe Rosen, Joseph Bernard as Mendy Weiss, Warren Finnerty as Bug Workman, Vincent Gardenia as Lazlo, Helen Waters as Mrs Rose Corsi, Leon B Stevens as Loughran, and Howard I Smith as Albert Anastasia, Josip Elic, and Lou Polan.

Peter Falk (September 16, 1927 – June 23, 2011).

Stuart Whitman (February 1, 1928 – March 16, 2020).

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,534

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com