Peter Falk is Abe Reles, a small time gangster turned notorious hitman in this fact-based crime story about the East-coast syndicate and its affiliate "Murder, Inc.", a loosely organised group of killers for hire in the early 1930's. Most of the characters are historic, and the story revolves around attempts to indict mob boss 'Lepke' Buchalter (David J. Stewart) despite disappearing witnesses and corrupt cops. Stuart Whitman plays a singer indebted to Reles who gets pressured into setting up one of the victims and May Britt his lounge act wife, both of whom end up 'knowing too much'. Falk is very good as the quick tempered, street-smart killer (similar to roles played by Joe Pesci decades later) and the rest of the cast is fine albeit in not particularly challenging roles. The films suffers a bit by resembling a late 1950's TV crime show ("Dragnet" (1951) comes to mind), partly because of the occasionally expository voice-overs, partly because of the music, which was scored by Frank DeVol, remembered for many 1960's and 1970's TV themes, and partly because of a number of anachronisms (commented on elsewhere). Despite these minor weaknesses, the film is a good, tough, crime melodrama about an interesting time in the history of organised crime.
Review of Murder, Inc.
