Unterwelt

Original title: Murder, Inc.

19601960
Not RatedNot Rated
1h 43min

Biography Crime Drama

The rise and fall of a 1930's Brooklyn crime syndicate, known as Murder Incorporated, led by mobster Lepke Buchalter.The rise and fall of a 1930's Brooklyn crime syndicate, known as Murder Incorporated, led by mobster Lepke Buchalter.The rise and fall of a 1930's Brooklyn crime syndicate, known as Murder Incorporated, led by mobster Lepke Buchalter.

6.6/10

1.3K

Directors
- Burt Balaban
- Stuart Rosenberg
Writers
- Irve Tunick(screenplay)
- Mel Barr(screenplay)
- Burton Turkus(book "Murder, Inc.")
Stars

Top credits

See production, box office & company info

Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 2 nominations total

Videos1

Trailer 2:30

Murder, Inc.

Peter Falk, Warren Finnerty, and Stuart Whitman in Murder, Inc. (1960)

Peter Falk and Sylvia Miles in Murder, Inc. (1960)

Directors
- Burt Balaban
- Stuart Rosenberg
Writers
- Irve Tunick(screenplay)
- Mel Barr(screenplay)
- Burton Turkus(book "Murder, Inc.")
All cast & crew

See production, box office, & company info

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, Incorporated. Focusing on powerful boss Lepke and violent hitman Reles. —Ken Yousten <kyousten@bev.net>

true crime stabbing hitting a woman face slapping habeas corpus 17 more

Taglines
- The Super-Corporation of Crime!
Genres
Certificate
- Not Rated
Parents guide
- Add content advisory

Trivia
Actor, later producer/executive, Robert Evans turned down the part of Reles, because it was "not the lead role" and Peter Falk was cast instead, becoming Falk's first Oscar nominated performance.

Goofs
Several times throughout the movie, the filmmakers apparently forgot that the setting of the drama was the 1930's (and early 1940's). From haircuts and clothing styles to the 1950's era hoodlums that Simon Oakland's character tangles with Rose's place, there are countless mistakes which reveal when the film was shot (vs. when the drama was supposed to take place). Women's hairstyles and fashions are continuously and conspicuously 1960 throughout. Primary cars stay more or less within the era, with a few notable exceptions, but here are frequently more modern, post-WWII era cars in the background.

Quotes
Abe "Kid Twist" Reles: I'm gonna tell you something about women. I never met one that didn't need a rap in the head, and often.

Connections
Featured in Peter Falk versus Columbo (2019)

Soundtracks
The Awakening
Written by George David Weiss (as George Weiss)
Performed by Sarah Vaughan

Top review

Falk steals the show

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.

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