Supelice Dreadfully Boring

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Stephanie There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

treywillwest I love the urban-crime films of the '40s- early '60s. They're distinguishable from Noir in that while they focus on the seedy side of urban American existence, they do so without focusing on personal subjects- protagonists or anti-heroes. (The most famous example would be Dassin's Naked City.) This movie stands out within this largely forgotten Hollywood genre. It does not even have a collective protagonist, like most such films, such as a police force. Indeed, the only action that brings any emotional catharsis occurs off-screen, and one cannot conclusively identify its perpetrator. Society is just violent, and sometimes we identify and approve of some of its brutalities more than others.

JohnHowardReid Film editor Ralph Rosenblum is obviously a disciple of Sergei Eisenstein. Certainly, Eisenstein's method of montage is very appropriately applied here – as is Gayne Rescher's bleak black-and-white CinemaScope photography. This documentary was actually based on the autobiography by Burton Turkus (played by Henry Morgan in the movie). Alas, the direction by Burt Balaban and Stuart Rosenberg is often over-reverential towards its original material. In fact, the movie is so weighed down with talk that the pace often slows to the speed of a snail. Fortunately, some persuasive acting is contributed by David J. Stewart and his glum henchman, Joseph Bernard. I also enjoyed Morey Amsterdam's bit. The film also supposedly "introduces" Sarah Vaughan who actually made her movie debut back in 1951 in "Disc Jockey". She sings a couple of songs. One actor we could do without, however, is Stuart Whitman whose performance is not only unconvincing but painfully tedious. May Britt's acting also disappoints, but at least she is easy on the eyes! As for Frank DeVol's music score this also is well below his usual high standard.

dougdoepke Real life New York gangsters who specialize in murder are portrayed here, even as the DA and his minions try to get the goods on them.Solid gangster film, thanks mainly to Falk's breakthrough performance. Hollywood of the late 50's and early 60's was enamored with movies and TV based on real life bad guys, as they are here. I expect the big success of The Untouchables (1959-1963) and Capone (1959) contributed greatly to the trend. Anyhow, it's a mostly no-name cast, giving things a less Hollywood look. Plus the photography is about as dour as visuals get. But then things shouldn't be prettified, given the grim subject matter. Okay, that's true except for the blonde knockout May Britt, who never quite made a movie career, but sure looks good here (mostly).Oddly, there's no noisy shooting with machine guns splattering windows as was common for big time crime films. Instead, guys get dispatched quickly and efficiently, befitting a corporate approach to murder by contract. Note that no one in the film is particularly likable. We may sympathize with Joey and Eadie (Whitman&Britt), but that's about it. Falk as professional killer Abe Reles is scary and convincing as all-get-out. Besides, his short, chunky frame looks nothing like Hollywood. Over the years, there's been a lot of speculation about Reles flying out of an upper story hotel after turning songbird for the cops. Whether, a cop on mob payroll did it or not, it's pretty clear somebody on the force was in on it, considering how heavily Reles was guarded. Anyhow, it's a solid tough guy movie, with a performance by Falk that brought him to the attention of all Hollywood.

ccthemovieman-1 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.