Murder, Inc. (1960) on Netflix
Louis "Lepke" Buchalter hires killers Abe Reles and Bug Workman to kill a Catskills resort owner. Reles coerces Joey Collins, a singer who owes him, to draw the man out.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb6.6/101,895 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
Abe Reles and Bug Workman, killers from Brownsville in Brooklyn, travel to the Garment District to see Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, who runs the syndicate known as Murder, Inc. and offers them work as hit men. Their first assignment is Walter Sage, a Catskills resort owner who withheld slot machine profits from the organization, and Lepke names his assistant, Mendy Weiss, as Reles' contact. Reles turns to Joey Collins, a struggling singer and friend of Sage who owes him money, and with veiled threats takes Joey along to the Catskills so that Joey will draw Sage out. Back in the city, Reles threatens to kill Joey and his dancer wife Eadie if they tell anyone, and Eadie throws him out.
Cast
Show all 15 cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Murder, Inc. (1960)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Robert Evans was offered the part of Abe Reles but refused to play a non-lead and was put on suspension; the role went instead to Peter Falk, who was nominated for an Academy Award for it.
- With the shoot rushed to beat an actors' strike, Stuart Rosenberg was fired as director of Murder, Inc. and replaced by Burt Balaban, who had no directorial experience.
- The film's last scene, the murder of Walter Sage (Morey Amsterdam), is set in the Catskill Mountains but was shot on 126th Street in Harlem minutes before the actors' strike began at midnight.
- Murder, Inc. was scheduled for 20 days of filming but was shot in nine, with shooting days extended from 9 am to 11 pm, weekend work and a rearranged schedule.
- Peter Falk's Oscar campaign ended in defeat by Peter Ustinov, and he fired the press agent seated beside him at the ceremony, not wanting to be charged for another day.
- Falk played Abe Reles, the real leader of the Murder, Inc. gang, who was believed to have committed 30 murders for which he was never prosecuted.
- Falk said Murder, Inc. made his career, and that without being cast as Reles he would not have been cast in A Pocketful of Miracles (1961) or Robin and the Seven Hoods (1964).
- Falk chose his own wardrobe by scouring second-hand clothing stores for the right coat and hat, and patterned his performance on would-be gangsters he knew at a pool hall called McGuire's.
