Murder, Inc.

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.