Best Supporting Actor 1960: Peter Falk in Murder, Inc.

Peter Falk received his first Oscar nomination for portraying Abe "Kid Twist" Reles in Murder, Inc.

Murder, Inc. is a wildly uneven crime film, which I am not sure if it knew what type of story or film it was going for either way. It is interesting at first, but its ends up being basically nothing at the end.

Peter Falk portrays a hit man Abe Reles in this film who gains more prominence through a slick assassin organization known as Murder, Inc. Murder, Inc. is an odd film, in that early on the film it seems like Falk's Reles is going to be the lead character, and the film is going to be a interesting character study. Falk is very proper in the role. His movement and method of his performance just simply reminded me of the way a Wiseguy acts and should act.

Falk's performance is quietly intense and very effective because of that. He acts very calmly to people in a quietly charismatic way, but can quickly go from being relaxed to the person to becoming very violent, or murdering them. Falk handles Reles' method of killing very well, as he does it very casually although still with the right amount of violent intensity. Falk shows that Reles' violent nature is kept mostly controlled and organized most of the time, but he rather lets it comes out when necessary.

Reles disappears for a long time unfortunately for the film, since Reles is the only interesting character and Falk's performance is the only good performance. Falk returns though in a few scenes where he is interrogated by the police. Falk again is very good, as Reles shows off his ability to manipulate others carefully and quietly. He is especially strong when he tries to manipulate the police to give him what he wants. Later he also shows Reles' restrained fear well when faced with likely demise. This may sound disjointed but that is the nature of the film. Reles is not given enough time, but Falk still gives a strong effective performance.