If tvnow is correct, and I sure hope they are!! Peter's Murder Inc. movie will be airing on AMC on this Friday at 2:30am..I guess that means I set my vcr on Thursday night.
As you all well know, this was Peter's first Oscar nominated performance, followed up by his next movie, A Pocketful of Miracles, another Oscar nominated performance.
I remember Murder Inc. from when I was a young girl, and I haven't seen it since....but it made such an impression on me at the time...and it is when I fell in love with Peter.....If you only knew how happy I am that I am going to get to see it again!!!

Despite the acclaim and the Oscar nomination, surprisingly this movie has been out of print for a long time (or at least it was, the last I checked), tapes available only occasionally on Ebay.

So, like Cassa says, take advantage of this broadcast. The movie holds up well, and it's a great example of Peter's early....uh, intense, mad-dog style of acting. Lots of fun.

Well..I taped it and I watched it and all I can say is WOW!! I hope some of you got to tape it too. It was even better than I had remembered. Peter was just fantastic in it. Brutally intense, manic, an absolute mad man!! When he 'stuck it' to a few guys with his handy ice pick...wow...vicious!!!
He played Abe "Kid Twist" Reles...supposedly he was in the habit of carrying around chocolate twist candies.
It has a great cast including Stuart Whitman, Simon Oakland, Henry Morgan, Vincent Gardenia, May Britt and smaller roles by Morey Amsterdam, Sylvia Miles, and the great Sarah Vaughn as the nightclub singer. And also uncredited roles by Joseph Campanella and the wonderful Seymour Cassel.
But Peter stood out from each and every one of them...he was electric!! There is one scene in which he really goes ballistic...it is riveting...he's talking about greed...and his body is a bit contorted and he is talking about 'taking' and that you should just TAKE TAKE! TAKE EVERYTHING!! That is why we have hands.....well, I'm am doing a lousy job of explaining the scene, but believe me it was fantastic.
I will leave you with one quote of his from the movie....It cracked me up!!!
"I'll tell you something about women...I never met one who didn't need a rap in the head!..and pretty often!"

I would like to see Peter Falk as Columbo take on Peter Falk as Kid Twist. I sometimes think that the Lt. Columbo of Prescription Murder was Kid Twist's little brother that didn't become a crook.

2 very cool ideas TFL! Obivously you have seen it....wasn't he great in it??

He was VERY scary as Kid Twist. Hard to believe it's the same actor who was so funny in The In-Laws and so brilliant as Columbo.

Isn't it amazing? He was so menacing as Abe Reles...it was unbelievable........he was such a , ok i am going to curse...a b*****d!!! he really was...but what a freakin performance?!?!!?
as i have said, i saw this movie on tv in the middle 60's, when i was just a little girl, and peter's performance in it just hit me so much.....here i was a little guinea girl...and he was playing a jewish mobster...and i could relate!!! and darnit!!he was so cute!
And as far as The In-Laws goes.....it is the bestest comedy out there..that was so terrifically funny...my husband even broke down and got the dvd!!! Serrpentine.....and Tse-Tse-flies!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so.........here it is, 2 years later and i'm still talking about this movie.

but i noticed something the other night when i was watching Godfather 3, and i just need to share it.......if only to mrs.peck.

in Godfather 3 there is a scene where joe mantegna's character gives a bit of a soliloquy about the topic of greed and "TAKING".........
he says......

"...i asked for little. GOOD! you will not GIVE!! i'll TAKE!!"

and in the infamous & insane scene of peter's in murder inc. his lines were...

"TAKE!! ya see what you can get your hands on ...ya TAKE!! don't ask questions....TAKE!!! what you want..TAKE!! what i want...I TAKE!!"

(that scene of peter's as "abe 'kid twist' reles" still floors me!)

anyway.......there are too many similarities between the 2 scenes to make it just a coincidence.

there is joe in GF3 standing there as if on a stage, just as peter looked in murder inc.
there are the stresses on the word "TAKE" that are so remarkably the same from both actors.
and then there are the hand gestures. my oh my! joe mantegna must have been told by coppola to study peter's performance in murder inc. because they are almost exactly the same.

if you can, watch these 2 movies, or especially these 2 scenes. i am beyond certain that the godfather3 performance was a 'homage' to peter's portrayal in murder inc.
and it was well-deserved.