Directed by:
Joseph H. LewisScreenplay:
Sydney BoehmCinematography:
Burnett GuffeyComposer:
George DuningCast:
Glenn Ford, Nina Foch, James Whitmore, Barry Kelley, David Wolfe, John F. Hamilton, Howard St. John, Leo Penn, Esther Minciotti, Edwin Max, Joe Mantell (more)Plots(1)
Eliot Ness may have gotten lots of publicity (especially long after the fact) for breaking the Capone mob, but as Joseph H. Lewis' The Undercover Man reminds us, it was the accountants and the numbers-crunchers that brought down Capone and his mob. Frank Warren (Glenn Ford) started out as an accountant, but now serves as an investigator for the Treasury Department. His job has frequently required him to go undercover, masquerading as a criminal to get the goods on the top-level tax-law violators that his unit targets. But now his assignment is to gather evidence on the operations of the nation's number-one crime boss and get proof of the income that he and his lieutenants are not declaring, and this proves not only frustrating but dangerous. Potential stoolies are murdered and witnesses intimidated, and when one otherwise "respectable" lawyer (Barry Kelley) starts mentioning Warren's wife (Nina Foch) in casual conversation, he takes the hint. He's ready to quit until the mother (Esther Minciotti) of a witness-turned-victim tells him about what life was like in Italy under the Black Hand, and why she came to America to raise her sons. Warren and his men (James Whitmore, David Wolfe) make one last attempt to get the proof they need, tracing signatures and handwriting to get evidence implicating a small man in the operation, using it to turn him and going for bigger fish. Finally, even the shyster lawyer who has been dogging Warren every step of the way ends up in the sights of the feds, and the mob turns its attention to getting rid of this new "liability" and taking care of Warren as well. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Glenn Ford
Canada
Best movies:
The Sacketts (1979) (TV movie)
Gilda (1946)
Texas (1941)
Nina Foch
Netherlands
Best movies:
Prescription: Murder (1968) (TV movie)
Spartacus (1960)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
James Whitmore
USA
Best movies:
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)
Barry Kelley
USA
Best movies:
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Carrie (1952)
Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964)
David Wolfe
USA
Best movies:
Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)
5 Fingers (1952)
House of Strangers (1949)
John F. Hamilton
USA
Best movies:
On the Waterfront (1954)
Allegheny Uprising (1939)
Howard St. John
USA
Best movies:
One, Two, Three (1961)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
Lover Come Back (1961)
Leo Penn
USA
Best movies:
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
The Wild Life (1984)
Esther Minciotti
Italy
Best movies:
The Wrong Man (1956)
Marty (1955)
House of Strangers (1949)
Edwin Max
USA
Best movies:
The Magnificent Seven (1960)
Come Back, Little Sheba (1952)
Stairway to Heaven (1946)
Joe Mantell
USA
John Ireland
Canada
Best movies:
Spartacus (1960)
Wild in the Country (1961)
Red River (1948)
Kay Medford
USA
Best movies:
Random Harvest (1942)
Funny Girl (1968)
A Face in the Crowd (1957)
Patricia Barry
USA
Best movies:
Columbo (1971) (series)
Sea of Love (1989)
The Beast with Five Fingers (1946)
Peter Brocco
USA
Best movies:
One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Papillon (1973)
The Name of the Game (1968) (series)
Bert Stevens
USA
Best movies:
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Frank Mayo
USA
Best movies:
Easter Parade (1948)
Action in the North Atlantic (1943)
Gilda (1946)
Arthur Tovey
USA
Best movies:
The Sting (1973)
Back to the Future (1985)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Silvio Minciotti
Italy
Best movies:
The Wrong Man (1956)
Marty (1955)
Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
Robert Osterloh
USA
Best movies:
Inherit the Wind (1960)
White Heat (1949)
Rosemary's Baby (1968)