Peter Falk

Nick and Charlie (Peter Falk and Charles Durning) are two crooks that rob Harry Winston's jewelry store. Nick portrays a rich elderly brother and sister by using prosthetics and make-up to con the manager. Small time crooksters Nick (Peter Falk) and Charlie (Charles Durning) have an elaborate plan to rob an exclusive jewelers store. Using a variety of disguises and posing as rich old men and women they begin the set-up, but then Nick falls for the owner of a neighboring antique store and things get a little complicated. ‚

Insurance agent plots with client to kill her nutty husband. Leonard Hoffman is an insurance salesman struggling to make ends meet. The fact that he has triplet sons who all want to go to Yale isn't making things any easier. Blanche Rickey is also worried about money; her husband is a millionaire with a weak heart, and she worries that he'll blow through all his cash before he finally dies. When Blanche meets Leonard, she devises a murderous plan that she claims will fix both their problems. —Filmweb

Perhaps the the best word one could use to describe this storyline would be "serpentine," so let's dig in. We start with an armored truck marked as belonging to the US Treasury Department. The truck is hijacked in a rather clever way, but the thieves aren't looking for the money inside; instead there's something else in there that they're after, but we're not sure what it is yet. The thieves get away and one of them meets with a man named Vince, played by Peter Falk. He gives the ill-gotten gains to Vince and tells him that he needs to pay the fee for it the next day. Vince is appalled by the short timeline but promises to work something out. From there we meet a mild-mannered Manhattan dentist named Sheldon Kornpett (Alan Arkin). His daughter Barbara (Penny Peyser) is about two days away from getting married to Tommy Ricardo (Michael Lembeck). He and his wife Carol (Nancy Dussault) are going to meet Tommy's parents for the first time. All they know about Tommy's dad is that he's involved with international business deals somehow. Tommy and his parents show up late for the dinner...and we learn that his father is Vince. Sheldon is a little suspicious of Vince, because he's telling some weird stories about a nine-month stint in Guatemala that involves giant tsetse flies with beaks, and the Guacamole Act of 1917. At an introductory dinner in which Sheldon meets his new in-law Vince, he finds Vince suspicious; during the dinner, Vince tells a crazy story of a nine-month "consulting" trip to 1954 Guatemala. Vince's son and wife (Arlene Golonka) seem oblivious. At one point in the dinner Vince excuses himself to make a phone call, and he hides something in the basement. Later that night, Sheldon pleads with his daughter not to marry into the Ricardo clan, since he doesn't trust Vince, but he is talked into giving the marriage a chance. The following day, Vince appears at Sheldon's office, claiming that he wanted to say hello. He asks Sheldon for help with a five-minute errand that involves breaking into Vince's office safe. Sheldon reluctantly agrees. After retrieving a mysterious black bag from Vince's cramped office in an old Herald Square office building, two armed hit men surprise Sheldon. After a chase down a fire escape and the ensuing shootout, Vince explains to Sheldon-in the middle of a crowded diner, no less-that he has worked for the CIA since the Eisenhower administration and robbed the United States Mint of engraving plates to crack a worldwide inflation plot hatched in Central America. He also mentions that he's gone rogue, because the CIA thought the caper was too risky and turned him down. Vince claims that Sheldon is not involved. However, if Vince is caught, he will be jailed for 20 years and fired from the CIA. Vince further upsets Sheldon by mentioning he left one of the engraving plates in the basement of Sheldon's house the previous night. While taking a delivery of supplies for the wedding, Mrs. Kornpett discovers the engraving and brings it to her local bank, where she is informed by the U.S. Treasury Department that it was stolen. Sheldon arrives home to find vehicles from the Treasury Department parked out front, and he high-tails it out of there, leading to a car chase through suburban New Jersey. After shaking the Feds, Sheldon calls Vince and explains what happened. Vince tells Sheldon he wants him to accompany him to Scranton, Pennsylvania, and the whole ordeal will be cleared up by the time they return. At a small airport near Lodi, New Jersey, Vince and Sheldon board a private jet. We get a very funny scene aboard the plane involving one of the plane's crew, played by James Hong. To Sheldon's dismay, during the flight he notices they are flying over the ocean. Vince assures Sheldon they are still going to Scranton, but they need to make a brief stop along the way in Tijata, a small island south of Honduras. When they arrive, Vince is supposed to meet a corrupt member of the small country's legislature, General Jesus Braunschweiger. But shortly after they land, Jesus is shot and killed before he can greet and debrief the two. Vince and Sheldon fall under sniper fire and, using the general's car, escape and drive into town. At their hotel, Sheldon, understandably tired of the ordeal, refuses to be shot at anymore. Vince agrees to leave him out of the rest of the operation. Sheldon goes to the lobby on a pretense and calls the United States Embassy to tell the story so far. Barry Lutz, the CIA agent-in-charge (Ed Begley Jr.) tells him that Vince is a madman who was mentally discharged from the agency a year earlier . Sheldon tells this to Vince, who prevents him from escaping, assuring Sheldon that the embassy told him that specifically to get Sheldon off the trail. Sheldon is still reluctant. Leaving the hotel, Vince hails a taxi driven by one of the airport snipers. Sheldon realizes who it is and chases after it, eventually leaping onto the roof of the car. Vince takes control of the car, crashing into a fruit market. The car chase resumes, this time with Sheldon INSIDE the car. They manage to get away and they reach the general's estate. General Garcia (Richard Libertini) gives them $20 million for the plates, awards them medals, and promptly marches them in front of a firing squad. Vince stalls for time until hundreds of CIA agents, led by Barry Lutz, overwhelm the army and take Garcia into custody. Lutz reveals that Vince was telling the truth the entire time. However, Vince suddenly announces his retirement, as he has had enough and he's looking forward to grandchildren. He gives Lutz the $10 million he had agreed to deliver from the general. The general overhears this and protests that he gave them $20 million but Vince says he's clearly crazy. We next find ourselves at the wedding. Everybody's there but Vince and Sheldon. They get ready to start without the fathers but suddenly a helicopter shows up and lowers a cable with Vince and Sheldon, sitting on a plank and wearing top hats and tails. They say that the wedding can start in five minutes, once the Paramus Symphony Orchestra, whom they've hired for the day, has tuned up. The men each give their children a million dollars as a wedding gift. Suddenly a government vehicle shows up and it's Lutz. He's furious at Vince. Sheldon is about to confess, but before he can, it comes out that Lutz is only angry about not being invited to the wedding. The orchestra begins to play and the wedding goes forward.

San Francisco, 1940, detectives, dames, documents, Nazis, and a treasure. Lou Peckinpaugh (Peter Falk), the cheap detective has entered a world that is half Casablanca (1942) and half The Maltese Falcon (1941). A parody of Humphrey Bogart's movies in which Lou goes through a series of scenes from the two movies trying to keep ahead of the police who think he killed his partner and find the black bird.

An eccentric millionaire invites the world`s top detectives to his remote mansion to involve them in a baffling whodunit, convinced he can out-sleuth them all.

During the Battle of the Bulge, an anachronistic count shelters a ragtag squad of Americans in his remote 10th Century castle hoping a battle against the advancing Germans will not lead to the destruction of the castle and all within. Toward the end of World War II, a small company of American GI's occupy an ancient castle. Their commander has an affair with the countess in resident. One guy falls in love with a Volkswagon. A baker among them moves in with another baker's wife. A group of shell shocked holy rollers wander the bombed out streets. A GI art historian tries vainly to protect the castle and its masterpieces. —Jim Sadur <jsadur@keyflux.com>

A war correspondent witnesses errors made at Allied Command after he and a unit of US Army Rangers land unopposed at Anzio, Italy, but later become trapped behind German lines during one of the bloodiest battles of WWII. Allied forces land at Anzio unopposed, but instead of moving inland and north to Rome, their commanding officer decides to dig in. A battle-hardened war correspondent borrows a jeep and driver and drives to Rome and back encountering no significant German forces. The report on the absence of the enemy is discounted as the general is concerned about having the strength to hold Anzio and support the offensive. By the time it is finally decided to make a move the Germans have arrived in strength. A US Ranger assault on Cisterna is ambushed with most of the forces killed or captured. A small group of survivors, including the war correspondent, struggle to make their way back to Anzio and report on the German defenses. —Jeremy Perkins {J-26} The Allies land in Anzio, Italy--just south of Rome--in January 1944. Two battalions of US Rangers attempt to move inland to Cisterna and are ambushed. A small handful of survivors, including a war correspondent, struggles to return to Anzio. —Prairiekid

"Big" Jim Stevens (Edward G. Robinson), undisputed boss of the Chicago underworld, gets an unexpected birthday present from his ambitious lieutenant, Guy Gisborne (Peter Falk). Instead of a stripper popping out of the cake, Big Jim gets shot by all the guests. Gisborne takes over. He orders all the other gangsters in town to pay him protection money. Gisborne says that Jim was not even an US citizen and was a no-good boss (as under him everybody was fighting each other rather than taking care of business) and he intends to make a lot of changes around town. Gisborne outlaws all independent operations and wants a cut from every pie. Gisborne demands a 50% cut from every business as the protection money. The news does not sit well with Big Jim's friend and fellow gangster, Robbo (Frank Sinatra), and a gangland war breaks out. Sherrif Glick tries to argue that the people were sick of Jim as there were 34 killings under his reign I 2 months. Gisborne has 85 guns under his command, and he can hit everything at once, if he so desires. Robbo recruits pool hustler Little John (Dean Martin), who demonstrates his pool skills while singing, plus quick-draw artist Will (Sammy Davis Jr.) and a few other hoods, but they are still greatly outnumbered. In addition, the corrupt Sheriff Octavius Glick (Robert Foulk) is on Gisborne's payroll. Gisborne and Robbo come up with the same idea, to destroy the other's gambling joint on the same night. Robbo chooses Gisborne's gambling joint as that is his pride and joy and the flagship of his underworld criminal empire. Gisborne as $250,000 tied up in the gambling joint. The 2 crews pass each other at a traffic intersection and both joints are destroyed at nearly the same time. The loss to Robbo is nearly $400,000. Gisborne calls Robbo and offers to build a new gambling den together, and become partners, but Robbo refuses and prefers to have Gisborne as the enemy. Big Jim's refined, well-educated daughter, Marian (Barbara Rush), shows up. She asks Robbo to avenge her father's death (wrongfully attributed to the sheriff), a request which Robbo flatly refuses. Marian offers to pay $50,000 to Robbo for her demand. Gisborne disposes of the sheriff for his failure to kill Robbo before he could strike his gambling joint. Gisborne wanted Sherrif to reduce his cut from 25% to 10% for the expenses to rebuild the gambling joint, but Sherrif resents that the entire blame for the failure to kill Robbo was being attributed to him. Gisborne kills the Sherrif and buries him in a concrete slab that is laid to set up the new administrative block for the police department. Marian then invites Robbo to dinner and gives him $50,000, thinking that Robbo did as she had asked. Robbo refuses the money, but Marian attempts to seduce him into joining forces to take over the whole town. Marian says that Jim also wanted to retire and the man he wanted to take over was Robbo. Robbo turns her down. When she sends the money to his under-repair gambling club, Robbo donates it to a boys' orphanage. Alan A. Dale (Bing Crosby), the orphanage's director, notifies the newspapers about this good deed. A new Chicago star is born: a gangster who robs from the rich and gives to the poor. Robbo finds it useful to have the public on his side. Robbo and his gang receive a lot of letters from old age homes, women shelters and orphanages asking for donations of cash. Dales comes over to introduce himself to Robbo. Dale is very erudite and most of his words are not understandable by Robbo or any of his gang. Dale offers to help Robbo by writing his speeches and managing his public image. Dale says that he never anticipated the huge positive response to Robin Hood comparison he made in the papers and can build on it. Robbo invites the delighted Dale to join his gang, having him handle all the charities. Dale starts the Robbo Foundation and opens a string of soup kitchens, free clinics and orphan shelters. He even gives green, feathered hats and bows and arrows to the orphans, while thoroughly milking the Robin Hood image. In the meantime, Robbo and Little John teach Dale a little about "Style." Robbo's joint re-opens and it is a hit. Gisborne, whose place is now empty, is infuriated. He and the new sheriff, Alvin Potts (Victor Buono), organize a police raid. Robbo has anticipated this. when a few switches are pulled, the entire club is disguised as a mission. The sheriff and Gisborne burst in to find Robbo's gang singing gospel songs and preaching the sins of alcohol, complete with hymnals and tambourines ("Mr. Booze"). Robbo is framed for Glick's murder. At the trial, Gisborne and Potts claim that Robbo planned the whole thing. Dale tries to teach the despondent orphans to view this as a lesson ("Don't Be a Do-Badder"). The jury finds Robbo innocent. Wearing a green suit, Robbo publicly thanks everyone in Chicago ("My Kind of Town"). When he returns to his club, Robbo finds every one of his charities is now a front for counterfeiting. The soup kitchen smuggles fake bills in soup cans over state lines. Robbo also finds Little John living it up in Marian's mansion. Marian is willing to keep Robbo as a front, as long as she is in charge. Robbo shows his contempt for her and leaves. Little John decides to go with him. Marian finds another willing partner in Gisborne. However, the gangster is not a match for Robbo and ends up dead. Robbo tells a shocked Marian to clear out of town. She instead turns public opinion against him, starting a Women's League for Better Government and framing Robbo for the counterfeiting ring that she and Little John started. Unable to fight an angry mob of women, Robbo and his gang flee. Robbo and his merry men are reduced to working as Santa Clauses to solicit charitable donations. They watch dumbfounded as Marian steps out of a car with her latest partner, Alan A. Dale. He casually gives them money before going off with Marian.

Two beatniks get their kicks by dealing drugs and violence.