sol ***SPOILERS*** Based on the true life conviction of Chcago Mob Boss Alfonso "Big Al" Capone the movie "The Undercover Man" really has nothing to do with undercover work by the FBI but in how the US Treasury Department was able to get a number of witnesses to testify against "Big Al", or the "Big Fellow" as he's called in the film, in a court of law without getting themselves killed by doing it. It's that which in fact landed the "Big Fellow" behind bars for an nine year stretch where his brain ended up being fried from the ravages of syphilis that he contracted while still free and on the loose. Getting the job done in getting the "Big Fellow" in a private cell at Alcatraz was Treasury Agent Frank Warrner, Glenn Ford, who not only risked his life but that of his wife Judith,Nina Fouch, an a number of his informants to do it. But it was the "Big Fellow's" sense of invincibility and arrogance that more then anything else did him in. That by his gang raising the body count and making people more willing to talk or testify against him feeling that they, in considering that their as good as dead already, had nothing to lose anyway. ***SPOILERS*** It was non other then the "Big Fellow's" mouthpiece or lawyer the smooth talking and slick Edward J. O'Rourke, Barry Kelley, who finally did his boss the "Big Fellow" in. That in him by trying to avoid jail time revealing that the jury pool members ,all 83 of them, for the "Big Fellow's upcoming trial have all been gotten to! That in making sure that he walks or else they'll end up on clutches and wheelchairs! "The Undercover Man" was probably the first movie to bring out how Alfonso "Big Al" Capone ended up convicted on both tax evasion charges as well as the violation of the Volsted,illegal bootlegging, Act that some the years later lead to the top TV crime series "The Untouchables". Still for some strange reason "Big Al" or Al Capone's name or even faces, he's alway shown from behind wearing a white fedora, was never once mentioned in the movie!

bkoganbing I'm not sure why this film was entitled The Undercover Man since it did not involve any law enforcement infiltrating organized crime to bring a case against some criminals. Maybe it was the sardonic humor of producer Robert Rossen and director Joseph H. Lewis since it does involve Treasury agents Glenn Ford, James Whitmore, and David Wolfe operating out of a rather dingy apartment going over syndicate books to make an income tax case against, 'the Big Fellow'. After the success they had with taking Al Capone down this way, going after the finances of criminal enterprises has been a tried and true way to go in these matters for law enforcement. The agents are a good if colorless lot, the real spice in The Undercover Man are some of the various character roles cast by Rossen and Lewis. Barry Kelley is the syndicate lawyer, a very confident fellow right up to the end, he's one you'll remember. Also Anthony Caruso and his family, mother Esther Minciotti, wife Angela Clarke and daughter Joan Lazer. He keeps the tallies for one the syndicate's numbers parlors, but he's tasted the high life and now has a mistress as well in stripper Kay Medford, her first credited screen role. He's memorable too as the luckless Caruso is gunned down in the street.Another syndicate bookkeeper is Leo Penn and his wife Patricia Barry who flees after Caruso is killed. You'll know Leo because of his famous two time Oscar winning son Sean. The family resemblance is unmistakable. The good guys are kept colorless until almost the end. They patiently billed their case with numbers and handwriting experts who tell them where to look for clues and suspects. In the end however Glenn Ford does have to resort to the gun to get out of a tight spot.Ford's allowed a little personal life and a bit of family crisis when he thinks he could be putting wife Nina Foch in harm's way. It's a bit of a diversion showing these guys are as human as some of the people they're dealing with.But The Undercover Man is best when concentrating on the bad and the luckless. Pay particular attention to Caruso, Kelley, and Medford. It's a good if somewhat unknown noir classic.

Spikeopath "In the cracking of many big criminal cases such as those of John Dillinger, Lucky Luciano and Al Capone, among others-the newspaper headlines tell only of the glamorous and sensational figures involved. But behind the headlines are the untold stories of ordinary men and women acting with extraordinary courage. This picture concerns one of those men"The Undercover Man is produced by the director of All The King's Men and The Hustler (Robert Rossen), directed by Joseph H. Lewis (The Big Combo), photographed by the guy who did Bonnie And Clyde and From Here To Eternity (Burnett Guffey) and stars Glenn Ford (Gilda and The Big Heat). I don't think it's over exaggerating things to say that this particular film has pretty high credentials. But is it any good? Well yes and no is the cop out answer really. A lot will depend on your tolerance for a crime (Noir) story without the edginess and shades of dark colours so befitting the genres Undercover Man purports to belong to.Joseph Lewis' film is a good old honest tale of genuine people, each threatened or blighted by crime, collectively coming together to thwart the mob types that ran amok back in the day. Led by the seemingly unflinching Treasury Department operative Frank Warren (Ford), we are led thru a talky movie that ultimately is relying on its "who's cooking the books, and can we prove it" plot to keep all interested. Yes a couple of potent crime scenes are in the piece to ensure we know that there are villains in our midst, but really this is a sedate sort of crime picture and prospective new viewers should be prepared for that.Technically it's fine, all involved are delivering a high standard that their respective back catalogue's suggests that they should. Other cast members range from the underused (James Whitmore) to the under written (Nina Foch), with the latter a hindrance to the film because a strong female presence would have put meat on the bones of Warren's state of mind skeleton. Shyster lawyer duties falls to Barry Kelley (The Asphalt Jungle), who does rather well to be the central focus of the badness within the picture, but he is not the main man, he is not the villain at the stories heart-and with that you can't help hankering for a real touch of villainy to really darken proceedings.Recommended for sure, but only as an interesting crime story featuring pretty interesting characters. For it's neither dark or grim enough to be considered anything else. 7/10

bmacv Before bedecking the noir cycle with two of its gems - Gun Crazy and The Big Combo - Joseph H. Lewis exercised his talents on The Undercover Man. Scant surprise that it falls short of those two movies, the first of which boasted Peggy Cummins as Annie Laurie Starr and the second John Alton as director of photography. While the dependably gifted Burnett Guffey pinch-hits for Alton, the absence of any major female role makes a Cummins unnecessary (though still missed). So there's no countervailing axis to balance out the star, Glenn Ford.While Ford contributed yeoman's work in some indispensable titles, from Gilda to The Big Heat and Human Desire, he always stood at odds to the sardonic cool that was the hallmark of male leads in the cycle. In picture after picture, he unpacked the same old angst and wore it like a hair shirt. When his reasons were up there on the screen - a torch for Rita Hayworth, a blood-lust for revenge - he brought an uncommon intensity to roles that a flippant approach would have watered down.But in The Undercover Man he turns a glorified civil-service job into the stuff of agony. He's an undercover government agent; his worn-down wife, Nina Foch, joins him occasionally on his assignments but for the most part stays at home near Washington, D.C. where she's come to accept his extended absences with a long face. Ford and his partner James Whitmore find their frequently flipped Treasury credentials carry little weight in big-shouldered Chicago, where the syndicate's ruthlessness strikes witnesses blind and dumb even when victims are gunned down in broad daylight. And the mob's lavishly remunerated mouthpiece, Barry Kelley, impudently taunts Ford for his futile crusade against the never seen Big Fellow (as he's affectionately known around town). But in the dogged tradition of the Feds in movies like The House on 92nd Street and T-Men, Ford keeps slogging away until he finds a chink in the silent armor....The Undercover Man starts out in the detail-cluttered, reverential way of so many of these para-patriotic films, but about halfway through Lewis finds his stride and eschews hagiography for moviemaking. A tense and violent sequence among the street stalls of Chicago's Italian neighborhood, where a turncoat gangster is chased and killed in front of his little daughter, delivers a welcome jolt after all the handwriting experts and accountants' ledgers. But the movie always slinks back to Ford, suffering valiantly - he's such an irresistible target it's no wonder Kelley can't help needling him. And it's Kelley's sly, smug performance that lends The Undercover Man the subversive grit that, in the absence of Cummins (or any of her sisters), it sorely needs.