The Untouchables (1959 TV series)

Infobox television
show_name = The Untouchables (1959)


caption = The Untouchables
format = Crime / Drama
runtime = 60 minutes per episode
creator =
starring = Robert Stack
Abel Fernandez
Nicholas Georgiade
Paul Picerni
Steve London
Bruce Gordon
Neville Brand
country = USA
network = ABC
distributor = Paramount Television
first_aired = October 15, 1959
last_aired = May 21, 1963
num_seasons = 4
num_episodes = 118 & 2-part pilot
imdb_id = 0052522

"The Untouchables" is the name of a television series that ran from 1959 to 1963 on the American Broadcasting Company. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness, a real-life Prohibition Agent, as he fought crime in Chicago in the 1930s with the help of a special team of agents handpicked for their courage & incorruptibility, nicknamed the Untouchables. It was remade into a 1987 film by Brian De Palma also called "The Untouchables", with a script by David Mamet.

eries overview

The stories often revolved around Ness' enmity with the criminal empire of Chicago mob boss Al Capone, and many focused on crimes related to Prohibition. The show starred Robert Stack as Eliot Ness and Neville Brand as Al Capone, and was narrated by Walter Winchell. The show drew harsh criticism from some Italian-Americans including Frank Sinatra [Talese, Gay: "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold", page 27. Esquire, 1966] , who felt it promoted negative stereotypes of them as mobsters and gangsters. The Capone family sued the show for $1,000,000 for its unauthorized use of Al Capone's likeness for profit.

The series had 118 episodes which ran 50 minutes each. Though the book it was based on chronicled the experiences of Ness and his cohorts over a span of time ranging from 1929 to 1935, the overwhelming majority of episodes were set in the early 1930s (for example, one episode, "You Can't Play This Number", begins with Winchell's words, "October 1932 ... the depths of the Depression"). A few episodes were set primarily in a locale other than Chicago (such as the one dealing with the shootout involving Ma Barker and her gang). The theme music was by Nelson Riddle.

The other Untouchables were played by:
*Jerry Paris as Agent Martin Flaherty, (1st season only)
*Abel Fernandez as Agt. William Youngfellow,
*Nick Georgiade as Agt. Enrico "Rico" Rossi,
*Anthony George as Agt. Cam Allison, (1st season only)
*Paul Picerni as Agt. Lee Hobson, (2nd season on)
*Steve London as Agt. Jack Rossman*,
*Chuck Hicks as Agt. LaMarr Kane (1st season only).Other recurrent actors were:
*Bruce Gordon as Frank Nitti and
*Frank Dekova as Jimmy Napoli.Announcer: Les Lampson - Very distinctive dramatic voice.

:* Contrary to popular belief, Steve London's character of Untouchable Jack Rossman (played in the "Scarface Mob" pilot by Paul Dubov), was in the series since the original season 1 series episode, "The Empty Chair", not from Season 2 on as is commonly reported.

Famous guest-stars in selected episodes:
* Louise Fletcher in epsiode 1.2 "Ma Baker and Her Boys"
* Jack Lord in episode 1.3 "The Jake Lingle Killing",
* Lee Marvin, James Caan and Roy Thinnes in episode 4.10 "A Fist of Five",
* Mike Connors in episode 4.7 "The Eddie O'Gara Story",
* Martin Balsam in episodes 3.3 "Tunnel of Horrors" and 3.21 "Man in the middle",
* Peter Falk in episodes 1.26 "The Underworld Bank" and 3.1 "The Troubleshooter",
* Telly Savalas in episodes 2.20 "The Antidote", 3.5 "The Matt Bass Scheme" and 4.14 "The Speculator",
* Lee Van Cleef in episode 1.20 "The Unhired Assassin",
* Charles Bronson in episode 3.16 "The Death Tree",
* Barbara Stanwyck in episodes 4.8 "Elegy" and 4.13 "Search for a Dead Man",
* Robert Redford in episode 4.15 "Snowball",
* Robert Duvall in episode 4.17 "Blues for a Gone Goose",
* Elizabeth Montgomery as Rusty Heller (for which she received an Emmy Award nomination) (1960)

Episode summaries

Season 1

; The Empty Chair : Frank Nitti and Jake Guzik square off to see who will sit in Capone's seat of power with the crimelord behind bars. Meanwhile, Eliot Ness hires a new Untouchable, a barber named Enrico Rossi, who witnessed a hit by Nitti.

; Ma Barker & Her Boys : Ness and his men trace the notorious Ma Barker and two of her sons to their Florida hideaway, which results in a long and bloody gun battle.

; The Jake Lingle Story : After an ace reporter is murdered, a bounty hunter offers to give Ness information about mobster Barney Bershe as long as Ness gives him information on all that the Untouchables know about the reporter's murder. But Ness is suspicious of the bounty hunter's motives.

; The George "Bugs" Moran Story : Capone's archrival Bugs Moran decides to enter labor racketeering and tries to take over a truck drivers' union. In order to do so, he kidnaps the son of labor leader Larry Halloran, then illegally pressures the Patterson firm to sign a contract.

; Ain't We Got Fun : With the demise of Prohibition in the offing, Big Jim Harrington concocts a plan to get rid of his immense supply of whiskey.

; The Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll Story : Maverick gangster "Mad Dog" Coll stirs up the New York underworld and his arch rival Dutch Schultz by openly defying them. He decides to wreak havoc on underworld betting by shooting the Kentucky Derby favorite with a high-powered rifle during the famous race.

; Mexican Stake Out : A mobster facing testimony that could convict him kidnaps the witness and hides him away somewhere in Mexico. Ness and a special agent team up to rescue the witness. But then the agent is also kidnapped and Ness must find both the witness and the agent before the mobster's hitmen do.

; The Artichoke King : Mobster Ciro Terranova, known as "The Artichoke King", makes a gambit to shake down New York's fruit and vegetable dealers, and Ness must travel to the Big Apple to thwart this underworld plot.

; The Tri-State Gang : Ness declares war on a gang terrorizing Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. The gang leader not only hijacks trucks but also shoots their drivers. When the Untouchables manage to drive the gang apart, the leader kidnaps a bookie and holds him for ransom. Untouchables agent LaMarr Kane (Chuck Hicks} is killed in this episode .

; The Dutch Schultz Story : Ness wants to prosecute Schultz for fraud. Schultz manages to get the trial moved to a small town, where he hopes to win the townspeople over to his side with promises of money and power. With Schultz temporarily out of the way, Lucky Luciano plots to take over New York.

; You Can't Pick The Number : A friend of one of the Untouchables gets mixed up in the numbers racket. When he gets in trouble with the syndicate leaders, the Untouchable tries to convince his friend and his son to turn evidence over to Ness. They refuse. The father is killed, and the son decides to lead Ness to the headquarters of the numbers racket.

; Underground Railway : A gangster escapes prison and uses a syndicated escape route to travel across the U.S. in the company of a woman pretending to be his wife. The gangster undergoes plastic surgery and dental alterations so that neither the Untouchables nor his underworld rivals can recognize him.

; Syndicate Sanctuary : When Judge Zabo, the reform candidate for mayor of a small Illinois city, is gunned down by the mob, Ness steps in to prevent Guido Morelli from turning the town into a wide-open sanctuary where gambling and vice proliferate.

; The Noise of Death : An aging mob boss squares off against a younger gangster, who has the support of Chicago's top bosses. Ness uses the elder gangster's predicament to his advantage and tries to convince him to confess before the mob kills him.

; Star Witness : An accountant retires from mob employment but is soon set up for a hit by his former boss because of his inside information. He agrees to testify and Ness and his men must guard the accountant and his family.

; The Saint Louis Story : A nightclub owner tries to take over that city's rival gangs by hijacking a U.S. mail truck and stealing over a million dollars. Ness must work with a corrupt police lieutenant who could be a key to stopping the nightclub owner.

; One-Armed Bandit : A former mobster sent to prison by Ness is released and vows to go straight. But another mobster blackmails him into an illegal gambling racket and then orders him to kill Ness.

; Little Egypt : A southern Illinois town is dominated by a mobster and his thugs. A new Untouchable manages to infiltrate the gang but is soon discovered sending messages via carrier pigeons.

; The Big Squeeze : Ness crosses swords with a crafty bank robber who refuses the company of women, saying they would ruin his business. But during a trip to Florida he meets a woman whom he falls in love with.

; The Unhired Assassin : Frank Nitti plans to assassinate Chicago's mayor, Anton Cermak. Cermak is shot and killed in Miami Beach while appearing alongside President Franklin Roosevelt, but it's not Nitti who fires the fatal bullets.

; The White Slavers : A Capone lieutenant in charge of prostitution recruits young girls from Mexico with promises of a better life in the U.S. When a truck carrying the girls is stopped, the women are ordered massacred. Ness joins forces with a local madam to battle the gangster, and soon the girls themselves organize a union to battle their evil employer.

; Three Thousand Suspects : A mobster is murdered in prison and Ness orders another convict to flush out the killers.

; The Doreen Maney Story : Loosely based on the story of Bonnie and Clyde, a man and a woman lead a notorious gang of bank robbers. Ness and his men capture and woman and take her cross country to jail.

; Portrait of a Thief : Despite the Depression, the illegal alcohol traffic in Chicago thrives, thanks in large part to Capone's mentor, Johnny Torrio, and two mysterious men who are not all that they seem.

; The Underworld Bank : The underworld sets up its own bank to finance illegal activities. A petty crook falls in love with the niece of a mob boss and plans to marry her. When he doesn't get the full cut of a heist, he decides upon revenge.

; Head of Fire, Feet of Clay : Ness attempts to put a boxing racketeer out of business. He recruits an old high school friend for assistance, but Ness's buddy may not be as honest as Ness thought.

; The Frank Nitti Story : Prohibition is coming to an end, and Nitti tries to shake down the motion picture industry. Threats and violence are used to keep theater owners at bay. When a fellow Untouchable ( Agent Cam Allison, played by Anthony George) is killed, Ness becomes more determined to end Nitti's career.

Overseas reception

The program was a huge hit in overseas markets. German and French teenagers began to dress like the Chicago gangsters of that era and would assume nick names such as "Scarface", "Big Al","Bugs" and "the Enforcer". The program was condemned by local youth monitoring authorities. They were particularly disturbed by the show's scenes of gratuitous and excessive violence where rival gangs were shown blasting each other from cars and windows. Certain "truisms" quickly emerged such as if a car is involved in a chase or shot at, it was certain to explode into flames. No machine gun was fired unless there was a close proximity of glass such as a large storefront glass window, a mirror in a barber shop, or all the bottles of liquor in a bar or in a brewery. Although repeatedly exposed to withering fire from dozens of pistols, rifles, automatic weapons and shotguns, Mr. Ness never so much as suffered a scratch.

DVD releases

CBS Home Entertainment has released the complete first season and Season 2, Volume 1 of "The Untouchables" on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. Season 2, Volume 2 is scheduled to be released on August 26, 2008.

Further reading

*Tucker, Kenneth. "Eliot Ness and the Untouchables: The Historical Reality and the Film and Television Depictions". Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2000. ISBN 0-7864-0772-7

External links

*imdb title|id=0052522|title="The Untouchables"
* [http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/U/htmlU/untouchables/untouchables.htm Encyclopedia of Television]
* [http://www.edrobertson.com/the_untouchables.htm "The Untouchables, Then and Now" by Ed Robertson, an article about the show]
* [http://www.geocities.com/alcus2/untouch.html The Untouchables website from Vintage TV & Movies]

Notes