The Untouchables (1959 TV series)
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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 dealt with the experiences of Eliot Ness, a United States Justice Department agent, as he fought crime in Chicago in the 1930s with the help of a special team of agents handpicked for their incorruptibility, nicknamed the Untouchables. The stories often revolved around his 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, who felt it promoted negative stereotypes of them as mobsters and gangsters.
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).
Other recurrent actors were Jerry Paris as Agent Martin Flaherty, Abel Fernandez as Agt. William Youngfellow, Nick Georgiade as Agt. Enrico Rossi, Anthony George as Agt. Cam Allison, Paul Picerni as Agt. Lee Hobson, Steve London as Agt. Rossman, Bruce Gordon as Frank Nitti and Frank Dekova as Jimmy Napoli.
Announcer: Les Lampson - Very distinctive dramatic voice.
Famous guest-stars in selected episodes:
- 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.
[edit] Episode summaries
- 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.
- 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 is killed, Ness becomes more determined to end Nitti's career.
[edit] Trivia
- Series created by Quinn Martin and produced by Quinn Martin, Jerry Thorpe, Leonard Freeman and Desilu.
- The telephone number of Elliot Ness' office was STAte 1096, while Frank Nitti (who took over the Chicago mob after Capone went to federal prison for tax evasion) could be reached at WABash 1098 (in pre-World War II Chicago, phone numbers consisted of a name, the first three letters of which were actually dialled, along with the four numbers that followed). Most of the characters could be seen talking on candlestick-style telephones — an anachronism since during the time period in which virtually all of the episodes were set, the Model 202 telephone was in standard use.
- The series is mentioned as a must-see show in the 1960 movie The Apartment.
- Outside the United States, the series was first shown
- WWE Wrestler and Rapper John Cena had a song called " The Untouchables ".
- The Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company mainly via their Chesterfield (cigarette) brand was one of the main sponsors of the show early on. However because of pressure from some Italian-American groups and Mob controlled Unions, the sponsorship was withdrawn.
- Warner Bros. released a Bugs Bunny cartoon spoof of the show in 1963, entitled The Unmentionables.
