The Untouchables (1959-1963)

[m35541]

You Can’t Beat the Numbers

I found this quite informative in explaining how a “Numbers Racket” (illegal lottery) operated – whenever I’d seen this referred to before in 1970’s police series’ there always seemed to be a presumption that everyone watching understood what this was. It goes into quite a lot of detail as to how the mob’s cash collection scheme is operated and how the participants in the scheme are remunerated. There are also debates about how “wrong” this activity really is (banning gambling and alcohol was (is) the main course of the rise of organised crime in the US). The head mobster here is played by the great Whit Bissell – he conducts an interesting “court” trying one of his collectors for failure to control a subordinate. The pre-credits snippet shows the murder of the main guest star (!) A rather hurried ending allows Ness & Co victory.

The Underground Railway

A rather silly episode in which a convict who looks like a 50’s werewolf escapes from prison and, as he flees from coast to coast, has a series of pieces of plastic surgery that turn him into Cliff Robertson. Robertson’s character is suitably nasty (though a crucial murder of the episode’s only sympathetic character and audience-identifier figure takes place off-screen presumably to appease the censor) but then, just as he is about to get away, throws it all with some pointless shooting. The title refers to the informal criminal network which hides Robertson on his cross country travels.

Syndicate Sanctuary

The “Syndicate” try to take over a small town some way from Chicago so as to relocate their operations. They murder a rival candidate for mayor, operate from the police station and seem to run the entire police force. Jack Elam and Frank Wolff play two of the henchmen (Elam always looks uncomfortable when not dressed in cowboy clothes). Anthony Caruso is the head villain. Lots of action in this one and a high body count. I enjoyed watching Stack’s look of distaste as he walks down (what is supposed to be) the red light district – as conveyed by the budgetary and censor restrictions of the time.

[Luke]

Got my the second series Volumes 1,2 on DVD, just awaiting the first series to arrive as i ordered it from ebay.

[m35541]

Series 3 is now out on DVD in the USA (has been released in two volumes). Series 4 apparently is a big step down with several episodes being pilots for unmade spin-off series.

Think I'll hold off Series 2 until the price comes down a little - only half way through 1 at the present.

[Luke]

Didnt even know there was a series 3 and 4, have yet to watch any of these myself.

[m35541]

I don't think I'd ever seen a complete episode of this and only a few half episodes before I bought the Series 1 set. I'm really enjoying it.

Apparently - in Series 3 the only gangsters allowed to be Italians were real histroical gangsters (following protests from Italian-American pressure groups). Then in Series 4 they seemed to have run out of ideas and several episodes are pilots for spin-offs (just like Doctor Who, ha ha).

The BBFC seem to have given a lot of 12's to series 2 so it looks as if the violence quota was upped even further from series 1.

[Luke]

the desrciption on the back of series 2 goes like this,

moderate violence and threat, hard drug use and references.

The last bit i found odd for a 12rated series , my Dad said he saw the series on British T.V in the 60s and said hed not come across it since then on T.V or video.

[m35541]

The Noise of Death

J Carroll Naish is an aging mafia man who is being supplanted by upstart Henry Silva and he decides to fight back. This one is the first real look at some of the the mafia codes and practices - in particular the code of Omerta (silence) which in this case extends to beyond the grave and also the ritual in which proper mafiosa are rubbed out. Given that Coppola didn't feel he could use the word "mafia" in The Godfather its interesting how explicit this is about it (The Scarface Mob also referenced it several times).

I've now finished part 1 of series 1 and enjoying it. Limiting myself to a max of 2 episodes a week to prevent overkill, which I think I suffered from when I viewed The Sweeney. The series is basically self-contained stories involving the main guest stars so its like having something new each week. This I think has allowed it to attract a high quality of guest stars whereas 1970's cop series seemed to just feature the likes of Lloyd Bochner, Don Knight, Pernell Roberts or Andrew Duggan. there's always lots of action and gunplay. My only gripe is that the pre-credits action snippet frequently does things like shown the death of the main guest star (or a major supporting player).

On to part 2 of series 1.

[m35541]

The Star Witness

The mob's accountant turns star witness after they try to bump him off for leaving. Ness & Co have to move him around the country before the trial which, like in The Dutch Schultz Story, has been shifted to a small town in the middle of suburbia. The mob import about a dozen hired guns to this town to kill him at the end. Pretty entertaining but the plot recycling is much in evidence.

The St Louis Story

David Brian is a gangster who operates out of the posh "Jockey Club" and knocks off all the rival gangsters or forces them to join him (Leo Gordon is his principal heavy). He muscles in on an armoured car robbery, takes the proceeds, bearer bonds, and then murders everyone connected with it when Ness cottons on. As is often with the series, Brian is one step ahead of the law for most of the episode only to behave irrationally and out of character at the end so we can have the forced good guy wins ending. Quite violent and pretty good.

One-Armed Bandits

Harry Guardino is an ex IRA man just released from prison who is blackmailed by mobsters into running their slot machine operations (installing one-armed bandits in corner stores whether the owners like it or not). Guardino is made-up to look up in some unconvncing make-up, especially in close-up. A pretty heavy body count again and Ness & co behave pretty much like facists in this one; Ness punches an unarmed prisoner at least twice to try and extract a confession, although the man did spit at him, and the Feds ambush a lorry full of slot machines (even though its not illegal) and kill two goons in doing so !! Flaherty (Jerry Paris) seems to have left the series - transferred to another office - and been replaced by Anthony George as Cam Allison. The end is pretty silly for the normally more robust series. Also silly is the fact that Youngfellow has infiltrated the bad guys disguised as a waiter and he stands really close to them listening in on all of their conversations.

[m35541]

Unhired Assassin (2 part episode)

An excellent 2 part story albeit hevily reliant on lucky coincidence. Frank Nitti (Bruce Gordon again) and co - his associates inlcude Claude Akins and Lee Van Cleef - decide to murder the new Chicago mayor (Robert Middleton). The first part involves them hiring out of town killers to bump off the mayor at a coffee shop. In the second half a professional assassin is hired to kill the mayor when he is attending an address by President Rooseveldt. Intercut with this is the story of a deranged loner who wants to assassinate Rooseveldt. Lots of gunplay and a very violent fight involving Atkins in part 1. A downbeat ending again.

The White Slavers

First episode about prostitution. A Capone cell run by Mike Kelljan is targeted by Ness. Dick Yorke (Samantha's dorky husband in Bewitched) is a weakling gangster who has lost his taste for violence. All the prostitutes look like society wives (!) But there is lots of action and it is fairly entertaining.

Series 2 has dropped to £14 on Amazon now and almost time for a purchase. Series 3 is out in the US in full but not in the Uk yet.

[Luke]

I bought my Dad the first two sets might buy the third is its any good, must have been tougth to produce a thrid series after the first two.

[m35541]

No idea - you could try looking at the Reviews of it on Amazon.com. I had a quick look at these and it seems that the Italian-Americans complianed enough such that there were no more Italian gangsters unless they were real-life gangsters like Nitti.

Series 4 apparently goes downhill quite a bit with several episodes as pilots for never-made spinoffs. (NB: i am still on Series 1).

[m35541]

Three Thousand Suspects

Ness persuades a con (Leslie Neilsen) to discover who murdered another prisoner in order to uncover the man's accomplice, a Capone organisation criminal. Bruce Gordon turns up again briefly as Frank Nitti - he was shot by Ness in Unhired Assassin but seems alright now. Quite a violent episode which has a 12. Neilsen crushes a fellow convicts neck with his boot and Ness uses a snooker cue to fight off some hoodlums. The good guys win a temporary victory.

[m35541]

The Frank Nitti Story

The season one finale starts off with acid being thrown into a man's face (how did this ever get past the 1950s TV censors?) and ends with the series' regular bad guy, Frank Nitti (Bruce Gordon) getting killed for what seems like the second time in this package. Half way through there is the shock killing of Cam Allison, Ness' prime sidekick. Ness gets about ten seconds to grieve over him before the plot plunges onwards and he is forgotten about. The plot involves Nitti and co operating a protection racket againsts cinema owners. Guest stars include Richard Anderson (later the Six Million Dollar Man's boss) and Dick Foran (star of The Mummy's Hand). As in most of the entries various innocent people who stand up to the mob get murdered and we get an abrupt ending in which ness turns up and shoots the bad guys.

Very very impressive series. Extremely manchian in its world viewpoint and accepting violent death for innocents as a price that has to be paid in the unrelenting fight against organised crime. No qualms at all about killing woman and old people and just about anyone except children. Ness and his cohorts are little short of facists and make Dirty Harry seem like Dixon of Dock Green.

I have series 2 sitting on my shelf now.

[Mark Meakin]

I gather series 3 is out here around September.The others dropped in price pretty quickly so I'll hang on & get it then.

[m35541]

Yes - just spotted series 3 going through the BBFC last week. About 50% of the episodes have 12 certs.

As I have still got 2 to watch I will hold off on 3 until price drops by about 50% (as Mark says).