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Now
that The Untouchables has been released on DVD for the first
time, we look back at this powerful network drama.
THE UNTOUCHABLES CAST The Agents - The
Villains - The Untouchables was Quinn Martin's first stint as executive producer and on this show he began a long practice of using announcers on his productions like 'The FBI', 'The Invaders' and 'Cannon'. TV Guide's The Untouchables Page, with TV Listings, Photos, Videos, Exclusive News and More. Classic TV |
With the recent controversy over negative portrayals of Italian-Americans on 'The Sopranos' and 'A Shark's Tale,' it's interesting to note another time when Italian-American tempers flared against a television production. The Untouchables was considered one of the most violent television shows of its time. Of course, by today's standards it's not that bad, but it was violent enough at the time to spark protests from concerned parents. Protests also came from 'concerned' Italian-Americans who didn't appreciate the whole 'Goombah of the Week' approach to the show. 'The Untouchables' starred Robert Stack ('Unsolved Mysteries') as real-life Chicago gang-buster and prohibition agent Eliot Ness circa 1930. The first episode was a two-part presentation on CBS's 'Desilu Playhouse' broadcast in April, 1959. The story centered around Ness' attempt to bust up Al Capone's Chicago syndicate. Neville Brand appeared as Al Capone and Barbara Nichols was his gun moll in this brutal and violent telefilm. The two-part pilot was a critical and ratings smash, so much so it
was later released to movie theatres. CBS bid for the series, but ABC
won the rights and 'The Untouchables' weekly series debuted in the fall
of 1959. It was bloody and violent, just like the pilot - the network
demanded that each episode be action packed. Ratings were not spectacular
during the first few weeks, but by the second season the show was solidly
in the top ten.
Series director Walter Grauman summed up the initial concept of the
series: "The show is dramatic fiction with documentary authenticity."
While the teleplays started out as a semi-documentarian treatments illustrating
the aftermath of the roaring twenties, they eventually relied on more
fictionalized stories. "You don't realize how lousy strict documentaries
are - plus the fact that you're libeling someone every thirty-seven
seconds," series star Robert Stack stated in 1960. "If we limit it to
actuality, we might as well go to newsreels." The hyper-active
announcer on The Untouchables was the voice of the 1930's and
'40's newsreels - Walter Winchell. He had devolved into a cheesy,
radio and newspaper gossip columnist by the fifties.
"Winchell
is marvelous," Untouchables' producer Josef Shaftel was quoted as saying.
"All he has to do is say: 'On the night of Oct. 5, 1931, Eliot Ness
went down to the delicatessen' and people are sure he did."
THE
LUCY CONNECTION
'The Untouchables'
was a Desilu production, the co-presidents of Desilu were Desi Arnaz
and Lucille Ball. This was the second series they produced with Walter
Winchell in the cast. Television insiders were surprised at his casting
because it was Winchell who accused Lucille Ball of being a communist
during the height of the American commie witch hunt in 1953.
Lucy recalled
the experience of being falsely 'outed' this way: "I was terrified.
That first day I was in a panic. I was absolutely bewildered. It was
a terrible experience."
PROTESTATIONS
The
real Eliot Ness disbanded his agents in 1932, but the show took the
gangbusters well into the forties, wrestling with mobsters that Ness
never encountered like 'Bugsy' Seigel, 'Bugs' Moran, 'Ma' Barker and
even Nazis and presidential assassins.
Italian-American
groups protested over what they felt was an unfair presentation of their
people as Mafia-types. "We are plagued with lawsuits after certain shows"
one of the show's producers Josef Shaftel explained, noting that the
series was "heavily insured against libel." With good reason - the first
lawsuit against the show was instigated by Al Capone's angry widow.
She didn't like the way her deceased husband was made into a running
villain on the show and wanted a million dollars for unfair use of his
image.
The
FBI was pissed off too. They were the ones who collared the famous names
that Ness was supposedly busting each week on TV and they rightfully
wanted credit for it. Even the Bureau of Prisons took offense, complaining
that the show made their treatment of Al Capone look soft.
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MGM
stalwart Van Johnson was originally slated to play Eliot Ness, but he
backed out the weekend before filming was to start in a dispute over money.
Robert Stack was hastily recruited on Sunday morning (found at 2:00 am
in Chasen's), fitted for costumes that afternoon, and started filming
on Monday morning.
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