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Episode Review

A comprehensive, in-depth look at one of television’s most highly acclaimed – and despised – classics with a blow-by-blow episode guide of Desilu’s The Untouchables. From 1959-1963, the series brought to life the nightly wars between good and evil in the streets of Prohibition Chicago. With legendary lawman Eliot Ness (Robert Stack) and his band of incorruptible agents leading the way for justice, famed reporter Walter Winchell providing staccato narration and guest stars breathing life into colorful underworld characters, the true story of The Untouchables became legend in a film noir mix of true history and Emmy award-winning fiction.

Oct 16
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Ma Barker and Her Boys – Episode Review

By Episode Review, Season 1

MA BARKER AND HER BOYS

Airdate: October 22, 1959
Written by Jerome Ross
Directed by Joe Parker
Produced by Norman Retchin
Director of Photography Charles Straumer
Special Guest Star Claire Trevor
Featuring Joe di Reda, Robert Ivers, Adam Williams, Peter Baldwin, Vaughn Taylor, Louise Fletcher

“One of the most astonishing episodes in the annals of American crime took place on January 16, 1935. It began at 7 a.m. on a warm, sunny Florida morning. In a combined operation, Eliot Ness and his agents joined with the state troopers and local police in a surprise visit near the town of Oklawaha, Florida. What followed made front-page headlines throughout the world.”
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Oct 15
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The Empty Chair – Episode Review

By Episode Review, Season 1

THE EMPTY CHAIR

Airdates: Oct. 15, 1959, May 5, 1960
Teleplay by David Karp
Story by Ernest Kinoy
Directed by John Peyser
Director of Photography Charles Straumer
Produced by Charles Russell
Co-starring Barbara Nichols, Bruce Gordon
Special Guest Star Nehemiah Persoff
Featuring Peter Mamakos, Richard Benedict, Betty Garde, Wally Cassell, Herman Rudin, Frank Wilcox, Carl Milletaire

“Chicago, May 5th, 1932. After seven months of legal delays, Al Capone, the country’s most notorious product of the nation’s experiment with prohibition, was on his way to federal prison to serve eleven years for income tax evasion. On hand to watch the mobster leave, was Eliot Ness, chief of the unique federal squad known as The Untouchables, the special unit that had worked for eighteen months to bring Al Capone to justice. For these men, the end of the Capone career was just the beginning of another era of violence. The king of the hoodlums had left a vacant throne behind him. The next man to claim it would pay for the privilege in violence and bloodshed.” Read More

Apr 27
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The Untouchables (Part 2) – Episode Review

By Desilu Playhouse, Episode Review

THE UNTOUCHABLES (PART 2)

Airdate: April 27th, 1959
Written by Paul Monash
Based on the novel by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley
Directed by Phil Karlson
Director of Photography Charles Straumer
Music by Wilbur Hatch
Narrated by Walter Winchell
Produced by Quinn Martin
Executive Producer Bert Granet
Starring Robert Stack, Keenan Wynn, Barbara Nichols, Pat Crowley
Special Guest Star Neville Brand

“While the mob heads met, Eliot Ness and his squad gave Capone their own welcome to Chicago. These men, specially selected from the Prohibition Bureau, were preparing to raid and wreck still another Capone brewery.” Read More

Apr 20
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The Untouchables (Part 1) – Episode Review

By Desilu Playhouse, Episode Review

THE UNTOUCHABLES (PART 1)

Airdate: April 20th, 1959
Written by Paul Monash
Based on the novel by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley
Directed by Phil Karlson
Director of Photography Charles Straumer
Music by Wilbur Hatch
Narrated by Walter Winchell
Produced by Quinn Martin
Executive Producer Bert Granet
Starring Robert Stack, Keenan Wynn, Barbara Nichols, Pat Crowley
Special Guest Star Neville Brand

“Chicago, 1929. By law the country was dry. Through connivance with Al Capone, Chicago was wet. Even now, while Al Capone served a short term for carrying a gun in Philadelphia, the organization functioned smoothly, helped by corrupt officials and a public that was indifferent. Social headquarters of the mob was the Cafe Montmartre. This night, the night of June 17th, 1929, the gang was to encounter its chief adversary: a Prohibition agent named Eliot Ness.” Read More