The Untouchables

The Untouchables was produced by Desilu studios but it was a true Quinn Martin production. It was one of the first of his shows that was to use what would become one of his production trademarks. He always used a voice over narrator on most of his shows. The narrator of this program was famed newsman Walter Winchell. The show was about Government Agent Eliot Ness and his band of Agents fight against organized crime. They were called the Untouchables because no crime boss could touch them by bribing them to look the other way on crime. The show aired on ABC on Thursday nights at 9:30 starting on October 15, 1959. The show was based on the autobiography of Eliot Ness. A special two part semi-documentary based on the book was aired on the Desilu playhouse in April of 1959. It did very well and was quickly made into a series. The search to find the right actor to play Eliot Ness was hard. They finally settled on Van Johnson. The night before they were to begin filming Mrs. Johnson, Van’s wife and manager, called the man in charge of Desilu, Desi Arnez, and demanded more money. Arnez told her no and they would get someone else to play the role. Now they were stuck. Filming started tomorrow and they had no star. A quick call to Robert Stack solved that problem. So if you ever see the first episode with Mr. Stack and his clothes don’t seem to fit and he doesn’t seem to know his lines very well now you know why. The costume department didn’t have time to change the clothes and he didn’t have time to learn all of the script.
Critics hated the show because it was so violent. Every week ended with a mob boss riddled with bullets. Viewers loved the show and one of its saving graces was that the early episodes were historically accurate. I say the early ones but later ones started to stray from history. You see as the show went on it was harder and harder to find crooks famous enough for Ness and his men to fight. Since the special on Desilu Playhouse ended with Al Capone already captured the TV series dealt with them fighting Capone’s second in command Frank Nitti. Along the way they also took on Bugs Moran, Ma Barker, Mad Dog Coll and Dutch Schultz. Many people didn’t like the dramatic license the show took. Ness was a Treasury agent but cases like Ma Barker were handled by the FBI. The estate of Al Capone sued because of the use of his name for profit. Prison officials didn’t like being shown as giving Mr. Capone soft treatment. All of this may have gotten any other show taken off the air. However, the Untouchables was too big of a hit to let go. They finally added to each episode that certain parts were fictionalized. Mr. Stack said the show didn’t take much acting. All he had to do was react to what the crooks said or did. It was the contrast that made the show work. Many famous and up and coming actors were on this series. Like Neville Brand, William Bendix, Lloyd Nolan, Peter Falk and in the first year Jerry Paris was a regular. Mr. Paris later went on to greater fame on the Dick Van Dyke show as Jerry Helper. On that show he got started as a TV and movie director. He was one of the main directors on Dick Van Dyke and Happy Days. Mr. Paris also directed some of the Police Academy movies before he passed away. His last known screen appearance to me was when he was in a lineup in the last Police Academy film that he also directed. Mr. Stack got many offers to appear on other programs as Eliot Ness. He turned them down as he felt it took away from the show. He did accept one. Lucille Ball, on one of her shows after I Love Lucy, had him on as Eliot Ness. He was still under contract to Desilu at the time and after her divorce from Desi Arnez she was the sole owner of Desilu. I guess he didn’t want to make the boss angry at him.
Like many TV shows in the past 25 years it was made into a big budget film. It starred Kevin Costner and Sean Connery. It was a huge hit and Mr. Connery won and Oscar for best supporting actor. I thought that this would get the show rerun in syndication. I couldn’t wait as I had never seen it before. Sadly I heard that Paramount who bought Desilu studios wanted too much money for the syndication rights and stations in my area didn’t get it. I think I saw one episode on a cable station but they stopped running it too.
A new syndicated version was produced in 1992 and released in 1993. It starred Tom Amandes and John Rhys-Davies. Only 44 episodes of the new show were produced. I guess it didn't have that Quinn Martin touch.