Untouchables: Season 3 vol. 2

One of the oldest, most respected and popular type of television program is the crime series. Millions of law abiding citizens tune into their favorite crime drama and for a brief time can vicariously experience the life of the criminal and the dedicated law enforcement agent who always brings the bad guy to justice. This is an extension of the childhood play theme of cops and robbers that most of engaged in during our youth. While the advances in technology has altered the format of such play with the advent of ultra violent video games but the internal need for such play remains. The same holds true for how cops and robbers is depicted on television. In the old days a detective hit the dank dark streets in search of clue and information that would lead to catching the crook. Now most series depend on the high tech world of modern forensic science. There is no question that these new shows are exciting with the flashing lights and computers about a generation away from the current state of the art. Still, there is something about the old school charm about men using little more than their wits, ingenuity and perseverance to get the bad guy. Thankfully, for those of us that fondly remember those old television series CBS paramount has turn our DVD players into a time machine to transport us back to relive those favorite series. One of my favorites is almost completely out on disc now, ‘The Untouchables’. Admittedly, I was a bit too young to have watched during their initial airings in the late fifties but when I was a bit old and the reruns were in syndication I tried to never miss an episode. The series ran for four seasons between 1959 and 1963 and they are now up the second half of the third season. This was a series that never jumped the shark; remaining consistently engaging for its entire run. Watching these episodes again was like a breath of fresh air going back to when crime series were your basic good versus evil stories. After all this is the oldest theme in history and it just across so incredibly well in this show.

This series was an early member of one on the most successful production companies on TV; Quinn Martin. They specialized in crime dramas and even today few production companies can rival them for quality of the sheer number of hits. At that time television was still young enough that shows were presented in a more familiar format such as a short play. Typically Q-M shows rigidly adhered to this with a prologue to set up the plot, the acts broken by commercials and an epilogue to wrap everything up. One of the most distinctive features of a Quinn martin show was the use of a narrator. In other series the voice was typically a rich, resounding baritone nut here the famous clipped, nasal voice of news columnist Walter Winchell was there to set the story up. By farther main attraction to this series was the time and place of its setting; Middle America in the thirties. This was the era when gangsters ruled with fingers in every possible money making endeavor. This was part of America’s fascination with organized crime long before anyone imagined ‘The Godfather’ or ‘The Sopranos’.

The Untouchables were an elite group of Federal agents lead by the epitome of the honest incorruptible cop; Eliot Ness (Robert Stack). Along with his team including William Youngfellow (Abel Fernandez), ‘Rico’ Rossi (Nick Georgiade) and Lee Hobson (Paul Picerni) the Untouchables sought out organized crime going after everyone from the lowest rank and file hood to the leader of the crime syndicates. In this half of season three the go after land deals to launder illegal profits to the illegal immigration of German brewers to run the now legal breweries. Ness hopes to use interrupting this scheme as a way to interfere with the mob’s business to ultimately get at his arch nemesis; Frank Nitti, successor to the incarcerated Al Capone. In another episode the story focuses on the aftermath of prohibition with the syndicates moving on to another profitable vice; narcotics. Ness and the men go after a major shipment of heroin that is slated to supply much off the Mid-west. Of course the mob was well diversified running a white slavery ring out of Chicago’s soup kitchens. In all cases the crooks rarely just give up when cornered, you can usually count on at least one major shoot out to keep things lively.

CBS Paramount certainly has the best interest of the fans in mind. They must have taken a lot of care with the original elements of the series. The black and white video has held up better than most of us after some fifties years. On my player it up converted to 1080p with excellent results. The picture had very little grain and no artifacts that were too annoying. I had my 7.1 receiver reprocess the old with an audio program that emulated an old mono movie in a neighborhood movie house. This added just the right film noir look and sound to the series increasing the already enjoyable experience.

Posted 11/14/09