The Untouchables is an American crime drama that ran from 1959 to 1963 on the ABC Television Network, produced by Desilu Productions. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized Ness' experiences as a Prohibition agent, fighting crime in Chicago in the 1930s with the help of a special team of agents handpicked for their courage, moral character, and incorruptibility, nicknamed the Untouchables. The book was later made into a film in 1987 (also called The Untouchables) by Brian De Palma, with a script by David Mamet, and a second less-successful TV series in 1993.
A powerful, hard-hitting action drama, and a landmark crime series,The Untouchables won series star Robert Stack an Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series in 1960.
Series overview
The series originally focused on the efforts of a real-life squad of Prohibition agents employed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and led by Eliot Ness (Robert Stack), that helped bring down the bootleg empire of "Scarface" Al Capone, as described in Ness's bestselling 1957 memoir. This squad was nicknamed "The Untouchables", because of their courage and honesty; they could not be bribed or intimidated by the Mob. Eliot Ness himself had died suddenly in May, 1957, shortly before his memoir and the subsequent TV adaptation were to bring him fame beyond any he experienced in his lifetime.
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The Untouchables is a 1987 American gangster film directed by Brian De Palma and written by David Mamet. Based on the book The Untouchables (1957), the film stars Kevin Costner as government agent Eliot Ness, Robert De Niro as gang leader Al Capone, and Sean Connery as Irish-American officer Jimmy Malone (based on the real life Irish-American agent and "Untouchables" member Marty Lahart). The film follows Ness' autobiographical account of the efforts his Untouchables team to bring Capone to justice during Prohibition. The Grammy Award-winning score was composed by Ennio Morricone and features some period-correct music by Duke Ellington.
The Untouchables was released on June 3, 1987 and received positive reviews. Observers praised the film for its approach as well as its direction. The film was also a financial success, grossing $76 million domestically, and it was nominated for four Academy Awards, of which Connery received one for Best Supporting Actor.
Plot
During Prohibition in 1930, Al Capone has nearly the whole city of Chicago under his control and supplies illegal liquor. Bureau of Prohibition agent Eliot Ness is assigned to stop Capone, but his first attempt at a liquor raid fails due to corrupt policemen tipping Capone off. He has a chance meeting with Irish-American veteran officer Jimmy Malone, who is fed up with the rampant corruption and offers to help Ness, suggesting that they find a man from the police academy who has not come under Capone's influence. They recruit Italian-American trainee George Stone for his superior marksmanship and intelligence. Joined by accountant Oscar Wallace, assigned to Ness from Washington, D.C., they conduct a successful raid on a Capone liquor cache and start to gain positive publicity, with the press dubbing them "The Untouchables." Capone later kills the henchman in charge of the cache as a warning to his other men.
The Untouchables is an American crime drama series that aired for two seasons in syndication, from January 1993 to May 1994. The series portrayed work of the real life Untouchables federal investigative squad in Prohibition-era Chicago and its efforts against Al Capone's attempts to profit from the market in bootleg liquor.
The series features Tom Amandes as Eliot Ness and William Forsythe as Al Capone, and was based on the 1959 series and 1987 film of the same name.
Synopsis
Eliot Ness (Amandes), disgusted with the widespread criminality that Al Capone (Forsythe) has brought to his home town, Chicago, and inspired by the example of his brother-in-law, Alexander Jamie (Patrick Clear), a federal law enforcement officer, becomes a government investigator himself, and puts together a special squad specifically dedicated to putting Capone behind bars.