S1.E2

Ma Barker and Her Boys

Episode aired Oct 22, 1959
52m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Claire Trevor in The Untouchables (1959)

Ness has tracked down the notorious bank robber Ma Barker, a woman who turned her back on religion in order to lead a life of crime with her sons.Ness has tracked down the notorious bank robber Ma Barker, a woman who turned her back on religion in order to lead a life of crime with her sons.Ness has tracked down the notorious bank robber Ma Barker, a woman who turned her back on religion in order to lead a life of crime with her sons.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.6/10

180

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos10

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Top cast17

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Robert Stack

Eliot Ness

Claire Trevor

Kate Clark 'Ma' Barker

Vaughn Taylor

George 'Pa' Barker

Adam Williams

Lloyd Barker

Joe Di Reda

Fred Barker

Robert Ivers

Herman Barker

Peter Baldwin

Arthur 'Doc' Barker

Jerry Paris

Agent Martin Flaherty

Abel Fernandez

William Youngfellow

Louise Fletcher

Eloise

Walter Winchell

Narrator
(voice)

Walter Bacon

Customer in Post Office
(uncredited)

Lovyss Bradley

Choir Member
(uncredited)

Florence Lake

Choir Member
(uncredited)

Karen Norris

Choir Member
(uncredited)

William H. O'Brien

Bank Employee
(uncredited)

Emerson Treacy

Reverend
(uncredited)

Director
- Joe Parker
Writers
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
When J. Edgar Hoover learned of this episode, he contacted the producers and insisted that in future broadcasts the episode be shown with a disclaimer stating that the FBI, not the Treasury Department, was the lead agency in the Barker case. The producers agreed and inserted a spoken disclaimer over the end credits whenever this episode was rerun (the disclaimer was not included on the recent DVD release).

Goofs
When the final motel Ma and her four boys are staying at is first shown, a sign in the window advertises that the rooms have TV, over a decade before commercial TV was available in Minnesota.

Connections
Featured in Star Trek: Voyager: Memorial (2000)

Soundtracks
Rock of Ages
(uncredited)
Music by Thomas Hastings
Lyrics by Augustus Montague Toplady

User reviews4

Review

Featured review

6/10

Gangster Mother of the year

Two Oscar winning actresses from different generations, Claire Trevor and Louise Fletcher, star in this wildly fictional tale of how Eliot Ness and his Untouchables aid in the taking down of that notorious bank robbing family the Barkers. Anyone with a modicum of knowledge knows Ness had nothing to do with that operation. When Frank Sinatra and J. Edgar Hoover both object to a program that's taking in a lot of territory pilgrim.

Still Trevor gives one great expansive performance as the infamous gangster mother of the year, Ma Barker. She turns out to be the male role model as opposed to poor ineffectual Vaughn Taylor who she and the four sociopathic sons she raised. Louise Fletcher is the girlfriend of one of them who Trevor makes most definitely unwelcome. Ain't nobody good enough for her lovely sons.

That final shootout that has gone down in gangster lore when the family opens up the family arsenal is classic. This family could have been the poster family for the NRA.