The Untouchables (1993 TV series)

Last updated
The Untouchables
Untouchables 1993 title.jpg
Genre Crime drama
Created by Christopher Crowe
Starring Tom Amandes
William Forsythe
David James Elliott
Composer Joel Goldsmith
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes42 (list of episodes)
Production
ProducersTim Iacofano
Frederick J. Lyle
Camera setup Single-camera
Running time4548 minutes
Production companiesChristopher Crowe Productions
Paramount Television
Original release
Network Syndication
ReleaseJanuary 11, 1993 (1993-01-11) 
May 22, 1994 (1994-05-22)

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.

Contents

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. [1]

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.

Cast and characters

ActorCharacter
Tom Amandes Agent Eliot Ness
John Rhys-Davies Agent Michael Malone
Paul Regina Frank Nitti
David James Elliott Agent Paul Robbins
Michael Horse Agent George Steelman
John Haymes Newton Agent Tony Pagano
Hynden Walch Mae Capone
Nancy Everhard Catherine Ness
William Forsythe Al Capone
Shea Farrell Agent Sean Quinlan

Episodes

SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
1 18January 11, 1993 (1993-01-11)June 13, 1993 (1993-06-13)
2 24October 3, 1993 (1993-10-03)May 22, 1994 (1994-05-22)

DVD releases

Visual Entertainment has released the complete series on DVD in Region 1 on December 27, 2016. [2] [3]

The Untouchables was also released on Blu-ray in 2017. [4]

Soundtrack album

Dragon's Domain Records released a limited edition 2-CD set of Joel Goldsmith's work on the series in 2017, featuring the score from the two-hour pilot film and selections from the episodes "The Seduction of Eliot Ness," "A Man's Home Is His Castle," "Stir Crazy," "Railroaded," the two-parter "Cuba," "Attack on New York," "Mind Games," "The Legacy," "Stadt," "Til Death Do Us Part," and "Death and Taxes: Part 2." [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al Capone</span> American gangster and businessman (1899–1947)

Alphonse Gabriel Capone, sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the Chicago Outfit from 1925 to 1931. His seven-year reign as a crime boss ended when he went to prison at the age of 33.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eliot Ness</span> American Prohibition agent (1903–1957)

Eliot Ness was an American Prohibition agent known for his efforts to bring down Al Capone while enforcing Prohibition in Chicago. He was leader of a team of law enforcement agents nicknamed The Untouchables, handpicked for their incorruptibility. The release of his memoir The Untouchables, months after his death, launched several screen portrayals establishing a posthumous fame for Ness as an incorruptible crime fighter.

<i>The Untouchables</i> (1959 TV series) 1959 American TV series

The Untouchables is an American crime drama produced by Desilu Productions that ran from 1959 to 1963 on the ABC television network. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalizes the experiences of Ness 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 celebrated film in 1987 and a second, less-successful TV series in 1993.

Untouchables or The Untouchables most commonly refers to Untouchables, a 1930s American law enforcement unit led by Eliot Ness, or various media based on them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Forsythe (actor)</span> American actor

William Forsythe is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of tough-guy, criminal characters, and has starred in films such as American Me (1992), Raising Arizona (1987), Dick Tracy (1990), Gotti (1996), The Rock (1996), and The Devil's Rejects (2005). He has also played recurring characters in television series such as Boardwalk Empire (2010) and Justified (2010).

The Bureau of Prohibition was the United States federal law enforcement agency formed to enforce the National Prohibition Act of 1919, commonly known as the Volstead Act, which enforced the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution regarding the prohibition of the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages. When it was first established in 1920, it was a unit of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. On April 1, 1927, it became an independent entity within the Department of the Treasury, changing its name from the Prohibition Unit to the Bureau of Prohibition. In 1930, it became part of the Department of Justice. By 1933, with the repeal of Prohibition imminent, it was briefly absorbed into the FBI, or "Bureau of Investigation" as it was then called, and became the Bureau's "Alcohol Beverage Unit," though, for practical purposes it continued to operate as a separate agency. Very shortly after that, once repeal became a reality, and the only federal laws regarding alcoholic beverages being their taxation, it was switched back to Treasury, where it was renamed the Alcohol Tax Unit.

<i>Department S</i> (TV series) British spy-fi TV series (ITV, 1969–70)

Department S is a British spy-fi adventure series, produced by ITC Entertainment. It consists of 28 episodes which originally aired in 1969 and 1970. It stars Peter Wyngarde as author Jason King, Joel Fabiani as Stewart Sullivan, and Rosemary Nicols as computer expert Annabelle Hurst. These three are agents for a fictional special department of Interpol. The head of Department S is Sir Curtis Seretse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shout! Studios</span> American home video and music company

Shout! Studios is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued in DVD or Blu-ray format, include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy specials. Considered a boutique Blu-ray label, Shout! Studios, in addition to its mainline home video releases, also releases films under the sublabels Scream Factory, Shout! Select, and Shout! Factory Kids.

Thomas Amandes is an American actor. His best-known role to date is that of Eliot Ness in the 1990s television series The Untouchables; he also played Geena Davis' boyfriend in The Long Kiss Goodnight, and Abraham Lincoln in the 2013 film Saving Lincoln.

<i>The Untouchables</i> (film) 1987 American crime film directed by Brian De Palma

The Untouchables is a 1987 American crime film directed by Brian De Palma, produced by Art Linson, and written by David Mamet. The film is loosely based on the book of the same name (1957), the TV series that ran from 1959 to 1963 and the real-life events it was based on, but most of its plot is fictionalized. The film stars Kevin Costner, Charles Martin Smith, Andy García, Robert De Niro, and Sean Connery, and follows Eliot Ness (Costner) as he forms the Untouchables team to bring Al Capone to justice during Prohibition. The Grammy Award–winning score was composed by Ennio Morricone and features period music by Duke Ellington.

<i>The Untouchables</i> (book) Memoir by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley

The Untouchables is an autobiographical memoir by Eliot Ness co-written with Oscar Fraley, published in 1957. The book deals with the experiences of Ness, who was a federal agent in the Bureau of Prohibition, as he fought crime in Chicago in the late 1920s and early 1930s with the help of a special team of agents handpicked for their incorruptibility, nicknamed The Untouchables.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Untouchables (law enforcement)</span> American anti-alcohol trafficking agents

Untouchables were special agents of the U.S. Bureau of Prohibition led by Eliot Ness, who, from 1930 to 1932, worked to end Al Capone's illegal activities by aggressively enforcing Prohibition laws against his organization. Legendary for being fearless and incorruptible, they earned the nickname "The Untouchables" after several agents refused large bribes from members of the Chicago Outfit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Universal Pictures Home Entertainment</span> Home video distribution division of Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment LLC is the home video distribution division of Universal Pictures, an American film studio, owned by NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast.

The Untouchables of Elliot Mouse is a 1996–1997 26-episode half-hour television animated cartoon series loosely inspired by the real life Eliot Ness, and his group of agents colloquially known as the Untouchables, and their investigation into the real life gangster Al Capone, although it does take some liberties with history. The series also parodies the violent atmosphere of Chicago during the Dry Law, as well as the old American films, their heroes and villains. The main characters in this series are four friendly mice: Elliot "Mouse", Gordon, Mr. Wilson, and Jack the Irishman, although there are also some cats and dogs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank J. Wilson</span>

Frank John Wilson was best known as the Chief of the United States Secret Service and a former agent of the Treasury Department's Bureau of Internal Revenue, later known as the Internal Revenue Service. Wilson most notably contributed in the prosecution of Chicago mobster Al Capone in 1931, and as a federal representative in the Lindbergh kidnapping case.

William Jennings Gardner was an American football player, coach, and law-enforcement agent. While working as a Prohibition agent in Chicago, Illinois, Gardner served with Eliot Ness's "Untouchables," a group of hand-picked federal agents who, from 1930 to 1932, sought to put an end to Al Capone's illegal empire. Although Gardner was only involved with the group for a short period of time, he would be prominently mentioned in Ness's memoir of the investigation, The Untouchables, and inspire a recurring character in the 1959 television series based upon that book.

Oscar Fraley was an American sports writer and author, perhaps best known, with Eliot Ness, as the co-author of the American memoir The Untouchables.

The Scarface Mob is an American feature film directed by Phil Karlson and starring Robert Stack. It consists of the pilot episodes for the TV series The Untouchables (1959) that originally screened as a two-part installment of Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse on April 20 and 27 1959. The episodes were cut together and released theatrically as a stand-alone feature outside America in 1959 and inside the US in 1962.

"The Chicago Way" is the eight episode and mid-season finale of the second season of the American science fiction television series Legends of Tomorrow, revolving around the eponymous team of superheroes and their time travelling adventures. It is set in the Arrowverse, sharing continuity with the other television series of the universe. The episode was written by Sarah Nicole Jones and Ray Utarnachitt, and directed by Ralph Hemecker. It was the 24th episode overall.

References

  1. "Untouchable Then and Now". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-10-25.
  2. "TVShowsOnDVD.com – Goodbye". Tvshowsondvd.com. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  3. "The Untouchables – The Complete Collection #6126". Visual Entertainment Inc. Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  4. "The Untouchables: The Complete Collection Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  5. "UNTOUCHABLES, THE - Music from the 1993 Television Series by Joel Goldsmith". Buysoundtrax.stores.yahoo.net. Retrieved 19 May 2019.

Further reading