User Reviews

'Porker' Davis is making a fortune in the slot machine business. However, this small-time guy has been doing well enough that Joe Bomer (Tom Drake) and his hoods have noticed and have decided to take a huge piece of Davis' action. However, when the hoods notice that the payout on the machines isn't the 70% they demanded, they decide to teach Porker a lesson...and Porker, unexpectedly, shoots the muscle come to beat him up. Now Porker is on the run and he looks to his friend Benjy (Martin Balsam) to help him out of a jam. But is Benjy the friend he seems to be or is he working both sides of the fence? And what's with his wife (Cloris Leachman)?

It's rather odd seeing Tom Drake playing a hood. During the 1940s, Drake played nice guys...such as the boy next door in "Meet Me in St. Louis". This isn't a bad thing...just an unusual casting decision. Overall, it's a very good episode and is different enough from most episodes to make it a bit unique. Worth seeing.

Poor Martin Balsam was once a big shot, but he was brought down by others, two to be specific, one of them, Gavin McLeod, a former friend of his. When McLeod, who's fair to medium high in the rackets, appears to be getting too big for his britches, top guy Tom Drake doesn't like what he sees and hears. McLeod is in trouble now, is nearly killed by Mike "Moose" Mazurki, asks old buddy Balsam to help an old pal out, and Balsam obliges,--or does he?

The screws are turned on both guys by Drake, who now holds all the high cards. Balsam was once bigger than McLeod, but McLeod and Drake cut down erstwhile top man Marty, who on the surface seems to bear no ill will toward anybody; and he does seems to love his blowzy, aspiring singer wife, Cloris Leachman, who'd rather her hubby bought her nice things, like a new hat once in a while. Slot machines figure prominently in this episode, which deals with the various ways they can be tampered with.

For all the business about slot machines, which are thrown out windows, taken apart, then replaced by newer, better ones, they're really only a symbol of a larger corruption. As Untouchables episodes go, this one isn't all that violent. It's more of a series of character studies, of how big men are brought down, become middle men, and are then trapped due to what's expected of him by those higher in the food chain. This is a deceptively quiet and cruel episode. In the days when gangs ruled the streets of Chicago, it seems that you just couldn't win. Solid performances all around; and no hamming this time.

Slot machines are back in Chicago and they're under the control of Tom Drake. He and his goon squad headed by chief goon Mike Mazurki are running roughshod over all the independents including Gavin McLeod. So much so that when McLeod feels he's been pushed enough he kills Mazurki. Can't really blame him with a guy as big as Mike Mazurki coming if you can reach for a gun. But that's not how Drake sees it.

All this is being manipulated by Martin Balsam who has nursed a long grudge against both Drake and McLeod. He works for Drake, but he's about taking both of them out. And his wife Cloris Leachman is dissatisfied with her drab existence with Balsam is ready to take him out.

Robert Stack and the squad have little to do in this episode but see everyone kill each other off. Still they do it Chicago gangster style.