User Reviews

While I do enjoy watching reruns of "The Untouchables", you really cannot take them as history lessons. Too often, the show HIGHLY fictionalized the lives of various thugs and often introduced Elliott Ness or the Untouchables into the stories even though they had absolutely nothing to do with these cases. One great example is the Ma Barker episode, the other is this one, "The George 'Bugs' Moran Story". Moran's criminal activities were completely misrepresented in this episode--and I could find no mention of him kidnapping anyone or trying to horn into a local labor union--not that labor unions were exactly immune from mob influence. The real story of Moran is interesting-- but as it had nothing to do with the Untouchables, this one is just about 100% fiction.

When the show begins, Moran (Lloyd Nolan) kidnaps a labor leader's boy. The father (Jack Warden) is naturally furious--especially since this wasn't done for money but to force the Moran gang's way into the union. As for Ness (Robert Stack), he was obviously given the week off and he's only see briefly talking over the phone to Ageny Flaherty (Jerry Paris) and Flaherty runs the entire operation while Ness supposedly is in DC doing something...

This is a reasonably exciting episode but the absence of Ness was pretty obvious. This slightly weakens the show and really wasn't explained well. This combined with the completely fictional nature of the show make it a bit weak.

From the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, George Moran better known as Bugs to the public has hatched on a new scheme involving taking over a trucking union to strongarm management. But now that Al Capone is away, The Untouchables are targeting Moran. And it's number 2 Untouchable Jerry Paris doing the targeting because Eliot Ness is in Washington, DC.

Lloyd Nolan plays Moran as a smooth article and completely the opposite of what he was in real life. Kidnapping is his tool here, first he kidnaps union local president Jack Warden's son to gain control. Then he kidnap trucking firm owner Harry Shannon's son to blackmail the company into recognizing the union.

Unlike a lot of episodes this one is left unresolved as narrator Walter Winchell reminds us that labor racketeering is a problem now even as it was in the days of The Untouchables.

Lloyd Nolan stars as George "Bugs" Moran, the number two man on the wanted list now that Al Capone was behind bars. The date is March, 1932, and Moran is kidnapping people among other things. In this episode, he kidnaps a small boy about 12.

Elliott Ness, who has to go to Washington to give details of Capone's case, leaves "Martin Flaherty" in charge. Marty has Moran tailed night and day. After Moran makes a phone call to the parents of the young boy (whose father is played by Jack Warden), Flaherty starts to get wind of what the famous crook is doing.

This episode is good because Nolan made it so, especially with his speech to the union workers. His kidnapping plan was solely to get control of a local truckers' union (the boy's father was president of the union) and the speech he gives them is riveting. That was the highlight of the show, I thought. I also was impressed with the ending: a very realistic one, and not one you'd expect. The only disappointment was Robert Stack taking the week off as "Ness." He only had two very short scenes. (Odd the star of the show would take off in only the fourth episode of the series.)

One last thing that really impressed was the quality of the transfer. So far, this Untouchables - Season One DVD looks good. For TV shows that almost 60 years old, the picture is sharp and the black-and-white contrasts outstanding. In spots, it looks like an excellent film noir of the '40s.