The Untouchables (1959): Ring of Terror-- Boxing ring, that is. July 1931, the Chicago Sports Arena was like a hundred other boxing rings across America-- a place where young toughs from reform schools and rotting tenements, willing to sacrifice their blood, could try to rise above the oppression of poverty. But the young men with the boxing gloves only got a small amount of the money; the big payoffs went to the gangsters. Joey McGrath is an up-and-coming young fighter, 23 KOs in 25 fights, and the sports writers have him tagged as the next light-Heavyweight Champ. However, tonight, Joey is having such a bad boxing match that his manager, Barney Jarreau, smells a "fix." When Joey is being pummeled by "Rocky" Pearson in the 9th round, Barney throws in the towel. Joey collapses. After Joey dies, Barney confronts gangster Acropolis, who was up to something. Fights fall under the jurisdiction of the State Athletic Commission, but when the coroner finds morphine in the dead boxer's body, it becomes a job for Ness and his Untouchables. (Morphine, by the way, is a depressant, not a stimulant; therefore no athlete would deliberately take that during a sporting event-- somebody wanted Joey to lose the fight.) Bad news travels fast. Acropolis tells Krasna, former numbers boss now heading the gambling syndicate, that Ness is snooping around. Krasna had arranged for manager Herbie Snow to drug the boxer, and if anything goes wrong Barney Jarreau was going to be the patsy. Barney is an honest man, he wants to talk to the State Athletic Commission, but Acropolis pays him a visit and blackmails him: Barney's wife is in the country illegally, and could be deported. Herbie gets rubbed out. Ness goes to the to Jarreau's apartment, and visits Mrs. Jarreau: 41, beautiful, but with a sadness in her eyes. She tells him her husband left her. Ness then pays a visit to Barney Jarreau at the gym. Ness tells him Joey had so much morphine in his body he was in no condition to defend himself, and suspects him of having the trainer do it, so he could make a few lousy bucks off the fight, and then having the trainer rubbed out so he couldn't talk. Barney belts him one. Later, Acropolis gets rubbed out. Next day, Ness visits Barney again, and tells him the gun that shot Acropolis is registered in his name, but has his wife's fingerprints on it. Since Barney isn't forthcoming with information, Ness says he's under arrest. The charge is "striking a federal officer." Barney: "But that was yesterday." Ness: "It took me 24 hours to get mad!" Mrs. Jarreau shows up in court, and confesses she is an illegal alien, and that she shot Acropolis in self-defense. This clears her husband of murder; and since the cat is out of the bag about her being an illegal alien, he is now free to testify against Krasna, who is apprehended by Rico and Rossman as he is attempting to flee, and ends up spending the rest of his life in prison. Mrs. Jarreau was given a suspended sentence and deported to Budapest, where she lives with her husband. (So, Barney "stands by his woman"-- that's true love.) (synopsis by: kdh)

Starring:

Abel Fernandez, Nicholas Georgiade, Paul Picerni, Robert Stack, Steve London, Walter Winchell

Genre:

Action, Crime, Drama