The Untouchables (1959): Chicago, the 3rd week of November 1932. Working on an anonymous tip, Eliot Ness and his men raid a warehouse; all the crates are filled with champagne bottles, it was a shipment for the New Year's celebrations. Ness has the landlord who owns the warehouse, Michel (french for Michael) Viton, arrested; but he's released. Birdie, a deaf-mute, takes Viton to his boss, Edmund Wald, a bottle manufacturer (he's also the one who tipped Ness, to get rid of the competition). Edmund Wald is secretly making champagne bottles; he also has a man in Indiana making a brew of spiced cider and sugar cane that can pass for champagne. Wald can get all the bogus champagne he needs for $2 a quart-bottle, and then he wants to sell it for $10 a bottle. Wald needs Viton for a capital investment: $100,000 to buy the bogus champagne, and $100,000 to have a bottle-corking machine smuggled in from Europe. Viton says they can steal the corking machine from the Industrial Museum; and Edmund will have to go to his miserly uncle Barney Loomis for the 100 grand. There is only one competitor to get rid of: Seth Otis, a bootlegger dealing in champagne. Wald sends Birdie over to crush Otis' neck with his bare hands. Thanksgiving Eve, Monk and 2 more of Wald's hoods break into the Industrial Museum to steal the corking machine; they needlessly kill the elderly guard. The corking machine is moved into the basement of Edmund's bottling company, they set up their operation there. To get started, Edmund Wald borrows $10,000 from his uncle Barney Loomis; he takes out a stack of bills from his safe (he has another 20 stacks in there, so he must keep 200 grand around the house). But Edmund has to promise to double his money in a week. Edmund buys 4,500 quarts of champagne; his partner Viton meets with Harry Brooks, owner of the ritzy Parkshore Club on Lake Michigan. Viton gets $12 a quart, that's $54,000. Then Viton double-crosses his partner Edmund by telling him he could only get $8 a quart; that's $36,000 so his share is $18,000. Edmund is 2 grand short of the amount he needs to repay his uncle; Viton "generously" offers to lend him the 2 grand. And so Edmund doubled his uncle's money, and he's lost $2,000 in the deal. But now Edmund hits his uncle up for $100,000-- again, he has to promise to double his money. Miserly Barney Loomis won't lend him that kind of money without security, he says Edmund has to buy a life insurance policy naming him as beneficiary. Loomis says, "One more thing-- you pay the premium." Ness and his men raid the Parkshore Club and smash the champagne. Edmund Wald moves his corking machine operation to the outskirts of town. Then he and Viton talk about their options; the Parkshore will reopen, but not in time for New Year's. But if Edmund can talk his uncle into turning his big restaurant into a speak, they'd make a killing on New Year's. So now, they are 3 partners: Edmund will provide the champagne, Barney Loomis will sell it at his club, and Viton will bring all the Parkshore clientele to the club. Cheapskate Loomis makes one addendum: the cost of the renovations will come out of their shares. Meanwhile, Ness goes to Edmund Wald's bottling company; he finds Birdie drinking out of a champagne bottle. Birdie chokes Ness and almost kills him with his bare hands. Birdie runs away. Since Ness and his men are now watching the place like hawks, Edmund decides to take the pressure off-- he takes Birdie to Ness' office in the Federal Building. Birdie uses sign language to tell his story: he's buying champagne from some guy at the pier. Ness and his men pretend to stake out the pier, so Edmund will go ahead with his operation. Greedy Barney Loomis wants to double-cross Viton to get his share, making Barney a 2/3 partner with Edmund. Loomis tells Edmund that Viton only has to get the clientele to his club the first time, after that they'll know how to get to his club by themselves. New Year's at the renovated Loomis club. Cheapskate Barney has bought a $35 tuxedo wholesale. An hour before the clientele arrive, Barney looks over the impressive guest list Viton hands him. Then Edmund has Birdie strangle Loomis, his 2/3 partner. Next, Edmund turns to Viton, saying angrily, "$10 champagne sold for $12 a bottle-- with your partner getting 4!" Edmund shoots Viton. Just then, Ness and his men raid the joint. Ness shoots Edmund Wald. Birdie puts a stranglehold on Ness, but Ness breaks loose and arrests him. The booze operation was over-- the champagne in the club was bubbly, but Edmond Wald's dream of becoming The King of Champagne had gone flat and for much of Chicago's champagne drinking population the New Year of 1933 was ushered in dry. (synopsis by: kdh)

Starring:

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

Genre:

Action, Crime, Drama