The Scarface Mob

Back in the good old days of television censorship, shows like THE UNTOUCHABLES were never allowed to be shown without first having passed the strict rules of censorship insisted upon by sponsors and ever-cautious studio executives. As history has shown us, eventually there was a backlash to such concerns. The end result? Well, such considerations are always subjective and many viewers today might wonder aloud how shows like THE SOPRANOS could ever have come to be in such an environment.

For better or for worse, things have changed. But those who might label shows like THE UNTOUCHABLES "naïve" had best be reminded that it took an awful lot of creativity to work around the limits of early television censorship to present programming as violent, hard-hitting and memorable as THE UNTOUCHABLES or, as we have it here: THE SCARFACE MOB.

THE SCARFACE MOB was the name of the two-part pilot for the Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse Anthology series on CBS. Desilu was the television production company created by Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. Together they were committed to the artistic growth as well as financial success of the medium. The same way they pushed the envelope in comedy with I LOVE LUCY no doubt inspired their attempts to do the same with drama. We'll never known the full extent of the battles that went on behind closed doors to finally get the green light from rival network ABC (after CBS passed) to go ahead with the weekly series of THE UNTOUCHABLES. Two factors must have come to mind in favour of producing the show. The series was based on fact and not too distant recent (though almost forgotten) history; and more importantly, each episode of THE UNTOUCHABLES ultimately represented a morality play with good triumphing over evil. Thus, with the inherent morality intact, THE SCARFACE MOB, with a lot of editing apparently, gave birth to the long-running popular program THE UNTOUCHABLES that proved over its four-season life span there was an audience for such violent fare-so long as the good guys won in the end.

Robert Stack (sounding like Gary Cooper's younger brother) stars as agent Eliot Ness, whose real-life exploits during Prohibition were largely forgotten by the time the series was made. Ness struggled financially and was almost penniless in his later years. He died in1957 of a heart attack at the mere age of 54 while working on his memoirs as a desperate means of generating some income. Stack was perfect for the part, though he was not first choice. That distinction went to Arnaz' friend, Van Johnson, whose agent made the fatal error of asking for too much money--$10,000 for each of the two-part episodes! Outraged, Arnaz withdrew the offer and called Stack, offering him the role. Stack accepted immediately and the rest is television history!

The real standout performance is Neville Brand as Al Capone, broad Italian accent and all. Combined with terrific atmosphere, a constant stream of bullets, beautiful women in '20s-era dresses and strongly delineated characters who are either black or white, good or bad, THE SCARFACE MOB sizzles with the promise of danger at every turn. Ambiguity and subtlety have no place in the world of THE SCARFACE MOB.

Unlike the DePalma picture of the late 80's, this original pilot film for the Untouchables TV show features great performances and really conveys the look and feel of Prohibition era Chicago. Well, it makes you feel as if you were there, whether or not it's all that accurate. Robert Stack once said he didn't so much act as react to the colorful gangsters of the show.

My favorite is Neville Brand, who plays Scarface Al Capone. He's a riot to watch, particularly in the scene where he's berating his lieutenants one moment, then laughing lasciviously the next. Bruce Gordon is Frank Nitti, "The Enforcer". He's crude and brutal, all in all the perfect villain. Watch for the scene where he's working over one of his boys because he can't get Ness and his crew to play ball. Each blow is accented by a musical flourish, while the unlucky victim of his rage sobs and cries out "mama mia! mama mia!".

The TV show dispensed with the Hollywood Italian accents. I can't say whether they'd be offensive to the average Italian-American viewer or not. I do know that the Chicago Outfit, or mob, didn't like it. They went to far as to put a contract on Desi Arnaz, whose studio, Desilu, produced the series. Needless to say, it was never filled.

This will always be one of my favorite gangster films. It's not on the same level as The Godfather, Casino or Goodfellas, Key Largo or Scarface, but it's just as entertaining. It gets a solid Three Stars in my book...

In 1929, in Chicago, Agent Eliot Ness (Robert Stack) asks his chief to form a small group of incorruptible men to fight Al Capone (Neville Brand), who is imprisoned for income tax evasion. Eliot Ness travels to Washington to analyze hundreds of files and find seven men to compose his elite team named The Untouchables. He concludes that attacking Al Capone's breweries would considerably reduce the income of Al Capone and his mobsters and they would have difficulties bribing politicians, dirty cops and other powers that be. The Untouchables bug Al Capone's telephone, use an inside informer and investigate the locations of his breweries. In reprisal, Eliot Ness' fiancée Betty Anderson (Pat Crowley) is attacked at home, forcing them to get married on the same night. Agent Joe Fuselli (Keenan Wynn), who is his friend, dies of an attack by the gangsters on their car protecting Eliot Ness. Al Capone also kills his informer and witness. But The Untouchables are relentless and will do any thing to arrest the Al Capone.

"The Scarface Mob" (1959) is a feature based on the edition of the the two parts of the "Pilot" of the TV series "The Untouchables", with the story of the formation of the incorruptible elite group in Chicago that chased Al Capone and put him in prison. In Brazil, it was released by Paramount in a box of "The Untouchables", with the explanation of the episodes and the feature in the beginning. The feature / episodes are based on the autobiography "The Untouchables" by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley. This series was very successful in Brazil, and Eliot Ness was a kind of idol for the youths. This episode is very violent and proves that violence from criminals must be responded in the same level from the good lawmen to have results. Unfortunately, many contemporary politicians do not agree with these procedures and implement laws, making difficult and obstructing honest police officers to act, at least in Brazil. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Scarface e a Máfia" ("Scarface and the Mafia")

Al Capone versus Eliot Ness--Evil versus Good--Darkness versus Light...

The late 'Fifties brought B&W television to its highest point and "The Untouchables" was a case in point. People have a way of forgetting that the series--with its graphic violence--was controversial in its own time.

Robert Stack(as Eliot Ness) was here the perfect film noir hero--tough, laconic and utterly loyal to his subordinates. Neville Brand, no slouch himself, lit up the screen as Al Capone--sadistic, as tough as Ness and totally without concern for his own people(or anyone else, for that matter).

The reconstruction of mood and ambiance in this movie(re-edited from the TV series) is flawless. The mythic world which you see here is one that psychologist Carl Jung would have approved of. It was the "world" in which my own Dad had grown up--as seen through a child's eyes.

But, as history, it is woefully wide of the mark. The real Eliot Ness left Federal service after a few short years and was much less moral and self-possessed than the character played by Robert Stack. The real Al Capone had a weakness for beautiful women which ultimately killed him.

While Ness put the Chicago Gangsters under financial pressure, an accountant from the IRS actually put this multiple murderer behind bars--for income tax evasion.

I saw this as a kid, with my Dad at my side. It made me feel that there is, in the end, no issue more important than simple justice. Since that time, like most folks, I've learned to live with moral ambiguity. But that's not all good news, by any means.

"The Scarface Mob" is not a gangster film; that's what I claim puts it head and shoulders above all other anti-crime films. It's really about what motivates an Eliot Ness and what makes his sort of man different from the Al Capone's of this world. I have studied the era extensively; and those who called this "authentic-looking" Depression Era dramatized fiction have the case right; the direction by Phil Karlsen, as good as any director is at putting physical action on the screen, is very authentic. Nelson Riddle's jarring score and the great sets add much to the movie. Most of the acting, by stalwart Robert Stack, Keenan Wynn, Bruce Gordon and others is very good indeed. This is a story of the hardest sort to make-- a tale of an ethical man trying to bring down an evil one; it's the sort of story that many TV series have failed to carry off. In this feature-length film, scenes such as the harrowing setting of a wiretap in an alleyway by night, truckborne raids on breweries, a knife attack on Ness, nightclub scenes, Capone's return from serving a jail sentence to reestablish his rule over his cowed mobsters and many others are exceedingly memorable. The violence in the film is mostly honest, the camera-work and lighting amazing for a made-for-TV 1950's production. But the key to the film's extraordinary power is the keeping of context by Ness and his men--truly untouchable in a time when bribery was all-too-effective at corrupting many who had sworn to protect citizens from the Capones. It's hard to say enough nice things about such a memorable film experience.