The Untouchables was a triumph of the television crime/gangster genre produced at the high point of the U.S. film series drama in the early 1960s. It featured the crusade of federal agent Eliot Ness against the Prohibition era underworld of "Scarface" Al Capone. The long-running series featured early roles from a variety of screen personalities (such as Leslie Nielsen, Charles Bronson, Leonard Nimoy, Robert Redford, and Robert Duvall) as well as established Hollywood players (Lee Van Cleef, Lee Marvin, Patricia Neal, Barbara Stanwyck). The show was a watershed that set new standards for action drama and pioneered a more explicit approach to the representation of violence on television--a development that provoked controversy and acclaim in equal measure.
Tise Vahimagi details the development of the gangster genre and places The Untouchables firmly in the wider context of American cinema and television of the 1950s and 1960s, offering a unique sidelight onto the social and political events of the period. The book also includes illustrations and detailed credits providing a full production history for followers of one of the best-loved cult crime series of all time.