The Lawless Years

"The Lawless Years" was a mid-season replacement in the 1958-59 TV season, predating the better known "Untouchables" by about six months. As other reviews have stated, the similarities between "Lawless Years" and "Untouchables" are striking: a stubborn detective who gathers a team of unstoppable agents to fight crime during the Prohibition era.

The setting for this show, however, was New York City, which here seemed to lack some of the color of Chicago. The criminals, unlike the flamboyant bad guys that populated the Second City, seemed almost interchangeable from episode to episode. Barney Ruditsky's squad was likewise void of any strong personality.

The dry subtleties in "The Lawless Years" make their episodes appear like a possible pilot for "The Untouchables". (The pilot for the Eliot Ness show originally aired on Desilu Playhouse.) The reason the latter is remembered, in my opinion, is due to the stronger characterizations and better scripts on "The Untouchables".

"The Lawless Years" works as an enjoyable fill-in-the-blank crime procedural, but if the viewer wants a better taste of the flavor of the Prohibition era, best to stick with "The Untouchables"

Sometimes the magic happens, sometimes it doesn't. Consider this basic plot for a TV series: Back in the roaring twenties, a a tough but honest cop gathers around him an elite force and sets out to stop organized crime in a major American city. Sound familiar? Sure . . . it's The Untouchables, which premiered in 1959 on ABC with Robert Stack as Eliot Ness. Also, though, it's The Lawless Years, which began that same autumn week on 'another network.' James Gregory played Barney Ruditsky, a New York City (The Untouchables was based in Chicago) cop who likewise puts together a task force to take on the mob. But the magic didn't quite happen, because very few people watched, even as The Untouchables became an instantaneous hit. Maybe it's that the fine character actor Gregory (catch him as Angela Lasnbury's pathetic husband in THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE - no, not the abysmal remake, the original!) didn't exude the charisma and sex appeal of a born star like Stack. Maybe the members of his team weren't as interesting and/or diverse. Maybe they didn't have as strong character actors playing as intriguing villains (like Neville Brand and Bruce Gordon as Al Capone and Frank Nitti on the ABC show). Certainly, they did try to capture the tenor of the times and the atmosphere, including excellent music by Max Steiner, was terrific. Maybe it was the lack of Walter Winchell as the narrator, or the fact that at half an hour they couldn't develop as interesting situations. Any way you cut it, this show - which survived for two years - is one of those forgotten exercises in crime drama on the small screen.

This is an exceptional TV noir/police drama. For anyone who liked James Gregory as Inspector Frank Luger on Barney Miller, this is the dramatic role he was satirizing. Gregory is great as the tough, sardonic detective who worked his cases logically. He was never presented as the smartest guy in the room or the one who always saw what everyone else missed (think Steve McGarrett in Hawaii Five-O, either version). The show squeezed a lot into about 23 minutes. There is no fluff in the stories, and the outcomes were always well supported. Lots of early appearances from actors who later made it big as well. A very under-appreciated show.

I do not remember this show from my youth, so I gave it a shot with "The Dutch Schultz Story." Now I'm glad I never watched the series. Despite having Rudisky as a technical advisor, this episode, at least, is fiction based on fact. Schultz was not hit in the manner portrayed. Not even close. Also, there is another version of his last words before expiring.

I give it four stars for the acting and drama.

I have watched nearly every episode of this series.

The plots are based on the memoirs of the real life gangster squad detective and - for me - I prefer this show without the narration of the Untouchables which was spoken in capital letters throughout.

This was a good series and is well worth a look, there is a realism about the way ordinary people were frightened into submission and there isn't the epilogue at the end of each episode which so ruins many shows.

Each episode starts with a slide show detailing the thugs who feature and there is no sympathy from Ruditsky for any of them. What makes this series really great is the fact that the real life Barney Ruditsky was technical adviser - there is an understated realism in each episode.

Believable characters and real stories - well worth a watch.