The Scarface Mob (1959) Late Classic Chicago G-Man Noir

"Once Upon A Time In Chicago"

Directed by Phil Karlson. 

Karlson starts with assistant directing a bunch of Universal Bud Abbot and Lou Costello films. His first directing assignment a romance war musical comedy in 1944, I never seen it and never will look for it, but I watched a lot of Abbot and Costello as a kid. 

Then he makes a few more films in the light vein until he hits the Dark side for the first time with a Charlie Chan film The Shanghai Cobra, a couple of light films again and then The Shadow - Behind the Mask, and Dark Alibi another Charlie Chan followed by frontier epics, westerns, adventure pics . His first Noir that I have seen was Scandal Sheet in 1952. Followed by Kansas City Confidential and 99 River Street with John Payne. Karson then tries directing some TV, followed by four Noir in a row,Tight Spot, color Noir Hell's Island, 5 Against the House, Phenix City Story with then another TV series and then The Brother's Ricco. Karlson knows Noir. He does another TV Series and a western before directing a two part TV pilot film called The Scarface Mob for the TV series called Eliot Ness and The Untouchables. 

The two part The Scarface Mob, however was always, from the get go, intended to be released with in an international "Directors" cut with additional footage and a run time of 1:42:37. 

The film was written by Paul Monash (The Friends of Eddie Coyle) and based on The Untouchables an autobiographical memoir by Eliot Ness that was co-written with Oscar Fraley, and published in 1957 the year Ness died. 

The film was lensed by Charles Straumer who was actually more a TV Cinematographer, and the Music was by Wilbur Hatch.

The film has a huge cast with a lot of Classic Noir vets who bring alsong a lot of cinematic memory. Robert Stack (starred in color noir House of Bamboo, and also in the sleazy "On the Cusp of Noir," Written on the Wind, and in war film Is Paris Burning? besides a lot of TV). Stack plays Eliot Ness, Keenan Wynn (Song of the Thin Man, Phone Call from a Stranger, Shack Out on 101, Touch of Evil, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Once Upon A Time in the West, The Killer Inside Me) plays Joe Fuselli, Barbara Nichols (Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, The Wild Party, Sweet Smell Of Success, The Twilight Zone "Twenty Two," House of Women) is stripper Brandy LaFrance, Pat Crowley (The Wheeler Dealers but mostly TV) as Betty Anderson, Bill Williams (Deadline At Dawn, The Clay Pigeon) as Martin Flaherty, Peter Leeds as LaMarr Kane, Paul Dubov as Jack Rossman, Eddie Firestone as Eric Hanson, Joe Mantell (Twilight Zone "Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room", Mister Buddwing, Chinatown) as George Ritchie, ad William Youngfellow  Bruce Gordon (The Naked City, The Street With Your Name) as Frank Nitti, Neville Brand (D.O.A., Port Of New York, Where The Sidewalk Ends, Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, Kansas City Confidential, Riot In Cellblock 11, The Mad Bomber, The Psychic Killer, as Al Capone. Frank DeKova (Kiss Of Death, Viva Zapata, Split Second, Shack Out on 101, Machine Gun Kelly) as Jimmy Napoli, Bern Hoffman (Nocturne, Boomerang, Naked City, Kiss Me Stupid) as Greasy Thumb Guzik, Paul Picerni as Tony Liguri, John Hoyt (Brute Force, The Bribe, Loan Shark, The Big Combo, The Glass Cage, and Classic Twilight Zone "Will The Real Martians Please Stand Up?" ) as Capone lawyer, Robert Osterloh (Lady Without A Passport, Gun Crazy, Riot in Cell Block 11) as and Walter Winchell as himself. 

The Story

We get a nice title sequence by, who knows (it reminded me of a Sall Bass credit sequence), I searched to give it credit, no dice. The sequence it sets the mood. 

We cut to an aerial of Chicago at night up against the black of Lake Michigan. Here we get the first of Walter Winchell's V.O.'s 

Winchell: Chicago 1929. By law the country was dry, by connivance by Al Capone, Chicago was wet.

We cut to a rain slick street. Winchell continues telling us that even now with Al Capone doing time in Philadelphia on a gun charge, his outfit is running smoothly. Their HQ is the Montmartre Club.

Down the street come two plain black sedans a 1928 Ford Model A and a 1928 Packard. They slowly cruise past the Montmartre Club. They park, and the agents all hop out. Head of this FBI raid is Elliot Ness. 

Robert Stack as Elliot Ness

A group of agents head for the rear exit, while Ness climbs up the stoop to the street entrance. He checks the time and rings the bell. 

A peephole wicket opens and Ness sticks his badge up to it. The door opens and the agents rush inside. At the same time the agents at the rear entrance start chopping at the back door.

 

Its a raid but the club was tipped off. Nobody in the place is drinking booze. The agents check the entire premises its dry. 

Down the stair from the second floor, where Capone's organization has its meeting room, comes Frank Nitti, running things while Al is in stir. One of his bimbos wants to follow but a single toss upwards of Nitti's head sends her back upstairs. 

Bruce Gordon as Frank Nitti

Nitti asks for a search warrant, and a mob lawyer who was at the bar comes over and tells Ness that they will sue for any damages. 

"we'll sue for damages"

When Ness and the agents split Nitti asks one of his guys how much did it cost to get the tip, when he replies $1,000, cheap skate Nitti smacks him and tells him it should have been $500. BTW $1000 dollars in 1929 had the buying power of $18,000 today. 

This is the origin story presented in the film for "The Untouchables" squad, I've never read the book but knowing Hollywood I'd guess Paul Monash just amalgamated various incidents and distilled them into a simple narrative introducing some of the principles. 

Obviously the mob got tipped off and Ness suggests that they form a squad of handpicked agents from all over the country who would be impervious to bribes. Ness is put in charge of of finding these men and he comes up seven honest men. 

So after some toil in the FBI personnel file room we get introduced to the squad in V. O. by Winchell, when they are all assembled at there first meeting in July of 1929. 

Peter Leeds as LaMarr Kane

Eddie Firestone as Eric Hanson

Bill Williams as Martin Flaherty

Paul Dubov as Jack Rossman

Abel Fernandez as William Youngfellow

Robert Osterloff as Tom Kopa

LaMarr Kane, from the Richmond Bureau. Erich Hanson of the San Francisco Bureau a former San Quentin guard, Martin Flaherty a former Boston policeman, New York's Jack Rossman a former Bell Tel lineman and expert wiretapper, William Youngfellow a full blood Cherokee, Tom Kopka from the Scantron Bureau Pennsylvania state trooper and war hero. Late for the meeting Joe Fuselli of the Prohibition Bureau, an ex con, who knows not only all the back alleys of Chicago but also speaks the Sicilian and Neapolitan dialects. 

Keenan Wynne as Joe Fuselli

Cut to Ness and his girl friend Betty Anderson in a night club, their date is interrupted by Joe Fuselli who tells Ness that they located a still. Ness excuses himself and we cut to another raid. 

Pat Crowley as Betty Anderson

The mobster Tony Liguri who was running the operation tries to bribe Ness on the spot, but Ness tells him regardless he has to run in the still operators. 

Liguri and Ness

Liguri tells Ness to meet later at a bar on the corner. At the later meeting Ness arrives with Fuselli and Kane, when Liguri tries to bribe Ness with $100 for each of his men. Ness tells him he wants more. For that, Liguri has to call Nitti. 

Paul Picerni as Tony Liguri

Nitti and the mobs treasurer, Greasy Thumb Guzik arrivewith some goons in tow. One is fresh from Sicily or Napoli Italy. 

Ness tells Nitti he wants $1,000. The Italian in Sicilian begs Nitti to let him knife Ness. Fuselli over hears it and tells Ness and Kane, and when the guy makes his move. They are ready. 

The Italian is going to make a move....

Nitti tells feds that he will take care of the Sicilian and agrees to pay a thousand apiece. We cut to a scene where Ness turns over the money Nitti gaive him to the District Attorney. Six more stills get smashed. Liguri gets blames by Nitti, Nitti thinks he didn't pay off all the money. 

Liguri gets blames by Nitti, Nitti thinks he didn't pay off all the money. Liguri is told by Nitti to get hold of Ness and tell them to lay off or there is going to be real trouble.

So Liguri meets with Ness in a Chicago subway station. He doesn't know he was followed. Liguri tells Ness to lay off the stills, Nitti already worked him over and asks Ness "do you know what can happen to me?' Ness replies that it's already happened. He's arresting him for bribery. Liguri tells him he'll be wasting his time because he'll be sprung by morning. 

But Ness knows it will look to Nitti like Liguria is screwing around behind his back. Liguri suddenly realizes this too and makes a deal with Ness to rat out one of the breweries in exchange for a safe passage out of Chicago.

Note the illegal breweries were big investments for the mob since it needed brew masters, barrels, and grain, and it took a lot of money to set them up. Comparatively the stills were chicken feed. 

So with Liguri's tip the FBI raids the brewery. They get to the warehouse door and discover it's locked. With axes they chop their way inside only to find a second locked steel door on the inside. Ness shoots at the lock and they get inside. 

However all the brewery personnel have escaped down through a man hole. The stall at the two doors gave 'em enough time to all skedaddle. The FBI agents destroy the place and chop holes in the large brew barrels.

Lesson Learned they have to get in fast. So the squad outfits a 5 ton truck with a pointed steel ram attached to it's front along with a wire debris deflector.  

Soon after, the squad gets another break when Agent Youngfellow, through his undercover work, spots a truck delivery that uses flashing headlights to OK the load through to another hidden brewery. 

Ness gets the word, and another raid is planned. This time the ram truck bursts through the wood and steel doors blowing them off their hinges, catching all the brewery workers by surprise. Of course Nitti isn't happy.

Cut to FBI headquarters. A comparatively diminutive man, George Ritchie asks to see Elliot Ness. George introduces himself as the husband of stripper Brandy la France. 

Joe Mantell as George Ritchie

George tells Ness he wants to join his squad, mentioning that Brandy saw Ness's picture in the paper and thought he was a real man. George tells Ness that he has to do something to impress Brandy.

Ness at first thinks the guy is a whack job, tells George that he "doesn't know how we can use you,"  but George announces "what if I could get inside the Capone gang"? 

What if I told you I could get into the Capone gang?

That gets Ness' attention. George tells Ness that he could ask Brandy's uncle Greasy Thumb Guzik for a job, "Her real name is Barbara Guzik. She asks her uncle, he'll give me a job you see? 

Ness answers "I see."

Ness tells him to see if he could get a real inside job. George enthusiastically replies that he'll be a real undercover man. Ness tells George to let them know what happens. Once George leaves the office they laugh,  not taking it seriously but Ness asks what if Brandy LaFrance really is Guzik's niece?

Cut to a nightclub with Ness and Betty Anderson having a date where they meet George who tells Ness that he really needs to talk with him. 

Betty excuses herself and George tells Ness that he overhears a convo where they talked about having him whacked. When Ness asks how he found him George tells him it was just by accident he's at the club with Brandy and her cousin. 

Shortly afterwards Ness finds a dum-dum bullet laying on their table. A signature warming from the Mob. He hides it from Betty/

So Ness and Martin Flaherty meet with George at a subway station and hatch a plan. (Dum-dums are notched at the tip of the bullet so that it flies apart on impact causing maximum damage.)

It's to have George get Flaherty masquerading as a gangster from Cleveland into the private Montmartre Club and ask to use the phone at precisely 2:00AM, so that Ness and Jack Rossman can tap Nitti's phone. 

Rossman needs a recognizable voice to be talking on the phone while he's tapping in. 

George tells Ness and Flaherty that it will be no problem he'll have Brandy with him and it will be easy peas-y.

So George has Flaherty meet him and Brandy at a downtown nightclub to set up a later date at the Montmartre. Brandy like what she sees when she meets Flaherty.

So they set up the next date for the Montmatre Club. Things are going good and Flaherty is introduced to the club's operator. He even asks to use the phone and it's OK'ed. Flaherty slips out of the club for some air and meets Ness and tells him it"s all set. 

As Flaherty heads back to the culb, Ness and Rossman begin the process of tapping Nitti's phone.

Back in the Montmartre Club, Brandy is heavily flirting with Flaherty after he returns.

Just befor 2:00AM Flaherty excuses himself to make the call for the tapping operation.

It starts going a bit Noirsville, and a bit humorous when Brandy follows Flaherty up to the conference room and beings to throw herself all over him, thinking he's talking to another woman. 

And it all just ratchets up even more when Capone gets out of jail and returns to Chicago. 

Noirsville

Neville Brand as Al Capone, and John Hoyt as his "concilieri" aka "mouth piece"

 

This film was a surprise. Now, I used to watch Elliot Ness and The Untouchables as a kid and never knew about this film. The TV series though wasn't something like say, The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits where I knew exactly what day to watch and the time they started and was glued to the screen. The Untouchables TV series was something that if I was flipping through the channels and caught a machine gun battle I'd stop and watch it through (hey I was a kid ;-)). 

This international cut though would have never been shown here back in the day, because we actually get to see Barbara Nichols not only do her signature ditsy blonde routine (a former redhead, model, and burlesque stripper) but she does one of burlesque routines, too. 

The other surprise was Neville Brand's Al Capone, he's excellent as the hair triggered mobster. He's not in the TV series that followed the two part series premiere, because by then, Capone is already in federal custody for income tax evasion). There's a great sequence where Brand is sitting at the head of his conference table while surrounded on two side by his gang and they basically mimic his various mood swings. If he laughs they all laugh. It reminded me of Sergio Leone's For A Few Dollars More and the relationship depicted between El Indio and his gang. I'd suspect that he might have see this international cut. 

Production wise, it's a "magical realisim" Chicago all done on Hollywood sets and backlots, you get the same not quite real Chicago in The Man With The Golden Arm, or the not quite real San Francisco in Coppola's Hammett. It's not gonna look as good as say present time shot Naked City or Side Street for real New York locations or The Lineup for San Francisco locations.  

It's a very watchable 7/10.