The Untouchables (TV Series) The Waxey Gordon Story (1960) User Reviews

Beer Barons Go At It

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 15 February 2011]

Waxey Gordon might not be a name most of us know, but he was a real-life gangster in his time, just like the famous ones.

This was a solid episode pitting two gangsters against one another and Elliot Ness concentrating on getting one of them - "Waxey Gordon (Nehemiah Persoff). His rival in the beer business (illegal at the time) was "Bugs Donovan: (Frank Dekova).

The verbal by-play between Persoff and Dekova when they meet in the latter's office is riveting, really intense stuff. Persoff, by the way, is a face and voice you can' forget if you ever saw hit hit movie, "Some Like It Hot."

The "Untouchables" - Ness and the boys - concentrate on nabbing the elusive Gordon by trying to find out where he's making his beer. It's easier said than done as Waxey is a pretty shrewd operator. How they get him, with the aid of a fire department, is pretty interesting.

Fascinating Blend of History and Fiction - Tracking Onliine Bios While I Watch

[mbanak · 9/10 · 14 September 2018]

I am drilling down through a set of DVDs on this series, and I am cherry-picking the ones with the highest ratings. This fine episode provides the rough contours of Waxey Gordon's smelly career. That's all you get in this series, and that's all you need. Start with a loose construction like that, and throw-in the Untouchables for dramatic effect. Then stir in some dandy dialogue and personal grudges, and you got a great episode on your hands. The perpetual double-crossing of the low-lifes happily keeps you guessing. The plot accurately connects Waxey to both New York and New Jersey. Liquor trafficking is correct. But lots of dramatic license prevails., including a very clever maneuver at the end, on the part of Ness. Walter Winchell's piercing narration accurately gives you the exact date of Waxey's Death ... an event far beyond the scope of the episode, but nicely punctuating a well-told story. Enjoy!

Waxey is still alive and kicking at 96 years young...

[planktonrules · 10/10 · 30 January 2016]

In this episode of "The Untouchables", Waxey Gordon (Nehemiah Persoff) has worked his way up the pecking order in the New York/New Jersey beer empire. Only Bugs Donovan (Frank DeKova) is a bigger man in the mob that brews illegal beer. But Bugs is not an especially nice gangster and has bad thing in store for 'ol Maxey. Little does he know that Maxey is an even bigger scumbag than he is!

While these two dirt-bags are dealing with each other, Elliot Ness' main concern is finding out where all this beer is being made. Searches are coming up empty and he's about to give up when he comes up with a brilliant idea...one that made my engineer wife say "WOW...this is so clever and cool...the writers REALLY came up with something this time"...and she's right.

A very well written episode and, I should point out that the old familiar and reliable Persoff is STILL alive and well...and turns 97 later this year. Thanks for yet another unforgettable villain!

A flashy guy

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 12 October 2013]

Waxey Gordon is The Untouchables hoodlum of the week in this episode and Nehemiah Persoff plays him. Although Eliot Ness and his crew once again had nothing to do with the eventual imprisonment of this public enemy, in fact it was the federal government that did him in.

As is shown in the story the real Waxey Gordon was a very flashy individual. In real life born Al Wexler, Gordon got the nickname for his slippery nature. In fact he is a devious opponent who is trying to take over the beer racket in New Jersey and I have to say has a clever method of concealment from the Feds.

In real life Waxey Gordon was the first of many convictions by Thomas E. Dewey. He was the personal project of the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York one George Z. Medaille who in 1932 resigned to run for the U.S. Senate against Robert F. Wagner in what was a horrible Republican year. Taking over the interim portion of his unfinished term was his number one assistant Dewey and brought Gordon to justice.

He had some help because Gordon who was a protégé of Arnold Rothstein lost his main backer when Rothstein was killed. That left Gordon a rather ripe target. Gordon was lucky that folks like Dutch Schultz and Lucky Luciano didn't deal with him in traditional style. But the Gordon conviction made Dewey a front runner for the job of special prosecutor from which he launched his political career.

Persoff and Robert Stack make an evenly matched pair of adversaries in this Untouchables story.

Betrayal

[Zebrafil · 20 August 2011]

As a descendant of a real Untouchable I can say unabashedly that there was next to no history in this program. However what it truly was, was a passion play in the Jacobian tradition. Black and white morality and a constant sense of war with evil. SVU and other current programs while much more realistically gray are the Untouchables linear descendants and the legacy is an interesting one. This episode emphasizes a recurring theme for this program. No one attached to the mob can be trusted. The evil twin hoods from Chicago who kill Waxeys girl are hired by Waxey after there boss is betrayed. The girl is replaced like an old chair. The scummy secretary and Bobsy twin hoods who murder her boss would have made the audience much happier if they had been killed painfully on camera. Watching her examine her burning benefactor to see if he and his files are burning just right is infuriating. This show made you create and define your own ideas of catharsis and justice by leaving one with the sense that these scummy murderers were not always all accounted for. Actors Like Pershoff and DeKova-Americas best at the time- made small careers out of this program. They did good.