Original subtitles

(theme music plays)

WALTER WINCHELL: June 25, 1933.

The Castle-- a baronial estate

just outside of Chicago.

Headquarters and home of the notorious Frank Argos,

the man the underworld called "The King."

Eliot Ness had been awakened at 2:30 a.m.

and summoned to meet with his longtime foe.

Ness could afford to be generous.

Prohibition was dead, and The King was dying.

Just you. King's orders.

Mr. Ness, he asked for you.

He insisted.

I'll have to make this short.

He wants you to witness his will and to serve as co-executor.

Your fee will be $100,000.

Well, that's a pretty fat premium.

-MAN: Premium? -NESS: Isn't that what he's buying?

Insurance for his organization?

For his son.

His son?

(laughs) It's quite legitimate, Mr. Ness.

The boy was only seven

when his mother left and took him with her.

Left?!

I kicked her out, and I'd do it again.

And he hasn't seen the boy since.

He wants to make it up to him.

So he's sending him a nice, clean legacy.

The booze, the houses, the dope.

The five million dollars in bearer bonds

in a private vault in the Farmer's Bank.

That's why he wants you to be an executor.

He's got them.

He doesn't trust them any more than you would.

You. The only one, Ness.

(laughs quietly)

That's a laugh, huh?

No laugh, Frank.

No deal.

Well, it was a long shot.

I wrote the bank in as an alternate.

FRANK: Ness?

(Frank coughs)

In ten years, one decent thing happens to me.

Take it easy, huh?

Give her a break.

Yeah.

(coughing)

If you're waiting for a handout,

he's leaving it all to his son.

Come in, quick.

You're whistling at the moon.

His son was killed in the war.

ANNOUNCER:

"The Charlie Argos Story."

Starring Robert Stack as Eliot Ness.

Co-starring Robert Vaughn

and Kent Smith.

With special guest star Patricia Owens.

And narrated by Walter Winchell.

WINCHELL: Frank Argos was buried with royal pomp.

The underworld wore its funeral best

reserved for top gangsters and other heads of state.

The mourning lasted almost a week.

(lively, upbeat instrumental music playing)

(laughter and loud, lively chatter)

(laughter and chatter)

(laughter)

(laughter)

(indistinct chatter and laughter)

Here you go.

To the guy who has everything.

And he's willing to share it.

(laughter)

(glass breaking)

Like they do in the movies when they throw the glass away.

You want to throw a glass, honey?

(laughter)

What did I do to her?

Nothing.

Okay, don't drink a toast, but you don't have to run.

I like it out here.

We used to sit out here nights.

Frank always liked the lake.

He's gone, and you can't keep warm on a cold nest.

(chuckling)

What? Something else? What?

Let's get out, Gil.

-Get out? -Let's sell.

The distilleries, the warehouses, everything.

There'd be plenty for the three of us.

You're out of your mind.

Sure, the booze is done, but we got the rest.

Gonna be ten times what the booze ever made.

I don't like it.

I like it!

Gil? Goober on the phone.

The first stuff from New York.

You better learn to like it.

(upbeat, instrumental music plays)

(loud, overlapping chatter)

Later, doll face.

Hey, Goober?

Yeah. I brung her, Gil.

Hold it down, will you?!

What's the matter with you? You sound strange?

I think somebody's on my tail.

Where you calling from?

All right. Start heading over to the Loop.

I'll send a couple of boys to pick you up.

Watch it, you hear?

Yeah, yeah, I hear.

♪♪

(engine starting)

(honking)

Goober, hold it!

(gunshots)

(gunshots)

(gunshots)

Heroin, all right.

Two kilos maybe.

Half a million bucks.

New York was right.

They've tied in with the syndicate.

Yeah, they have to push the dope with the booze drying up.

I thought they were finished.

King is dead.

That's right. We're gonna keep him that way.

You wanted me?

You get a third of the take,

you get a third of the headaches.

No more stuff from New York on account of last night.

The syndicate wants cash on the table.

300 grand.

Pocket money... only we ain't got it.

So how do we get it?

We squeeze it out of the houses.

Like Frank always said it to me.

The organization was like it stood on three legs.

The booze, the houses, the junk.

So now the booze is done.

We need cash for the junk.

We got to get it out of the houses.

$300,000?

Why not?

We open 15, 20 new places.

Evanston, Calumet, Cicero.

You'll be surprised how fast it adds up.

Well, you don't like it, huh?

I don't think it's good business.

How long can anything stand on one leg?

Long enough for us to pay of the syndicate.

Long enough for us to get rolling again.

Well, we don't have that kind of money.

What else have we got?

We got the bonds. We got five million dollars.

Sure. Only you can't put your mitts on 'em.

Any more bright ideas?

Well... only what I said last night.

Let's sell. Let's get out.

GIL: Sell? Get out?

That's all she knows.

You're through anyway.

Not me. You.

Okay, you want out? Okay, you're out!

Not without my share.

All I said was out.

But you heard him. You were there.

The King promised me a share.

What, I got to tell you again? The King is dead.

Look, you got nothing to gripe about.

A cheap little hoofer with two left feet.

You done all right for yourself that past five or six years.

And supposing I don't get out?

I say go, you go!

WINCHELL: Marcie Decker-- friend, confidante,

paramour to The King--

was a member of his organization no longer.

In the weeks that followed,

she returned to her former profession-- dancing.

During those same weeks,

Eliot Ness and his Untouchables attacked the houses.

Hoping to knock the last crop

from under the late Frank Argos' empire,

Ness began a systematic series of raids.

During the next month, some 18 houses were closed.

On the night of August 14,

Gil Kellerman took the night train to New York.

More desperate than ever for cash,

he was going to make a final appeal

to the heads of the syndicate, the big boys themselves.

(instrumental jazz playing)

15 minutes after Kellerman left,

Arno Beale appeared at Chicago's

notorious Blue Tiger.

He was there by appointment.

-MAN: Yay! More! -(applause)

(band plays new, upbeat number)

Drink?

Try me.

Did Gil get off to New York?

You know about that?

I know about a lot of things.

For instance?

I know that Ness has been hitting you where it hurts.

I know you need cash.

And I know you don't stand a chance.

Unless you toss in with me.

Sell Kellerman out?

He wouldn't be the first one.

Why? What for?

For five million dollars.

You're on the bonds again.

You'll never get near 'em without the boy, and he's dead.

Suppose we find him?

Why you need me?

Because you were his bodyguard when he was young.

You knew him better than anyone.

You know that part, and I know the rest.

That's Charlie, all right.

His mother sent that to The King.

And two days later, she was dead in an auto accident.

I've got everything else, too.

The correspondence with the army.

With his teachers, friends.

There isn't a thing we wouldn't know.

(applause)

But what's the use?

He's dead.

Then we'll make him live again.

We'll-we'll find someone who looks like him.

We'll teach him, train him, pound it into him.

We'll create him.

We'll make our own Charlie Argos.

(laughs)

WINCHELL: A five-million-dollar payoff

hung on one man.

The man who might double for Charlie Argos.

Beale's search of the pool halls,

the flophouses, the cesspools of Chicago had yielded no one.

Marcie had a different notion of where to look

for the man they needed.

(crowd chatter)

(car horn honking)

I'm afraid that's all I can take for tonight.

I'll see you tomorrow.

Come on, we're wasting time.

Well?

Not even close.

Oh, it's like buying a lottery ticket.

Want to quit?

All I want to do is get these shoes off.

(engine starting)

Keep us posted, will you? Thanks.

New York's worried about Gil Kellerman.

He's been with the syndicate boys every day.

You think they'll put him back in the game?

Not without cash.

The syndicate's very touchy about cash.

Why didn't he take Beale along?

Somebody had to watch the store.

I thought we closed the store.

They keep trying to open it again,

trying to rebuild the organization.

Beale must be waiting for word from New York.

Rico?

I can take a hint.

I'll put a tail on Beale.

You said it yourself, Eliot.

They can't play without cash.

Yeah, I keep thinking about those bonds.

If they ever get their hands on them...

You know when?

When Columbus comes sailing up Lake Michigan.

(crowd chatter)

Come on, come on.

Hey!

Oh, I'm sorry. I'm terribly sorry.

Sorry, you stupid birdbrain!

Why don't you watch what you're doing?!

Hey, shut up.

MAN: What?

That's all right, ma'am.

He doesn't know any better.

No, really.

It... it was all my fault.

You bet it was.

Dumb dames never can do anything right.

Hey!

I told you to shut up.

(woman screams)

(blows landing, grunting)

(grunting)

(grunting)

(grunting)

All right, come on now. Break it up.

Hey, he started it, fellas.

Get him out of here.

Come on. Come on, let's go.

(indistinct chatter, can clattering)

Are you all right?

(laughs) I'm great.

You cost me a meal, you know.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Yeah, you should be.

Well, maybe I can make it up to you.

Come on, dinner's on me.

Not a chance, Mr. Ness.

No one but Frank Argos' son

could possibly hope to claim those bonds,

and they're almost certain he's dead.

Almost certain?

Well, bankers and lawyers are traditionally conservative.

The army reported him missing in action, October, 1918.

Just before the end.

In the Argonne.

He just disappeared.

No one ever saw him again.

Frank started looking almost two years ago.

I've got copies of all the correspondence.

Who's got the originals?

They're in the safe at the Castle.

Any pictures?

I think... yes, one.

I remember Frank showed it to me.

In uniform.

That should certainly identify him.

Well, I hardly think I'd need it, Mr. Ness.

I knew the boy from the day he was born.

But you haven't seen him since he was seven.

I'd know him.

You can take my word, I'd know him.

Believe me, Mr. Ness, you have nothing to worry about.

And you're sure the boy's dead?

Well, you force me to an inflexible position.

Yes. Yes, I'm quite sure he's dead.

Me?

You must be dreaming.

All right... we're dreaming.

We want you to be rich.

We want you to wear $200 suits

and eat at the Creon every day.

That's not exactly a nightmare.

Don't get us wrong.

You'll work for it.

Hardest work you've ever done.

How much would I get?

Ten percent.

Is that all?

Ten percent of five million.

What have you got in your pockets at the moment?

Holds.

What's funny?

Well, how do you know I wouldn't grab it all?

You don't know the first thing about me.

We trust you.

And we know all about you.

You're right here in all these letters and reports.

And you'll have to know about it, too,

right down to the last comma.

That's where the work comes in.

Half a million bucks.

What do you say?

Just so happens, I'm a little short this week.

WINCHELL: Beale and Marcie kept their promise of work,

cramming him with endless facts and figures.

It was his first shop, and I used to play out front.

He opened it, uh, when I was two.

And he had a dozen more in less than three years.

Strong arm, even before the booze.

WINCHELL: Long hours of study every day.

Sometimes running into late night.

He moved us in when I was six.

There were 40 acres on the lake.

And that's when he hired you to take care of me

because he'd, uh, had some threats.

WINCHELL: They had only two weeks to create a man.

They couldn't waste one minute of it.

I knew this one battle had to break the Germans,

and then, uh, all of a sudden, hit it.

It was around the end of, uh, September.

-September, uh... -The twenty-sixth.

-Yeah. -The twenty-sixth.

Twenty-sixth, and then, the next, uh,

few weeks was pretty bad.

Until October 7. Then you lit out. Now why?

(sighs) Why, I don't...

You've got to have a reason.

-Why did you run? -I don't know exactly.

You have to know. You have to be sure.

-Now why? -Why did you run?!

Maybe I just got scared.

Maybe I'm just a human being, I got scared, and I ran!

That's not bad.

Yeah.

People like it when they think

you're just as small as they are.

You can make your move now.

Go to Halstead before Gil gets back.

Getting back? I thought you said he'd called,

and he was on his way to New Orleans.

He won't be there long.

They won't give him any credit if the syndicate won't.

I need another day or so.

I've had it for tonight.

See you in the morning.

All right?

Tired?

And curious.

About what?

Frank Argos.

Why did he kick Charlie's mother out?

Your mother.

Oh, there was another man.

Who?

Nobody ever knew.

So? Why didn't he kill him?

One murder, more or less.

Why didn't he kill her?

Maybe he loved her.

What would a man like that know about love?

Maybe more than you think.

All right, let's check the last few years again.

(engine starting)

He's here every day. Sometimes half the night.

Maybe she's lonely.

All right.

MARCIE: You knew he was your father.

That's right.

You are stone broke and on your uppers.

That's right.

So, why didn't you come to him?

Because I didn't want his handouts or his dough.

I didn't want one lousy thing of his.

What's the matter?

For a moment there...

it was almost as if you...

(Marcie sighs)

Forget it.

(buzzer sounding)

(buzzer sounding)

Hello, Marcie.

I'm sorry. I didn't know you had company.

That's all right. He's not company.

Not what you'd call company.

Mr. Ness, I'd like you to meet Charlie Argos.

ANNOUNCER: And now, back to The Untouchables.

WINCHELL: Ness knew the score now.

Marcie and Beale had created an heir for the late Frank Argos.

They had forged a key to the vaults at the bank.

They had five million dollars in their hands

if they could make the key fit.

Some of it is still a little hazy, you know.

The early stuff, before the war.

But you remember everything since then pretty well, huh?

Yeah, pretty well.

From the time you found yourself in the hospital?

Just about, yeah.

Still some blanks, of course.

Most of it came back, you know, in bits and pieces.

"Cause of shellshock.

You in a long while?

Yeah, long enough.

You must have seen a lot of men die, huh?

All you have to see is one.

One man, that's all.

He's sitting beside you, holding your cigarettes out,

and then suddenly, he isn't there.

Only his arm.

With his hand still holding the cigarettes.

They told me I was still crying

when I stumbled into the hospital.

Where was that?

Where?

NESS: Uh-huh.

I think, uh...

it was Belgium. Brussels.

Brussels, huh?

Yes. I remember they called me "le perdue.”

The lost one.

I didn't even have a name.

But you have a name now.

Yes. I'm Charlie Argos.

It's good coffee. Thanks.

One thing.

When you remembered your name, did you report back to the army?

Why? War had been over almost two years.

You satisfied, Mr. Ness?

Not my bonds.

Just so they're not yours, either, hmm?

Oh! That was real fast.

Fast?

The Belgium stuff. We never gave you any of that.

Ness swallowed the whole thing,

from top to bottom.

Believe me, that takes a pretty good act.

What do you think? An act?

It's possible.

If it works, they've got themselves five million bucks.

The organization's right back in business.

If it works.

They haven't played it for Halstead yet.

Hmm. You realize this comes as something of a shock.

I remember a little boy

playing in front of his father's store.

Chalking up, uh, the sidewalk for hopscotch.

Some kind of, um, tailor shop, wasn't it?

Dry cleaning, but that was just the start.

Your father came up very fast.

I suppose you must remember the Castle?

I remember the wine cellar.

You entered it, uh, through a trap door in his room.

And on the hot summer days, it was nice and cool.

Frank used to let me play down there.

Oh, you called your father Frank?

Yes. He said that, uh, made us pals.

You should have known that.

I did.

Go on, please.

My mother didn't like it.

She said it, uh, wasn't, uh, respectful.

I can't get over it.

You look so much like her.

I don't think so.

More like him.

My mother was blonde.

I just wondered if you remembered.

CHARLIE: Very well.

How far back? When she left your father?

Oh, she didn't leave him. He kicked her out.

You know why?

I think I know now.

There was a man.

Did you ever see him?

Would you remember him?

I don't know.

Maybe.

I was only seven.

Maybe.

I remember, he came to visit us once.

In New York.

(sighs)

No one knew about that.

They made me stay in the kitchen,

but I could hear her crying.

She was crying and saying, "Go back, or he'll kill you.

Go back! Go back!"

And he went back.

He left her.

He went running like a whipped dog because he was scared.

For her. Only for her.

Sooner or later, it would all come back to you.

She used to cry.

Nights when she thought I couldn't hear.

She used to cry.

I'm sorry.

Sorry?

You left her.

-You ran out, and left her! -I loved her.

You ran, you ducked out and ran, because you were scared!

I told you. For her.

You didn't know your father.

If I'd have stayed, he'd have killed her.

You weren't afraid he'd kill you?

He couldn't kill me.

He needed me.

Send them in.

You do look like him.

(door opens)

You can take him to the Castle.

The Castle?

It's his.

MAN: American soldier, your description.

Admitted October 10, 1918.

October 10?

That's three days before Charlie was reported missing.

And in deep shock, total loss of memory.

All identification gone.

He made it to Brussels in three days?

It's possible.

Washington sent up the records on the 33rd Division.

All men reported missing during that week.

Many?

Argonne was pretty warm at that time.

Only one of the men, though, fits the description.

Albert Posen.

Yes, he was with the 130th right on the Belgian border.

Much closer to Brussels than Argos' outfit.

Here, I got his ID photo. Here.

Will that help?

Is that him? Is that your Charlie Argos?

Yeah, or Albert Posen passing for him.

Lee?

We'd have to prove it.

We'll prove it.

There were so many rooms, we had to close some of them off.

Anyway, it's all yours.

You can make any changes that you want to

if you don't like it.

No, no, I wouldn't do that.

You know, it's funny, it seems, uh, like I've been...

I don't know.

(sighs) Oh, forget it.

This is the library over here.

(door opening)

Gil. You were in New Orleans.

So I'm back.

I thought I got her out of here once.

Lot of things happen in two weeks, Gil.

Not when I ain't looking.

Who's the punk?

Be nice to him, Gil.

Nobody asked you.

Be nice to her, too, Gil.

His name is Argos.

Charlie Argos.

Argos? The kid?

You found him?

I found him.

Yeah.

Could be, could be.

Looks enough like him to be.

But-but how are we gonna sell Halstead?

Halstead's sold. We just came from Halstead.

(laughs)

Then we got it made.

We don't need no outside dough.

Now, we gonna build the organization

bigger than it ever was, the three of us.

The two of us.

Ah, look, I ain't a guy to hold a beef.

I say, forget, forgive.

Okay, you're gonna be in again.

I'll call New York.

BEALE: She is in, Gil.

You're out.

Out? What are you talking about, out?

(sighs)

Me? And I was gonna have her back in again.

Big-hearted Joe from Kokomo.

Look, I'll pay you off.

You and her both!

If it's the last thing I ever do!

(glass breaking)

It is the last thing.

(gunshots)

(gunshot)

You didn't give him a chance.

No.

You enjoyed it.

Sure.

MARCIE: Charlie!

Wait!

(car door opening, engine starting)

Charlie?!

All right, Mrs. Schwartz, I'll put it on your account.

You, uh... you Max Posen?

So?

Used to have a butcher shop over on Layton Avenue?

That's right. Neighborhood kept going down.

Moved out of there about, uh... about eight years ago. Why?

You have a brother Albert?

That bum thinks he can get one dime out of me.

We're federal officers, Mr. Posen.

All we want is information.

I haven't seen my brother in years.

Ran away from home when he was 13.

Just as well with all the trouble he made.

Trouble?

Yeah.

One week it's a fire, Batcho's junkyard.

Next week, it's a crap game in back of the police station.

(laughs)

Next thing, he gets kicked out of school.

What for?

Steering kids over to the tattoo parlor on K Street

for two bits a head.

No thanks.

Imagine that. (laughs)

Not 13, and he's got himself marked up already.

You mean tattooed?

Mm-hmm, right on his chest

where he don't even got one hair yet.

What kind of a tattoo?

Well, it was like, um...

like two knives cross, like, um...

Show me.

Let's see.

Did you know your brother was in the war?

Yeah. Got a wire from the army when he showed up missing.

Just their luck, they found him again.

They found him?

Yeah, must have.

I got a card from him after the fighting stopped from Paris yet.

This your brother, Mr. Posen?

I don't know. It's been...

It's been a long time. He was only 13.

That's him. That's him all right.

No question about it. I'd know him anywhere.

WINCHELL: Charlie Argos had disappeared.

And with him the prospect of five million dollars.

It was only after hours of frantic search

that Marcie finally picked up a lead.

Okay.

Charlie! I've got to talk to you.

-You shouldn't have come here. -Oh, please, Charlie.

(Charlie sighs)

What do you want?

I want you to come back.

Why? To watch him kill somebody else without even thinking?

Like you'd stamp out a bug?

Why, this stink is nothing.

Charlie, listen.

Why? Get to be like the rest of you?

Like my father, up to his elbows in blood?

When I think of his rotten, filthy hands on you.

Charlie!

He wasn't your father.

I found you. I made you up.

It would have to be a miracle.

Miracle?

All right. If it is true,

if it is a miracle, then you owe it to yourself.

The Castle, the bonds, everything.

They're all yours.

Frank wanted you to have it all.

I don't know.

I don't know anything anymore.

Mostly you... you owe it to us.

To you and me.

Oh, Charlie, it could be wonderful.

MAN: Hey, Romeo?

On your own time, huh?

If it won't interfere with your social life,

would you mind getting off the dime?

All right, I'll, uh... I'll call you.

I got to have time to think.

Let me finish up here.

I'll be at the Castle.

Now why should I hold out on you, Ness?

If I knew where the kid was, wouldn't I tell you?

-Would you? -He's gone.

That's all I know. He just took off and ran.

Mr. Ness.

Came all the way out here to tell us Charlie's a phony.

Prove it. We'll take him into town.

Into town?

We've got a man who'll swear

your Charlie is his brother.

A butcher. He's already identified his picture.

People see what they're made to see.

You can make a man believe anything.

I can't put a tattoo on his brother's chest.

A tattoo?

NESS: Crossed daggers. Very artistic.

Make him show you next time he takes off his shirt.

He doesn't take off his shirt around me, Mr. Ness.

You find him?

Yeah, on Varney Street in the labor gang.

But he insisted on finishing out the day.

Fine. Grab him when he comes off the job.

And then, uh, take him to your place,

get him out of sight.

(phone ringing)

Hello?

Hello? Uh, is Mr. Ness there?

Who wants him?

Look, his office told me he'd be there.

This is Posen, the butcher.

The butcher?

He ain't here yet.

Well, look, look, I just thought of something else

that's very important.

Will you tell him to come over and see me?

Uh, sure, uh, I'll tell him.

Um, has he got your address?

580 Martin Street.

Don't forget, huh?

I won't forget.

580 Martin Street.

Good night, Herb.

Colin.

I do hope we haven't kept you working too late.

Charlie?

Don't be mad, Charlie.

I had to come.

Mad?

Oh.

Oh.

(sighing)

Ness came around this afternoon.

Ness?

He was talking about some kind of a tattoo on your chest.

Crossed daggers, he said.

Charlie, do you have a tattoo like that?

And if I do?

Well, he says he has someone

who-who says he's your brother.

He says he'll identify you.

Hmm. And you wouldn't like that, would you?

-Charlie! -I'm no good to you if I'm somebody's brother.

I'm no good to you unless I'm Charlie Argos.

Charlie Argos with a dollar sign in front of his name

and five million loose bucks in his pocket.

That's all you want, isn't it?

No, you're wrong. That's not true.

Well, maybe it started like that in the beginning, but not now.

Everything's different.

Charlie, it's not the money. Honest, not now.

It doesn't mean a thing to me.

NESS: It does to me.

Mr. Posen?

(door bells tinkle)

Check the upstairs.

Mr. Posen?

I don't like this place.

Why?

I don't know why. I just don't like it.

(screaming)

WINCHELL: 2:55 p.m. the following afternoon.

The office of attorney Eli Halstead.

A special meeting had been arranged

by the man who calf fed himself Charlie Argos.

Looks like he's not gonna show.

I told you, he said 3:00.

He felt he'd have to face you sooner or later.

You'd plague him the rest of his life if he didn't.

You think he'll be here?

I think he'll be here,

I think you'll have your showdown,

and I think you'll lose.

In a race, everybody picks his own horse.

(door opens)

You understand your legal position?

I'm ready to testify under oath that you're Charlie Argos.

Mr. Ness would have to prove you're not.

That shouldn't be too hard.

If you don't mind him taking off his shirt.

Open your shirt.

Why?

Because I tell you to.

Well, maybe I don't feel like it.

Maybe I don't...

I was positive.

I was absolutely certain.

How could you know so much about him?

He learned it. Some from her, some from you.

Watching your face.

But I was so sure, I was ready to swear.

People see what they're made to see.

Right, Marcie?

Okay.

You win.

So I'm a zero again.

Even a zero can be of some use.

You're never going to nail him for killing that butcher,

so I'm giving him to you for Kellerman's murder instead.

Rico, take him downtown.

I was there, and I'll say so in court.

Thanks.

(sighs)

Well, I'll, uh, see you around the soup kitchen some time.

Charlie?

It could still be wonderful.

What a smooth performer, and smart

to make Halstead believe he was Charlie Argos.

What makes you think, he wasn't?

What?

His tattoo had the blades pointing up.

He must have had it done this morning.

Yeah.