The Snowball (15 Jan. 1963)

Jack Parker is an up and coming young hustler who wants to become part of Frank Nitti's organization. He thinks there's an untapped market on university and college campuses but Nitti ... See full summary »

Director:

Alex March

Writers:

George Eckstein, Oscar Fraley (book),

Stars:

Robert Stack, Bruce Gordon, Gerald Hiken

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Robert Stack	...	Eliot Ness
Bruce Gordon	...	Frank Nitti
Gerald Hiken	...	Benny Angel
Robert Redford	...	Jackson Emmit Parker
Paul Picerni	...	Agent Lee Hobson
Nicholas Georgiade	...	Agent Enrico Rossi
Abel Fernandez	...	William Youngfellow
Steve London	...	Agent Jack Rossman
Adam Williams	...	Paul Meadows
Peter Hansen	...	Professor Harry Farris
Robert Doyle	...	Jimmy Farris
Robert Karnes	...	Harvey Sloan
Walter Winchell	...	Narrator (voice)

Storyline

Jack Parker is an up and coming young hustler who wants to become part of Frank Nitti's organization. He thinks there's an untapped market on university and college campuses but Nitti thinks he's just a nickel and dimer and isn't interested. Parker has been making his own booze and selling it through Benny Angel, who hangs around the campus actually selling the stuff to the kids. Parker decides to get Nitti's interest by secretly arranging to sell wood alcohol to students and then convincing Nitti that he can make sure the stuff sold to students is clean. When Benny Angel is found dead, Ness has another reason to find the man behind the scheme.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 January 1963 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Desilu Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Desilu Productions, Langford Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

User Reviews

You see that tree outside his window he can't see it he never will.

****SPOILERS**** Blond and handsome Robert Redford who played a mentally unbalanced and reality challenged Neo-Nazi in a "Naked City" episode two years earlier outdoes himself here paying the hot shot former collage boy, who graduated top of his class, Jackson Emit Parker who's trying to make it big time in Chigago Frank Nitti's, Bruce Gordon, criminal organization. Brash and sure of himself Parker has his leg man the not too bright Benny Angel, Gerald Hiken, peddle bootleg booze to collage students that's laced with wood alcohol. Not that much of a bright idea on Parker's part in that by blinding and in one case killing a number of collage students he not only has the feds, the Untoucables, on his tail but also the Nitti Mob whom he's doing business for.

It's when things start to get hot for Parker that he fingers or frames the innocent Benny Angle as the person who's peddling the booze that he in fact forces on him and then has him iced as a favor to the Nitti Mob. Parker also takes advantage of desperate out of work family men, this in the depths of the Great Depression, who he gets to peddle his poison by threatening to have their family members murdered if they don't: What a low life!

***SPOILERS*** It's US Government Special Agent Eliot Ness, Robert Stack, who drops a dime on Parker by informing Nitti that he's been hurting his organization by pushing the stuff, bootleg wood alcohol laced booze, that nightmares are made of and it's Nitti's boys who get the dirty job done for Ness by giving Parker a dose of his own medicine if you know what I mean. In the end Parkers big dreams of making the big time in the world crime lasted less then two weeks, from October 16 to October 29 1930, which earned him a big red D, or Dead on Arrival, on his crime school report card.