... in this rather weird episode of The Untouchables that seems to ignore that to threaten violence is actionable in and of itself.
Nero Rankin is a somewhat elderly gentleman with a heart ailment that was likely treated in the 1930s with medicine that was not much more sophisticated than what you could buy in an upscale vitamin and supplement store today. He is also very narrowly voted the next head of the syndicate. You'd think with such unenthusiastic backing he'd want to follow a safe path. But no, he decides to protect the operation of his club by threatening that he will mow down random bystanders if he is closed down again. Huh?? Al Capone was popular with the man on the street by operating a soup kitchen during the Great Depression and in general trying to run a good PR campaign, because that is what gangsters need to do if they want to stay in business. You don't have effective PR if you kill the man on the street.
Probably the point of this episode is to see Ness wrestle with his conscience - To live by the letter of the law and maybe have innocent people killed as a result, or to knuckle under to Rankin and make sure innocent lives are not lost. But the weird thing is that at one point Rankin meets privately with Ness and offers to turn state's evidence with almost a self effacing attitude. It's almost like several writers who didn't talk to one another wrote different parts of Rankin's dialogue.
But there are other inconsistencies too. For example, a pretty girl is sent by one of Rankin's younger rivals to spy on him. Knowing Rankin has a fatal heart ailment she betrays Rankin's younger healthier rival, humiliating him in the process. This backstabbing joy girl has got to know that when Rankin dies she won't be far behind him in mortality. Do note that said backstabbing joy girl is played by Joanna Moore, mother of Tatum O'Neal.
Nero Rankin is a somewhat elderly gentleman with a heart ailment that was likely treated in the 1930s with medicine that was not much more sophisticated than what you could buy in an upscale vitamin and supplement store today. He is also very narrowly voted the next head of the syndicate. You'd think with such unenthusiastic backing he'd want to follow a safe path. But no, he decides to protect the operation of his club by threatening that he will mow down random bystanders if he is closed down again. Huh?? Al Capone was popular with the man on the street by operating a soup kitchen during the Great Depression and in general trying to run a good PR campaign, because that is what gangsters need to do if they want to stay in business. You don't have effective PR if you kill the man on the street.
Probably the point of this episode is to see Ness wrestle with his conscience - To live by the letter of the law and maybe have innocent people killed as a result, or to knuckle under to Rankin and make sure innocent lives are not lost. But the weird thing is that at one point Rankin meets privately with Ness and offers to turn state's evidence with almost a self effacing attitude. It's almost like several writers who didn't talk to one another wrote different parts of Rankin's dialogue.
But there are other inconsistencies too. For example, a pretty girl is sent by one of Rankin's younger rivals to spy on him. Knowing Rankin has a fatal heart ailment she betrays Rankin's younger healthier rival, humiliating him in the process. This backstabbing joy girl has got to know that when Rankin dies she won't be far behind him in mortality. Do note that said backstabbing joy girl is played by Joanna Moore, mother of Tatum O'Neal.
