The Empty Chair

Season 1, Episode 2, Aired
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Episode Summary

Eliot Ness and his team of federal agents have spent the last 18 months getting Capone behind bars. Now their job turns to figuring out who will take over the empty throne.

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Fan Episode Reviews (1)

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  • Great Premiere Episode

    10
    "Perfect"
    By Mad_Buck, Jul 09, 2005 Report Abuse
    It's been said that a series needs a great premiere episode in order to be successful and The Untouchables hit the ground running with The Empty Chair. In this episode several loose ends from the series pilot are tied up and we are introduced to the most frequent nemesis of the Untouchables, Chicago Mob chieftan Frank "the Enforcer" Nitti, played with gusto by Bruce Gordon. All in all, Gordon would appear in 27 episodes as Nitti. Nehemiah Persoff, who plays Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik in the Empty Chair, would appear twice more as Guzik and in three additional episodes as different characters. The interplay between Gordon and Persoff as the bickering heirs to Al Capone's criminal empire is the highlight of the episode but there's not too much of a drop-off when it shifts gears about midway through and allows Barabara Nichols to reprise her role from the pilot episode as burlesque queen Brandy LaFrance. For one of the few times in the series we also get a glimpse of a mobster's family life with the interplay between Guzik, his niece Brandy, and his sister Norma. Also take special note of the performance of Nick Georgiade as Enrico Rossi, a barber and witness against Nitti who joins the Untouchables squad. It's his best of the series and it's a shame he wasn't used like this more often.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

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    • Actor Peter Mamakos' character Bomber Belcastro was changed starting in this episode to Gus Raddi, possibly because the real Belcastro was discovered to still be alive and could sue for the unauthorized use of his name and likeness.

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    • Tony "Mops" Volpe and James "Fur" Sammons were both real life Chicago gangsters. Volpe, as stated in the episode, was a triggerman for the Capone Mob. Sammons was never really a full-fledged member of the Capone Mob. A psychotic killer who once purchased a pardon from death row, Sammons worked as an enforcer for the West Side O'Donnell gang and later as a free lance gun for hire. Edit
    • When Guzik is shot by Brandy he grabs his left side but in the next shot when he pleads with the Untouchables not to shoot him he is holding his right side. Edit

  • Notes

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  • Quotes

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    • Flaherty: (after Capone is taken away) Good old Al. Remind me to write him every day.

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    • Guzik: So YOU declared war?
      Nitti: (pulls out a gun) Yeah, it was me...personally.

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    • Guzik: You can have the money. I don't want it but I'll get it back.
      Nitti: You sound pretty sure of yourself.
      Guzik: I'm not sure of me...I'm sure of you!

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