The Lawless Years
The Lawless Years is the first television crime drama set during the Roaring 20s, having predated ABC's far more successful The Untouchables with Robert Stack by six months. The 47-episode half-hour series aired nonconsecutively on NBC from April 16 to August 27, 1959, from October 1, 1959, to January 19, 1960, and, finally, from May 12 to September 22, 1961. It starred James Gregory as real-life NYPD Detective Barney Ruditsky, with Robert Karnes as Max, his associate. Ruditsky, who had become a private investigator in Hollywood after retiring from law enforcement, served as the show's technical advisor. Jack Chertok was the producer. From May 26 to June 23, 1961, The Lawless Years ran a five-part episode entitled "Louie K" with guest star Paul Richards in the role of Louis "Louie" Kassoff. John Dennis appeared as Dutch Schultz and John Vivyan as Lepke. Dennis also appeared in "The Dutch Schultz Story" on May 14, 1959. Episode 2 Season 1 The Immigrant Tommy Pavlock, a young immigrant teen, begins running with a gang much to the dismay of his mother. She gets Detective Ruditsky to try and set young Tommy straight.
Why this is free to watch
The Lawless Years is hosted by the Internet Archive as a public-domain or openly licensed work, which means its copyright has expired, lapsed, or was released by the rights holder. The uploader declared an explicit licence, linked in the source panel. Nitrate streams the file directly from the Archive and hosts no video itself.
- Director
- Jack Chertok
Player shortcuts
- Space Play / pause
- ← → Skip 10s
- ↑ ↓ Volume
- M Mute
- F Fullscreen
- 0–9 Jump to %
