As with most movies based on true stories or events, this film has its fiction and deviations from the facts. The biggest one is the insertion of a love interest for Moe Smith, in the person of Dallas Carter. The romance addition to films is Hollywood's (and television's) way to make them appeal to the broadest audience. That and the few other deviations aside in this movie, "Izzy and Moe" stands as a fairly accurate portrayal of the two most famous U.S. prohibition agents. Isador Einstein and Moe Smith were U.S. police officers whose achievements during the first five plus years of Prohibition were legendary. If anything, this movie tones down the level and breadth of the famous pair's booze busting raids.
Jackie Gleason and Art Carney are superb in their roles as Izzy and Moe. They somewhat resemble the two real characters. Izzy was a short, portly guy, just as is Gleason. Moe was taller, like Carney, but he had a bigger build. Cynthia Harris has a fine role as Dallas Carter, the fictitious romantic interest of Moe. Dick Latessa does a good job as Lt. Murphy, the head of the New York prohibition office. He portrays an element of crooked law enforcement that existed within the prohibition units of the time. Drew Snyder is very good as Agent McCoy, and the extensive supporting cast all do a good job.
A big plus for this TV movie is the care that went into building sets and getting props that reflected 1920s New York. The street scenes, the store and building fronts, the carts and wagons, and the number of vintage autos create a sense of reality and of being in the time and place. The background music of the period helped set the tone and carried it through to the end.
This was a wonderful film for Gleason and Carney to cap their long careers of working together in film and television. Both were talented actors and comedians. Carney won an Oscar and several Emmys, and Gleason was nominated for an Oscar and had Golden Globe and Emmy nominations. Gleason also had his own big band and composed music. He had a genius for comedy, although his boozing characters were not to the liking of everyone.
The real Izzy and Moe worked as agents during the first five plus years of prohibition. In a 1932 autobiography, "Prohibition Agent No. 1," Izzy said that he and Moe used more than 100 disguises. The movie shows them using several, including one with Moe dressed as a woman. I saw one photo of the pair in disguise on the Internet in which Moe seems to be dressed as a woman, with a fur coat wrapped around him and a woman's hat pulled down on his head. From 1920 to 1926, they raided speakeasies and stills and closed down hundreds of operations. On one Sunday alone, they staged 71 raids. They made just short of 5,000 arrests (4.932) and had a conviction rate of 95%. They confiscated 5 million gallons of liquor.
Prohibition was popular in rural areas but not so much so in the big cities. So, the prohibition agents weren't liked that much. But Izzy and Moe were the exception, and their exploits, means and manners were reported and captured the admiration of the public. Neither men carried weapons, and they were personable characters who could pull off disguises with aplomb. Izzy said that they were never uncovered or spotted. Still, the government in 1926 laid them off, along with 36 other agents. The claim was that because of their notoriety, they could no longer be effective. Yet they had been all along, and never once discovered. I'm inclined to go with the suspicion prevalent at the time that there was jealousy within the government ranks. Until Elliott Ness became an agent in 1927 and began cracking down in Chicago, little more headway was made after Izzy and Moe were retired.
Prohibition lasted until 1933. Izzy and Moe went on to successful careers in insurance even through the Depression. Both men had families. Izzy was 57 when he died in 1938 and Moe was 73 when he died in 1960. This is an entertaining and lighthearted treatment of a time and situation in America that saw a serious in crime, especially murders.
Jackie Gleason and Art Carney are superb in their roles as Izzy and Moe. They somewhat resemble the two real characters. Izzy was a short, portly guy, just as is Gleason. Moe was taller, like Carney, but he had a bigger build. Cynthia Harris has a fine role as Dallas Carter, the fictitious romantic interest of Moe. Dick Latessa does a good job as Lt. Murphy, the head of the New York prohibition office. He portrays an element of crooked law enforcement that existed within the prohibition units of the time. Drew Snyder is very good as Agent McCoy, and the extensive supporting cast all do a good job.
A big plus for this TV movie is the care that went into building sets and getting props that reflected 1920s New York. The street scenes, the store and building fronts, the carts and wagons, and the number of vintage autos create a sense of reality and of being in the time and place. The background music of the period helped set the tone and carried it through to the end.
This was a wonderful film for Gleason and Carney to cap their long careers of working together in film and television. Both were talented actors and comedians. Carney won an Oscar and several Emmys, and Gleason was nominated for an Oscar and had Golden Globe and Emmy nominations. Gleason also had his own big band and composed music. He had a genius for comedy, although his boozing characters were not to the liking of everyone.
The real Izzy and Moe worked as agents during the first five plus years of prohibition. In a 1932 autobiography, "Prohibition Agent No. 1," Izzy said that he and Moe used more than 100 disguises. The movie shows them using several, including one with Moe dressed as a woman. I saw one photo of the pair in disguise on the Internet in which Moe seems to be dressed as a woman, with a fur coat wrapped around him and a woman's hat pulled down on his head. From 1920 to 1926, they raided speakeasies and stills and closed down hundreds of operations. On one Sunday alone, they staged 71 raids. They made just short of 5,000 arrests (4.932) and had a conviction rate of 95%. They confiscated 5 million gallons of liquor.
Prohibition was popular in rural areas but not so much so in the big cities. So, the prohibition agents weren't liked that much. But Izzy and Moe were the exception, and their exploits, means and manners were reported and captured the admiration of the public. Neither men carried weapons, and they were personable characters who could pull off disguises with aplomb. Izzy said that they were never uncovered or spotted. Still, the government in 1926 laid them off, along with 36 other agents. The claim was that because of their notoriety, they could no longer be effective. Yet they had been all along, and never once discovered. I'm inclined to go with the suspicion prevalent at the time that there was jealousy within the government ranks. Until Elliott Ness became an agent in 1927 and began cracking down in Chicago, little more headway was made after Izzy and Moe were retired.
Prohibition lasted until 1933. Izzy and Moe went on to successful careers in insurance even through the Depression. Both men had families. Izzy was 57 when he died in 1938 and Moe was 73 when he died in 1960. This is an entertaining and lighthearted treatment of a time and situation in America that saw a serious in crime, especially murders.