The Untouchables (1987)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Brian De Palma

Writers:

Oscar Fraley (suggested by book) and
Eliot Ness (suggested by book) ...

Release Date:

3 June 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | History | Thriller

Tagline:

The Chicago Dream is that big

Plot:

Federal Agent Elliot Ness sets out to take out Al Capone; because of rampant corruption, he assembles a small, hand-picked team.

Plot Keywords:

Treasury Agent | Accountant | Federal Agent | Prohibition | Police

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 9 wins & 11 nominations

Cast

Kevin Costner	...	Eliot Ness
Sean Connery	...	Jim Malone
Charles Martin Smith	...	Agent Oscar Wallace
Andy Garcia	...	Agent George Stone / Giuseppe Petri
Robert De Niro	...	Al Capone
Richard Bradford	...	Police Chief Mike Dorsett
Jack Kehoe	...	Walter Payne
Brad Sullivan	...	George
Billy Drago	...	Frank Nitti
Patricia Clarkson	...	Catherine Ness
Vito D'Ambrosio	...	Bowtie Driver
Steven Goldstein	...	Scoop
Peter Aylward	...	Lt. Anderson
Don Harvey	...	Officer Preseuski
Robert Swan	...	Mountie Captain

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Brazil:14 | New Zealand:M | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Canada:18A | Chile:18 | Denmark:15 | Finland:K-15 | France:U | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:15 | Japan:PG-12 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:16 (cut) | Norway:18 | Peru:18 | Singapore:M18 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

40 miles south, Great Falls, Montana, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The scene where Al Capone (Robert De Niro) suddenly pulls out a baseball bat at a dinner party and beats to death one of his men is based on a true incident which happened on May 7, 1929. Two of Capone's most feared hit men, Albert Anselmi and John Scalise, had hatched a plot to kill Capone and take over his gang. Capone got wind of it and invited all his associates to a dinner party, including Anselmi and Scalise. In the middle of the party, Capone pulled out a baseball bat and battered both men to death, then shot them both in the head. A conflicting version of the story has Tony "Joe Batters" Accardo, one of Capone's hit men, as the man who bludgeoned the traitors to death.

Goofs:

Continuity: Wallace and his prisoner enter an elevator with one set of doors. It would need two openings for Ness to enter it from outside the building.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Title Card: 1930. Prohibition has transformed Chicago into a City at War. Rival gangs compete for control of the city's billion dollar empire of illegal alcohol, enforcing their will with the hand grenade and tommy gun. It is the time of the Ganglords. It is the time of Al Capone.
Reporter: [to Al Capone] An article, which I believe appeared in a newspaper, asked why, since you are, or it would seem that you are, in effect, the mayor of Chicago, you've not simply been appointed to that position.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Conker: Live and Reloaded (2004) (VG)

Soundtrack:

MOOD INDIGO

Never stop fighting till the fight is done, here endeth the lesson.

As good a gangster movie that has ever been made as DePalma does justice to Mamet's electric script. The acting on show is right out of the top draw, the inevitable ease that DeNiro puts menace into Capone is quite impressive, whilst the fresh faced pugnacious tenacity of Andy Garcia's George Stone is something of a delightful watch. Yet that is not enough because we still need the central actors to carry the film if it is going to triumph. Connery is a given performance wise {accent aside of course, but then again who cares when the character portrayal is as sharp as it is here ?} but it is Costner as Eliot Ness that shines like the star he was soon to become, it's a magic performance that manages to fuse genuine tenderness of family love with little trips to the dark side in pursuit of making good triumph over evil.

I love that the film is showing how violence and fear affects families, mother and child is a theme that is central to the films heartbeat, notice how some of the more violent scenes are followed by tender scenes of Ness and his family. The set pieces here are attention grabbing entertainment, a roaring Canadian border rumpus and a smashing roof top pursuit and face off are top value, but it's something of DePalma gold watching a brilliant Battleship Potemkin homage at the train station that takes the cake as the film enters its last quarter. Surely historical facts does not matter when film's are as sharp as this one is,? it's frightening, touching, and even witty. So for me at least, the film is 10/10 in every department {yes, even Sean's accent}.

Footnote: The academy saw fit to nominate Ennio Morricone for his wonderful score, yet strangely he used most of it for John Carpenter's 1982 film The Thing, they must have missed it that time I presume! Must be the genre angle one thinks....

10/10