The Untouchables (1987)

Star Rating: 3
Length of Film: 119 minutes
Director: Brian De Palma
Cast: Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Charles Martin Smith, Andy Garcia, Robert De Niro, Richard Bardford, Jack Kehoe, Brad Sullivan, Billy Grago, Patricia Clarkson, Vito D'Ambrosio, Steven Goldstein, Peter Aylward, Don Harvey, & Robert Swan
Oscar: Sean Connery (Actor in Supporting Role)
Oscar Nomination: Patricia von Brandenstein, William A. Elliott, Hal Gausman (Art Direction), Marilyn Van (Costume), & Ennio morricon (music)

From Left to Right: Agent George Stone, Jim Malone, Eliot Ness, & Agent Oscar Wallace

The Untouchables is a movie re-telling the story of the famous mob boss, Al Capone (Robert De Niro). Knowing this is based off of American history, I knew that it wouldn't be 100% correct to what really happened, so I just watched the movie, with no judgment that all the facts in the movie, is false.

Eliot Ness(Kevin Costner), an Agent of the Bureau of Prohibition, was called to Chicago to help eliminate Al Capone's grasp on the state of Chicago by selling low-quality liquor at high prices. Eliot was in the park, where he was approached by police officer Jim Malone (Sean Connery) and Eliot become fast friends, especially since Jim knows whats been going on in the Chicago area. Together, Eliot and Jim go to the police academy and pick up George Stone, who has the best shot in his class. They later joined the 4th member of their team; Agent Oscar Wallace, an accountant.

They successfully joined a team, and they had a mission to bring Al Capone down, by showing that he has not turned in his taxes, and turn him in for tax evasion. On horses, the police ride after the mafia in cars, and have this huge gun fight. The music in this scene is very odd. It's heroic and positive, letting the audience know that the good guys are going to win. This was a HUGE fight scene and the music didn't portray that it was a big deal, it gave away that the winning side was already decided. During this battle scene, the team captured the bookkeeper. To get him to talk, Malone picked up a dead guy, put a gun in his mess, and "pretended" to interrogate him, and gave him a choice to talk, when the dead guy didn't say anything, he shot him. Through the window, the bookkeeper saw it, agreed to talk, and they took him into custody.

My 2nd favorite scene was with Al Capone with his men, he got mad at one of his men, and beat him with a baseball bat. Yikes!!!! Robert De Niro is such an amazing actor. When commits to a role, he REALLY commits. Robert De Niro insisted on wearing the same style of silk underwear that Al Capone wore, even though it would never be seen on camera. He also didn't have much time to gain the extra weight needed for this role, so he had to wear pads and pillows for the desired effect of looking like the chunky Capone.

The Real al Capone



Robert De Niro as Al Capone

My third and favorite scene is the death of Jim Malone. Jim was alone in his apartment, and a mafia man, with a knife, came in through his window to kill him. With a shotgun, Jim chased him out of his apartment, at the front door, he yelled very confidently that they can't outsmart him, then a mafia man on the roof, shot and killed him. :o(

This movie is based on building the personal relationships with the characters, and we don't see the mafia side, only the cop side. They could've done a lot more with the movie, but they didn't. They also could've used more facts on what actually happened. The screenwriters, should've done more research, because after watching the movie, I looked into what really happned, and they left out A LOT of details. Watch the movie, and make an opinion for yourself.