Amazon.com Essentials:
As noted critic Pauline Kael wrote, the 1987 box-office hit
The Untouchables
is "like an attempt to visualize the public's collective dream of
Chicago gangsters." In other words, this lavish reworking of
the vintage TV series is a rousing potboiler from a bygone era,
so beautifully designed and photographed--and so craftily directed
by Brian De Palma--that the historical reality of
Prohibition-era Chicago could only pale in comparison. From a
script by David Mamet, the movie
pits four underdog heroes (the maverick lawmen known as the
Untouchables) against a singular
villain in Al Capone, played by Robert De Niro as a dapper caesar
holding court (and a baseball
bat) against any and all challengers. Kevin Costner is the naive
federal agent Eliot Ness, whose lack
of experience is tempered by the streetwise alliance of a seasoned
Chicago cop (Sean Connery, in
an Oscar-winning performance), a rookie marksman (Andy Garcia),
and an accountant (Charles
Martin Smith) who holds the key to Capone's potential downfall.
The movie approaches greatness
on the strength of its set pieces, such as the siege near the
Canadian border, the venal ambush at
Connery's apartment, and the train-station shootout partially
modeled after the "Odessa steps"
sequences of the Russian classic Battleship Potemkin. It's
thrilling stuff, fueled by Ennio
Morricone's dynamic score, but it's also manipulative and obvious.
If you're inclined to be critical,
the movie gives you reason to complain. If you'd rather sit back
and enjoy a first-rate production
with an all-star cast, The Untouchables may very well strike you
as a classic. --Jeff Shannon
