Jun 18, 2007 12:23 AM
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In the 1920’s and early part of 1930’s, prohibition in US, led to the rise of illegal liquor or what is called in common terms as bootlegging. Mafia gangs fought pitched battles for the control of the trade, and none more serious than Chicago, which emerged as the focal point. The notorious St.Valentine’s Day massacre highlighted, this dangerous trend. The law enforcement agencies choose to look the other way, as gangsters merrily plied their trade. And of all the gangsters, one name struck terror alike in the hearts of cops, civilians and rival gangsters alike. Alphonse Gabriel Capone or more commonly known as Al Capone.
The Untouchables** is a 1987 movie that takes its inspiration from a real life story of a Fed agent Eliot Ness who along with his incorruptible team, took on Capone, and managed to nail him for tax evasion.
The movie starts off with a young girl, dying in an explosion engineered by Capone’s men. The FBI appoints Eliot Ness( Kevin Costner) to take on Al Capone( Robert De Niro). Not an easy task, Capone has completely bought over Chicago city. The police department is corrupt from top to bottom, and a number of cops are on his payroll. The legal system is stacked with Capone’s cronies. None are willing to testify against Capone. Ness’s attempts to go straight, are met with failure, due to corrupt officers in the Department.
After a raid ends in a fiasco, Ness encounters an Irish cop Jimmy Malone( Sean Connery), who advises Ness to encounter Capone on his own terms. He also advises Ness to form his own team of people who owe no allegiance to Capone. And so he picks upGeorge Stone( Andy Garcia), an Italian American trainee cop and an expert marksman, and a nerdy accountant Oscar Wallace( Martin Smith) who has a record of Capone’s tax violations.
Now in US, not paying your tax, is a much worse crime than rape or murder. You can get away committing murder, you can get away with rape claiming mental insanity. But god forbid, you are caught for tax violation, not even God can save you there. Which is how Capone was ironically arrested. As this group starts to raid Capone’s hideouts and busting his deals, they earn the nickname of The Untouchables. How they finally manage to nail Capone, is what the movie is about.
The Untouchables** is director Brian De Palma’s third gangster outing after Scarface and Wise Guys. Scarface was an in your face, brutal, hard hitting realistic account of Cuban gangster Tony Montana. It was noted for it’s high violence quotient, its jerky camera shots, its fast cutting dialog. The Untouchables has an equally high amount of gore and violence, but its more Hollywoodized. The dialogues are more measured and slow, and the camera work is more panoramic. In a way the movie pays tribute to the early gangster classics of Hollywood starring actors like Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney.
There are some excellent dramatic sequences. The first encounter between Ness and Malone, and then Maloneinstructing Ness how to tackle Capone
*“You want to get Capone, this is what you do, he takes out a knife, you take out a gun, he sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. This is how you fight crime Chicago style”- Total seeti maar dialogue
Another superb scene is where Malone recruits George Stone, by mocking at his Italian origins. As also the scene where Capone smashes a gangster’s head with a baseball bat, Ness having a showdown with Capone after Malone has been shot dead, Malone’s death scene.
And for action movie buffs, you have some great scenes, like the shootout at the Canadian border, Ness pushing the gangster who shot dead Malone over the building and yes of course the classic Odessa Steps sequence in Chicago station.
The Odessa Steps sequence so called because it was adapted by Brian De Palma from a similar sequence in Battleship Potemkin, is brilliantly shot. In total slow motion, the gun shots mixed with the cry of a mom, as she sees her pram fall down the steps. 10-15 minutes of sheer cinematic brilliance. On par with Ben Hur’s chariot race scene and the Mexican stand off scene in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
The Untouchables** is also helped by some solid acting from its performers.
Robert De Niro as Al Capone, is brilliant as ever. Being a method actor, De Niro, in fact hired Al Capone’s own tailor, to design the costumes for him, when in fact, it was Giorgio Armaniwho designed the costumes for the rest of the cast. Be it strutting around like a master, blustering and bullying people, **De Niro, once again proves that when it comes to being nasty, he is a master.
Sean Connery got the Best Supporting Actor, for his role of **Jimmy Malone, and he also gets some of the best lines. If you can overlook his Scottish accent, though he is supposed to be Irish in the movie, Connery as usual, gives a superb act. Especially in the church scene, where he mentors Ness and also the scene where he provokes Stone.
It is quite tough to hold your own, when pitted against scene stealers like De Niro and Connery. To his immense credit, Kevin Costner, comes up with a solid, understated performance as Eliot Ness. His emotions are superb especially in the pre climax scene, when he hears Nitti saying that his friend died like a pig. As a loving father, as a honest agent, as a man of principles, Costner gives a great performance.
Andy Garcia as the rookie cop George Stone is in fine form, and he is just brilliant in that Odessa steps sequence, while Martin Smith provides comic relief as the nerdy accountantWallace.
And of course excellent background score by Ennio Morricone, especially in the opening credits. The art work wonderfully recreates the 1920’s Chicago era. All in all a great movie to be watched, any day and any time, thanks to some solid performances, wonderful screenplay and great action sequences.
