Never Stop Fighting Till the Fight Is Done

Kaleidoscope returns with a review of a classic film--Paramount's 1987 production of "The Untouchables".  Directed by Brian DePalma, the movie stars Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Robert DeNiro, Andy Garcia, Patricia Clarkson, Billy Drago, & Charles Martin Smith.  Rated 'R', it has a running time of 1 hr., 59 min.

The setting is 1930 in Chicago during Prohibition.  Gangster Al 'Scarface" Capone (DeNiro) imports most of the illegal liquor into the city & Chicago is pretty much under his direct & indirect control.  Enter Bureau of Prohibition Agent Eliot Ness (Costner) who has been assigned the job of stopping Capone & bringing down his empire.  Ness's 1st attempt at a bust of a warehouse known to be a depository for Capone's liquor fails miserably due to Capone being tipped off about Ness's raid.  Why?  Capone has many members of the police force, judges, politicians, etc on his payroll; as a result, Capone had been tipped off.  Serendipitously, as Ness is contemplating his failure, he encounters veteran officer Jim Malone (Connery).  Having been busted down to a 'beat cop' for his refusal to 'play along' with other corrupt cops & officers, Malone sees in Ness a kindred spirit; he suggests that if Ness truly wants to get Capone, he will have to do it the 'Chicago Way'; i.e.: Malone: "You wanna know how to get Capone?  They pull a knife; you pull a gun.  He sends one of yours to the hospital; you send one of his to the morgue.  That's the Chicago Way."  Malone then suggests that they go to the police academy to find an uncorrupted novice; they find one in George Stone (Garcia) who is the 'ace' of his class & a 'dead shot'. Along with newly assigned Prohibition agent/accountant Oscar Wallace (Smith), the 4 of them lead a successful raid of a Capone liquor storehouse.  Act I ends as the press labels them 'The Untouchables" because of this victorious assault.

DePalma has always been a supreme stylist with his superior films of the 70's--90's.  Many of these were homages to Hitchcock including 1976's "Obsession"/"Vertigo" & 1980's "Dressed to Kill"/"Psycho".  Other distinguished films; 1976's "Carrie", 1981's "Blow Out" (an homage to Michaelangelo Antonioni's 1966 "Blow-Up"), 1990's "The Bonfire of the Vanities", etc.  What aids him immensely here (& what, in my opinion, raises my score to a '10') is the superior script by noted playwright/screenwriter David Mamet.  Winner of a Pulitzer Prize for his play "Glengarry Glen Ross", Mamet has fashioned a screenplay that crackles with 'Mamet-speak': realistic, gritty, earthy dialogue that mirrors the nature of the characters to which they are ascribed.  2 examples; a) (see the character Malone's words above) and b) When Capone learns of the successful raid of his liquor storehouse--"I want you to get this f**k where he breathes!  I want you to find this nancy-boy Eliot Ness; I want him DEAD!  I want his family DEAD!  I want his house burned to the GROUND!  I want to go there in the middle of the night & I wanna PISS ON HIS ASHES!"  Mamet's words sound real, uttered by real people  This type of dialogue lends an air of verisimilitude to the film's characters & set pieces--even if, at times, their veracity can be suspect.  The acting is superb in every instance.  Connery convincingly displays Ness's arc from naive, rookie lawman who wants to do everything 'as legal as possible' to being an agent who learns & implements the Chicago Way.  Connery thoroughly inhabits the essence of Malone--a man pushed down by the system who relishes the chance to 'stick it' to the corrupt Man who controls all aspects of Chicago; he deservedly won the Supporting Actor Oscar for his sublime performance.  Who better to play Capone than DeNiro--an actor born to play the gangster, having honed his skills in his portrayal of a young Vito Corleone in "The Godfather: Part 2".  The rest of the cast is flawless.  The 4th key ingredient in the film's success is the astounding score composed by the great Ennio Morricone; the world lost a true musical genius with his passing on July 6th last month.  Although he only won one Oscar for best original score for 2015's "The Hateful Eight", he should have won numerous others for films such as 1966's "The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly", "1968's "Once Upon a Time in the West", 1970's "Two Mules for Sister Sara", 1981's "The Professional", 1986's "The Mission", etc.  His music here is alternately majestic, riveting, suspenseful, elegiac, thrilling, emotional, along with many other themes.

I give "The Untouchables" 10 out of 10 nuggets.  If you have never see this screen gem, see it asap.  If you have seen it, rewatch to savor its riches.  It is worth your while.