The Untouchables (1987)

Brian DePalma directed this Prohibition Era crime epic about the eponymous Untouchables and their mission to take down Al Capone, who is ruling the city of Chicago through extreme violence.  The Untouchables are lead by Elliott Ness played by Kevin Costner and Capone is played by DeNiro.  However the most memorable player is Ness’ right-hand and mentor, Malone played by the late great Sean Connery in the role which won him an Oscar.  Andy Garcia, Billy Drago, and Charles Martin Smith fill out the very well-dressed cast.  Is everything portrayed true to what really happened at this time in American history?  Not in the slightest, but it’s still damn entertaining!  

WARNING: MOVIE CLIPS PORTRAYING VIOLENCE

Host: Geoff Gershon

Producer: Marlene Gershon

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Transcript

THE UNTOUCHABLES - 1987

Directed by Brian DePalma (Audio clip)

Starring Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Robert DeNiro, Andy Garcia, Charles Martin Smith, Billy Drago, Richard Bradford, and Patricia Clarkson

Genre: Gangster Action Thriller

I probably watch this at least once a year....one of THE great Chicago movies. Brian De Palma just directs the shit out of this thing - so many unique shots and angles from overhead along with his trademark split diopter shot which is used to dramatic effect in at least one high stakes moment early on between Connery's Malone and Costner's Ness. Yeah you know the one....the Oscar clip for Connery no less, the "blood oath" scene in the church which happens to repeat the most repeated dialogue from this movie decades later. "Dat's da Chi-CA-go Way!!!" ;) (Audio clip) 

Everyone involved is painting with the broadest brush possible to craft the ULTIMATE Prohibition Era crime drama! :o Everything just looks impeccably cinematic and lushly ramped up, it almost feels like a hyper-realistic comic book at times....from the way cinematographer Stephen Burum classically frames Windy City landmarks like the Board of Trade (fittingly used two decades later for some key moments in The Dark Knight) to gorgeous period costumes designed by the legendary Giorgio Armani.

 No no no....this isn't remotely close to the REAL stories of Elliott Ness nor the actual heroic individuals who eventually took down AL Capone....they're not even trying here. Why report the facts when the legend makes for a MUCH more entertaining movie? 🤔 That task falls heavily upon master playwright/screenwriter David Mamet...the guy who was Tarantino BEFORE Tarantino. And he delivers with an endless stream of quotable, crackling dialogue plus an absurdly streamlined narrative compared to actual events. And I mean streamlined, there's almost ZERO fat here! The story just MOVES with such perfect forward momentum - rewatching it most recently, I was sort of astounded at how so many iconic moments just come at you in succession at points....you have the blood oath in the church BOOM...then recruiting George Stone (AWESOME intro to a young Andy Garcia) BAM....then their first raid KAPOW....and then DeNiro's iconic bat scene at the mob round table SPLAT. 😳 All within 15 minutes of runtime and with each moment given time to breathe no less.....lord help our educational system if every other major historical event in the history of this country had SUCH a dazzlingly concise cinematic Cliff Notes like THIS one! 

Of course that leaves the cast which is CLOSE to perfect with Connery, smoldering young Andy Garcia, and Billy Drago stealing most scenes that they're in....unfortunately leaving Costner possibly as the weakest link since he has the most thankless role. He still LOOKS great as Elliott Ness, which certainly helps...he holds his own during the action sequences...but wow, there are some domestic scenes with his wife which are just a rough watch!  We’ll get to her a bit later….

But back to Costner....I'm always torn as to whether the issue is his at times over-earnest performance or what's on the page, it's hard to say because he serves Connery very well in their scenes together. Maybe it's just hard for ANY actor to sell any line along the lines of the following: (Audio clip)

"NEVER stop fighting until the fighting is DONE!!!" 

Granted his whiny SoCal delivery of that very line isn't helping matters but....his character is clearly serving a purpose here as the stiff, uptight "boy scout" in contrast with all of the morally compromised folks surrounding him. And it serves that purpose as we get further into the darker second half of this movie. ☹

 Which is not to say it's bad but DePalma and Mamet clearly want to remind us that this is NOT some rousing, feel-good Western as it might have seemed early on....nope, we see two characters we have grown to love get brutally murdered in that second half! And as entertaining as DeNiro is with his periodic asides as Capone, it's Billy Drago's Nitti who becomes this film's most effective boogeyman. :/ Drago is unmistakably menacing with his raspy delivery, perpetual scowl, and of course that unmistakable white suit - he isn't given many lines but he sells EVERY one of them... (Audio clip) 

"Nice to have a family....man should take care, see that NOTHING happens to them..." 

He's just low-key great, likely portraying one of the more underrated villains of the '80's. But of course, Nitti works so well partially thanks to his counterweight in this story....Malone played by Sir SEAN who just kills it in the performance that would earn him his only Oscar. Probably my earliest Oscar memory was watching with my mother - just before going to bed - Sean win that Oscar, it was a big deal in our Bond-loving household. :) And he by all means deserved it too..

Never more so than for a scene that seriously.....MESSED me up as a young lad watching this for the first time on video….

 SPOILER ALERT

SPOILER ALERT - For a 35 year old movie mind you....

Malone's death is not only brutal but operatic (pun intended as it's initially cross-cut with Capone watching Pagliacci) as we just FEEL every last desperate gasp of breath from Connery after Costner and Garcia find him on the floor....with a strong assist from the swelling sax and violins of Morricone's score of course. Yes it's a showy death scene but that doesn't make it any less effective - I was floored watching it as a pre-teen, I remember being SO surprised and taken aback watching James Bond die on-screen that I think I got annoyed at my parents momentarily, "WHY did you say this was a GOOD movie?!?" 😡 (Yeah I feel you, No Time To Die-detractors....even though I still love that movie.) It's just a visceral moment as we hear him shout "What are YOU prepared to DO???" and decades later, it still holds up as one of THE best death scenes! 

It of course sets the tone and higher stakes for what is likely this film's most iconic sequence....that train station shootout on the stairs in Union Station. 🤗 Yes it's a glorious sequence which is 100% pure DePalma UNLEASHED (even if it's ripping off Eisenstein) and while I don't doubt that he fudges the physics a bit thanks to the canny use of slo mo, it still remains among the elite action suspense setpieces which I can watch again and again....

And believe it or not, THAT'S not even my favorite scene in the movie....which we’ll get to a bit later.  Overall, I wouldn't refer to The Untouchables as DePalma's BEST movie but it might be his most purely entertaining!

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film): 

And let's not forget that tense, melancholy score from the late, great Ennio Morricone....starting off with a striking mix of percussion and piano keys pounding through those now iconic opening credits as we hear a building theme coming from a harmonica of all things. It sets a sinister tone for what follows and this was also the sort of propulsive action theme music that Hans Zimmer would pound us into submission with decades later.  However, Morricone just did it before it became cool. ;) (Audio clip) 

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):

Regarding the scenes with Elliott Ness and his wife, she is played by the Oscar nominated and multiple Emmy nominated actress Patricia Clarkson in her on-screen debut.  Not only are these scenes just awkward but to add insult to injury, Clarkson is simply listed in the credits as “Ness’ Wife.”  Everything is just played SO earnestly….Morricone's score isn’t helping in these scenes even laying it on a bit thick. :/ I'm honestly not sure what Clarkson is even doing in this movie as her character seems here mainly to just smile and tell her husband just how "proud" she is of him in each of her scenes.  Granted this was early in her career but it's still a waste of someone who would eventually become one of our most versatile actresses. (Audio clip) 

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie) and MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film): 

Like I said this a film loaded with iconic moments. ;) And for me, THE most iconic one occurs roughly halfway through as we watch a one of our protagonists commit an absurdly violent act that you can likely only get away with in a DePalma OR Verhoeven movie if I'm being fair. We just had a pretty rousing shootout on a Canadian bridge between some of Capone's bootlegging goons and our eponymous Untouchables and they're now back at a cabin questioning a higher-up Capone accountant who has a log-book listing key payments from the big guy which could likely incriminate him.

 Well Malone and Ness are trying to question this bookkeeper and he's just NOT biting! So Malone takes it upon himself to step right outside on the porch of this cabin where he sees a dead goon laying out there quietly and he picks up this corpse and starts to threaten him....only the bookkeeper who can see this through the window to the back DOESN'T know he's already dead. :o Malone then holds a gun to the corpse's mouth and threatens to blow his brains out if HE doesn't talk....which he clearly can't. ;) As Connery holds up this corpse with a gun in his mouth just outside, we watch every one stand in stoned silence as he gives the corpse a count to five....and as the bookkeeper looks on in horror....5...4....3...2....1 BAM! And guess who starts talking? 🤫 (Audio clip)

It's a brutal scene which Connery plays perfectly....just another example of classic myth-making both in front of and behind the camera. 

And speaking of myth-making….DeNiro is given his share of broad memorable flourishes as Capone…..Costner certainly LOOKS the part of the All-American uncorruptible hero….but at the end of the day, it is Connery’s Malone who carries this movie.

The Untouchables is a story about the legends driving our ongoing perception of some real-life events and no performance in this movie bridges that gap better than Connery – yes his Malone is a larger life character, how else could he be delivering speeches like his iconic one about “The Chicago Way?”  Folks in real-life situations rarely talk like that nor are ever THAT good at expressing a point of view so succinctly.  It’s movie dialogue plain and simple!

But not only does Connery’s Scottish brogue and regal mannerisms help you buy it, his character EMBODIES it….all the way through those wrenching last words of dialogue we hear him say late in the movie.  His Malone is bombastic but he’s also vulnerable and even too impetuous at times – even through less stylish costuming (which apparently was Connery’s idea), he just seems more like a lived-in person than anyone else here.  

While I can’t quite be sure that I would consider this Connery’s BEST performance overall, it’s more than understandable that this is the one he won his Oscar for – over the past 60+ years, he became one of our most celebrated movie stars with a larger-than-life persona and unmistakable voice…..seriously NOBODY else in Scotland sounds like him but who cares? 😊 For not being the hero this movie deserves but the hero it most certainly needs, Sean Connery is the MVP. (Audio clip) 

Final Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

And on a personal note, there are few folks I have known who were MORE enduring fans of Sir Sean than my mother, Beth Gershon – I saw many a Connery opus in theaters with her from his last Bond movie to ‘Red October to The Rock.  Her birthday happens to fall the day after this episode is being released online…..so as a shout-out to my personal favorite Connery fan…..Happy Birthday Mom!

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