The Untouchables (1987)

I can actually remember seeing this in the cinema with my dad. The year was 1987, I was seven years old, and my dad took me to see this.

Different times, my peeps.

The film made a lasting impression on me and I must say I still relive that sense of awe, sadness and sometimes disgust at certain scenes. It might also be responsible for the fact that I think the clothing styles of the 1930s were by far the best looking ever, even if I wouldn't be caught dead in a costume with a tie. I don't like wearing them, they make me feel constricted.

Anyway...

Kevin Costner is Eliot Ness, an agent of the Treasury tasked with stopping Al Capone and upholding the law under the Prohibition in a gritty Chicago. This period in time is probably the main reason why people in Europe know about Chicago. I'm sure there are more reasons historically speaking, but if you're not an American, I guess no one really knows or cares that much. Ness soon discovers that almost the entirety of the police force is rotten and so he sets out to find some men willing to join him in his 'quest'. An old beat cop (Connery), an accountant (Martin-Smith) and a fresh recruit (Garcia) join him and the battle is on.

Costner is the stoic, goodie two-shoes who wants to play by the rules all the time, until he finally sees that he has to cut some corners. You can't play nice all the time and win. Connery is great, albeit it slightly clichéd as the wise-ass old officer that is streetsmart enough to show the rookies how it's done. Forget the fact that Connery is supposed to play an Irishman, as his Scottish accent is bloody obvious, especially when contrasted to the real Irish accent of an actor like Richard Bradford. You'll hear the difference soon enough. Charles Martin-Smith is a little underused, but he's fun to watch. And Andy Garcia can do no wrong with me, so there's that.

Much has been said of Robert DeNiro as Al Capone and the fact that he isn't a lot in this film. I don't really care, as this makes him a more interesting villain than you might think. He is kept more as a mystery and the more the Untouchables break down his organisation, the more cracks begin appearing in his demeanor. I love it.

Whilst the story is fairly average, as in "team of outside officers band together to take down evil crime boss", it's several key scenes that stand out together with the wonderful design of the world. This completely embossed itself as my image of how Chicago in the 1930s must have looked. I'm sure it's not completely accurate, but let me have my dreams. But when talking about key scenes, for me, there are three.

The first one is Capone at a dinner, where he is talking about baseball. It's all funny and lighthearted, until he bashes one of his men's brains in for losing a massive stock of liquor. That made an impact on me as a kid, I can tell you.

Also: pun intended.

The most tragic one is the demise of Malone (Connery). It still hurts to this day. I do believe the musical score plays into that on a large level, but he is such a loveable character. Especially after his iconic dialogue with Ness in a church. You all know it.

No?

Here it is:

"He pulls a knife, you pull a gun. He puts one of yours in the hospital, you put one of his in the morgue!"

Classic.

The last one, is the extremely tense shootout on the steps of the trainstation. Watch and rewatch it, it gets better every time.

Like I said, not everything works. Costner's performance is a little flat and unemotional, and the character of Frank Nitti is a little over the top, but the latter might be because he's portrayed by Billy Drago and I'm not sure if I've ever seen that actor not go a little OTT. It can be fun, but here it's a little jarring.

Nevertheless: great film.