The Untouchables is a
1987 crime drama
film based on the
1959
television series, and follows
Eliot
Ness's
autobiographical account
of his efforts to bring
Italian-American gangster
Al Capone to justice during the
Prohibition era. It was directed by
Brian De Palma and adapted by
David Mamet, and starred
Kevin Costner as Ness,
Sean Connery as
Irish-American beat cop Jim Malone, and
Robert De Niro as Capone.
Connery received the
Academy Award
for
Best
Supporting Actor for his role in the film. The film became a
solid hit, grossing over
$76
million domestically. A prequel,
The Untouchables: Capone
Rising, is currently in production. Directed by Brian De
Palma, the film's plot details the story of Al Capone's rise to
power.
Plot
Prohibition in the United
States has led to an organized crime wave in the 1920s and early
1930s. Various gangs bootleg vast amounts of alcohol and control
their businesses with violence and extortion.
The problem is most
serious in Chicago
, where gang
leader Al Capone (Robert De Niro) has almost the whole city
(even the Mayor of Chicago) under his control, and supplies
low-quality liquor at high prices. Treasury Department agent
Eliot Ness (
Kevin Costner) is put in charge of leading the
crusade against Capone and his empire. Ness's initial strategy is
to conduct raids using a large squad of uniformed officers, but
these fail due to high level corruption in the Police Department,
who secretly warn Capone's men of Ness's raids and hope that a
public humiliation will put a quick end to Ness's efforts.
Seeking ideas for a change of tactics, Ness solicits help from
Jimmy Malone (
Sean Connery), an
incorruptible
Irish police officer,
following a chance encounter one evening. Malone advises Ness to
recruit directly from the police academy in order to ensure the
officers not have a chance to come under Capone's influence. An
Italian American trainee George
Stone, formerly Giuseppe Petri (
Andy
García) is enlisted, due to his superior marksmanship and
intelligence under pressure.
Joined by accountant Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith), assigned to Ness
from Washington
, he has built an incorruptible team, capable of
combating Capone.
Their first raid takes place in a local post office, where its
storeroom is used to house illegal liquor. Malone, along with most
of the police, know where the alcohol is, and know it is left alone
because no one wants to provoke Capone and his gang. The raid
succeeds without anyone getting killed, though Capone takes his
revenge on the foreman later by beating him to death with a
baseball bat. As the four pick up steam and become noted by the
press, Wallace informs Ness that Capone has not filed an
income tax return in four years. Therefore a
feasible method of prosecuting him is through a
tax evasion charge, if nothing else. At one
point, Ness and his men are visited by a local
alderman, who offers them a large sum of money in
exchange for their dropping the investigation. Ness angrily rejects
the bribe and throws him out, but not before the man invents the
name "The Untouchables" for them, and tells them that anyone can be
assassinated, even them.
The man's words prove to be true when Capone's chief hit man,
Frank Nitti (
Billy Drago), makes smart remarks about Ness and
his family outside his house, and drives off before Ness can
capture him. Realizing Capone is targeting him and his family, Ness
orders his wife and daughter moved to a safer place while he
instructs his team to keep a lower profile during the
investigations.
During a raid on the
Canada – United States
border, Malone captures one of Capone’s bookkeepers, George
(
Brad Sullivan). George is skeptical
at first, and refuses even after Malone assaults him. He only
agrees to work with them, however, after Malone shoots a thug (who
was actually already dead) in the mouth to frighten him. Enraged
even further, Capone orders his men to hunt down and kill Ness,
knowing that with Ness dead, the Untouchables will be finished.
Ness's wife, meanwhile has just given birth to their second child,
a baby boy.
However, at the police station, where the Untouchables are being
congratulated, when Wallace is escorting the Capone accountant to
witness protection, Nitti, disguised as a policeman, shoots and
kills them both in the service elevator, mocking them by writing
the word "Touchable" on the wall with their blood. Ness is left
with insufficient evidence to press charges, and the frustration
drives him into challenging Capone in public to a physical fight in
front of his son and henchmen at Capone’s headquarters, the
Lexington Hotel. Malone intervenes
and forces Ness out of the hotel, defusing the confrontation.
Malone tells Ness to stall the prosecutor from dropping the case
while he searches for information regarding Capone’s other
bookkeepers. He learns about Walter Payne, another bookkeeper after
a brutal fight with his old Irish friend, Mike Dorsett, the corrupt
police chief who had sold out Wallace and George. He calls Ness and
asks to meet him at Malone's home.
Later, Malone is stalked by a knife-wielding thug, "Bowtie," at his
home, whom he quickly drives out the back door at gunpoint (and
belittles for his incompetence), only to be ambushed by Nitti
wielding a
tommy gun. He
survives, however, long enough for Ness and Stone to find him. With
the last of his strength, he clutches his beloved
Saint Jude pendant and informs the two about
Payne’s upcoming departure from Chicago by train, and dies in
Ness's arms.
Ness and
Stone arrive at Union Station
and find Payne guarded by Bowtie and many
gangsters. After a fierce shootout (a homage to
the famous
Odessa Steps scene from 1926 Russian film
The Battleship
Potemkin), the two succeed in killing all of the gangsters
(including Bowtie) and taking Payne alive.
Payne testifies in court against Capone, admitting he has disbursed
$1.3 million for Capone over a three-year period. Ness, however,
notices Capone relaxed and even smiling despite the probability of
serving a long prison sentence, and also sees Nitti carrying a gun
in court. He takes Nitti out of the courtroom with the
bailiff and discovers that Nitti was permitted by
the corrupt mayor of Chicago to carry the gun into court. However,
Ness identifies Nitti as Malone’s murderer after seeing Nitti's
matchbook with Malone's address on it.
Panicking, Nitti shoots the bailiff (explaining why he was
permitted to carry the gun) and runs up to the roof of the
building, exchanging gunfire with Ness all the way. Eventually,
Ness has Nitti in his sights, but can't bring himself to shoot him
in cold blood. Nitti gives himself up to Ness, taunting him that
Malone died "squealing like a stuck Irish pig" and bragging that he
will be found innocent. Enraged at the thought that Nitti will
escape punishment for his crimes (even with evidence and
testimonies to prove his guilt) and provoked to revenge, Ness
throws Nitti off the roof to his death.
Back inside the courthouse, Stone shows Ness a document from
Nitti’s jacket that reveals that the jury has been bribed,
explaining Capone's relaxed mood. The judge, however, has no
intention of using it as evidence and is fully prepared to let
Capone go free, inadvertently revealing his corruption. In a last
ditch effort, Ness extorts the judge into doing the right thing,
bluffing that the judge's name is among those in the bookkeeper's
ledger of official payoffs. As a result, the judge decides to
switch the jury with another preparing to hear a divorce case next
door, which shatters Capone's previously calm demeanour. Before the
trial can continue, Capone's lawyer withdraws the plea of "not
guilty" for a plea of "guilty" without Capone's consent (in real
life, an action prohibited by criminal defense attorneys). Capone
is sentenced to 11 years in prison. Although it is literally
Capone's own lawyer who puts Capone behind bars, Ness receives all
of the credit. Ness advises Capone not to give up though, but
Capone just brushes Ness off, calling him "nothing but a lot of
talk and a badge."
Ness packs up his Chicago office. He sees the
Saint Jude pendant that Malone had carried with
him for many years. Ness offers Stone the pendant, having shaken
hands with him. "He would have wanted a cop to have it," Ness
insists, because Jude was the patron saint of police officers. Out
on the street, a reporter wishes to have a word from the man who
put Capone away, but Ness merely remarks he was just there "when
the wheel went 'round." When the reporter mentions that Prohibition
is due to be repealed, he asks what Ness might do then. Ness says
the now-famous line, "I think I'll have a drink."
Cast
Production
The media reported that the producers wanted Sean Connery for the
movie but could not afford his salary, so he agreed to do the movie
for $50,000 with a 10 percent share of the proceeds. The
expectation was that the movie would not make much money, so the
producers agreed to it. However, it exceeded all expectations and
Sean Connery reaped a large amount of money. It was one of the most
publicized times that an actor had benefited so greatly from having
"bet" on the future of the movie and since then other actors have
parlayed their acting skills into taking less up front for a part
of the proceeds.
The
Untouchables was filmed in Chicago, Illinois
; Hardin,
Montana
; and the surrounding areas of Great Falls,
Montana
, between August and November 1986.
According to Brian De Palma, Robert De Niro and
Bob Hoskins were the prime candidates for the
role of Al Capone, and Hoskins, for his brief collaboration after
De Niro declined but before he changed his mind, was sent a £20,000
cheque by De Palma. Robert de Niro prepared so thoroughly for the
role, that he even wore underwear from that period, even though it
would never be seen throughout the movie. After the movie came out,
he reportedly said that he was not satisfied with his performance
or the movie overall. Hoskins, meanwhile, later sent a "Thank You"
note to De Palma and jokingly asked him if there were any more
films he didn't want him to appear in.
Reception
The Untouchables opened on
June 3,
1987 in 1,012 theaters where it grossed
USD $10 million on its opening weekend. It went
on to make $76.2 million in North America.
The film has received a mostly positive reception from critics and
has an 82% rating on
Rotten
Tomatoes.
Vincent Canby, of
The New York Times, gave
the movie a glowing review, calling it "a smashing work" and saying
it was "vulgar, violent, funny and sometimes breathtakingly
beautiful".
Roger Ebert, on the other
hand, said, "
The Untouchables has great costumes, great
sets, great cars, great guns, great locations and a few shots that
absolutely capture the Prohibition Era. But it does not have a
great script, great performances or great direction". Hal Hinson,
in his review for the
Washington
Post, criticized De Palma's direction: "And somehow we're
put off here by the spectacular stuff he throws up onto the screen.
De Palma's storytelling instincts have given way completely to his
interest in film as a visual medium. His only real concern is his
own style".
Many reviewers, including Ebert, singled out De Niro's scenes
portraying Al Capone as the biggest disappointment of the film,
while giving praise to Connery's performance. Connery, however, won
first place in a
Empire magazine poll for worst film
accent. Pauline Kael called it "a great audience movie--a wonderful
potboiler."
Awards
Proposed Prequel
The Untouchables: Capone Rising is a
proposed prequel to director
Brian De
Palma's earlier film
The Untouchables.
Antoine Fuqua was originally attached
to direct in 2004, but DePalma took over the reins a year later.
Shooting was set to begin in June 2007, but was delayed to October.
Gerard Butler signed on to star in May
2007, and
Nicolas Cage was negotiated
with to play Al Capone, but left due to scheduling difficulties.
In a
November 2007 interview, De Palma said that if he could not cast
the lead role and begin production within the next month that he
may move on to other projects; De Palma stated that he needed to be
shooting during the winter to recreate the St. Valentine's
Day Massacre
. Winters of both 2007 and 2008 have passed
and Winter of 2009 is fast approaching, yet there has been no
further news about the film's production.
Computer and video games
A
Side-scrolling computer game was released by
Ocean Software in 1989 on
ZX Spectrum,
Amstrad
CPC,
Commodore 64,
MSX,
Amiga,
MS-DOS, and later on
NES,
SNES. Based loosely on
the movie it lets you play out some of the more significant parts.
It is set in Chicago and the main goal of the game is to take down
Al Capone's henchmen and eventually get
Capone in jail.
- Playable characters
- Eliot Ness
- Jimmy Malone
- Oscar Wallace
- George Stone (Giuseppe Petri)
- Levels
- The Streets: This is the first level in the
game and it puts you as Elliot Ness shooting at gangsters from
behind a warehouse as they shoot at you.
- The Warehouse: As Ness you must shoot guys who
have information regarding Capone and pick up the information they
drop when they have been shot.
- The Bridge: This is the first level in which
The Untouchables (Stone, Malone, Wallace, and Ness) are the
playable characters. As the Untouchables you blow up some of
Capone's drug trafficking trucks.
- The Alley: This level is very similar to The
Streets, however, you have the option to switch between Ness and
the Untouchables.
- The Train Station: As Ness you must guide a
baby-carriage down a flight of stairs while fighting off Capone's
henchmen.
- The Hostage: One of Capone's henchmen has
taken a man for a hostage, Capone's bookkeeper and possible
witness, and while controlling George Stone you must take one shot
to take out the henchman.
- The Rooftops: Another level that is similar to
The Streets except you must reload your own gun in between shots
while you take cover behind a courthouse wall. This level is a
confrontation between Eliot and Capone's assassin and enforcer,
Frank Nitti.
See also
Further reading
- Tucker, Kenneth. Eliot Ness and the Untouchables: The
Historical Reality and the Film and Television Depictions.
Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2000. ISBN
0-7864-0772-7
References
- Internet Radio, Citizen Broadcasting, Social Media
Podcasts - Blog Talk Radio
External links
Wikis
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