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The Prohibition-era reign of mob kingpin Al Capone is dramatized in The Untouchables, a colorful, stylishly violent drama graced with a superb script by David Mamet and flamboyantly directed by Brian De Palma (Scarface). Nominally based on the popular '60s TV show (and even more nominally on the bestselling memoir from which it was adapted), De Palma's film depicts Chicago during the Depression years as a booze-soaked, crime-ridden, hopelessly corrupt city held captive by vicious gangsters and crooked officials. Sincere but naive federal agent Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner), assigned to find the weak link in Capone's chain of command, handpicks a team of similarly dedicated subordinates, among them streetwise Irish cop Jim Malone (Sean Connery in an Oscar-winning characterization). Robert De Niro contributes a deliberately florid performance as the beefy, swaggering Capone. De Palma dramatizes the events of Ness's campaign with operatic fervor; his movie is less concerned with busting the booze racket than it is with treachery, murder, and retribution. His bravura directorial approach extends to the crafting of action set pieces, especially a climactic train-station shootout that echoes the Odessa Steps sequence in Potemkin. Paramount's DVD includes the original theatrical trailer. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Like the TV series that shared the same title, The Untouchables (1987) was an account of the battle between gangster Al Capone and lawman Eliot Ness, this time in the form of a feature film boasting big stars, a big budget, and a script from respected playwright David Mamet. Kevin Costner stars as Ness, a federal agent who has come to Chicago during the Prohibition Era, when corruption in the local police department is rampant. His mission is to put crime lord Capone (Robert DeNiro) out of business, but Capone is so powerful and popular that Ness is not taken seriously by the law or the press. One night, discouraged, he meets a veteran patrolman, Jimmy Malone (Sean Connery), and discovers that the acerbic Irishman is the one honest man he's been seeking. Malone has soon helped Ness recruit a gunslinger rookie, George Stone (Andy Garcia) and, joined by nebbish accountant Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith), the men doggedly pursue Capone and his illegal interests. At first a laughingstock, Ness soon has Capone outraged over his and Malone's sometimes law-bending tactics, and the vain mobster strikes back in vicious style. Ultimately, it is the most unexpected and minor of crimes, tax evasion, which proves Capone's undoing. All of the credits for The Untouchables boasted big names, including music from Ennio Morricone and costumes by Giorgio Armani. Director Brian DePalma continued his tradition of including a homage to past masters of the cinema with a taut stairway shoot-out reminiscent of a similar sequence in Sergei Eisenstein's The Battleship Potemkin (1925). Karl Williams

Product Details

• UPC: 097361247342
• Source: PARAMOUNT
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• Language: English, Français, Español
• Subtitles: English, Français, Español
• Time: 1:59:00
• Sales Rank: 18,322

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