Customer Reviews
Not a Classic - By: Brendan O. Clarke, 21 Jul 2008 
This entertaining film is Brian DePalma's paste-up job of the war between crusader Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) & gangster Al Capone (Robert De Niro). Sean Connery as a secondary character steals the movie with a great performance (Oscar 1987). The pacing is lethargic as the director seems to treat this saga of law & order with mock seriousness. Costner's lack of charisma & DePalma's attempt at mock seriousness irritate me when ever i watch this movie. It will never find a place on my dvd shelf. It is a good movie, but it is far from great. Selah, 7/10.
Not the best but worth watching - By: Ms. J. D. Penn, 02 Mar 2008 I wasn't as impressed as i have been with some gangster films but again the acting was spot on. Kevin Costner was awsome, i didnt realise what an actor he was until i saw this. De Niro was excellent as always. The story line was a little predictable but was easy to follow. If you love gangster films then the chances are you'll love this
A classic? You are joking. - By: Mr. M. A. Speedy, 28 Feb 2008 
Bad 80s music, wooden acting, uninspirational directing.
I am not quite sure what other people see in it.
If you want to see a crime epic, watch Goodfellas, The Godfather or Once Upon a Time in America instead.
Connery's film - By: S J Buck, 30 Nov 2007 
Brian DePalma is always an interesting filmmaker. Even though he borrows bits & pieces from other famous films & filmmakers (most noteably Hitchcock) there is something strangely compelling about most of his films, even when they aren't actuallly that good. The Untouchables has the same issues, but its done with such style, & with significant contributions from some film greats that in the end DePalma made a classic.
Now that Sean Connery has retired, & twenty years have past since this film, its easy to forget just what a magnetic screen presence he had. During the initial post Bond era in the 1970's it appeared that he might never get out of Bond's shadow, but somehow magicallly the ageing process suited Sean Connery & in his 50's he became, if not the biggest box office draw, certainly one of the most sought after actors in film. Watching his performance here, even with the dodgy accent, his screen presence shines through & he dominates the film effortlessly. Connery is like Clint Eastwood in his prime in this respect. Its actuallly quite difficult to put into words why he's so good - but he is. Few actors are blessed with this natural gift but Connery had it, especiallly in the 1980's.
Add into the equation that the rest of the cast are excellent (Costner, DeNiro, Garcia). Theres a good script by Davad Mamet & an excellent score by Ennio Morricone & suddenly The Untouchables starts to score heavily. In terms of entertainment it is a masterpiece, with DePalma directing some wonderful set pieces (ok some are borrowed - the steps scene for one) which are reminiscent of Hitchcock at his very best.
For me the sign of a great film is whether it holds up to repeated viewings. This does, with ease, & I look forward to watching it again.
Best Crime Thriller EVER - By: Karma, 19 Nov 2007 This is truly a masterpiece of cinema, set in 1930s America during the height of prohibition (the outlaw of alcohol) when crime lords like Al Capone controlled the streets & the police (using bribery & threats) & made a fortune selling illegal alcohol across the country.
People who criticise the film for being historicallly inaccurate have missed the point of the film I think. No, it is not entirely accurate(though many parts of the story are) but was it ever meant to be? Hollywood loves to use its poetic license & in this particular case I feel the story benefits from it.
The story focuses on a smalll group of four men (Two federal Officers & Two uncorrupted Chicago Police Officers) that band together to try & put Al Capone behind bars, nicknamed the 'Untouchables' because alll four of them were good men who didn't weaken under bribery or threats of violence to them & their families & were determined to put Capone behind bars.
Kevin Costner is brilliant as the tenacious but naive family-man Elliot Ness & the classic role of 'good cop' (The real Elliot Ness was nothing like the man protrayed by Kevin Costner in the film & was in fact an alcoholic singleton with no wife or children)
Sean Connery is masterful as the world-weary Irish-American beat cop Jim Malone (though his 'Irish' accent is terrible & keeps reverting to Scottish) who tutors Ness & plays the classic 'bad cop'. Malone proves time & time again that he's willing to go to any lengths to catch Capone (including breaking the law himself, threatening suspects with violence & beating information out of bent cops!)
Both Andy Garcia & Charles Martin Smith are brilliant as supporting characters, Garcia playing the crackshot rookie cop George Stone with flair & passion & Marin Smith skillfully portraying Oscar Walllace, an unlikely law-enforcer with his smalll-stature, glasses & original job as a federal accountant who suddenly gets the chance to reallly make a difference & provides a very popular character ("Oh yes, much more diverting than accounting")
Robert DeNiro is (as usual) a mesmerising screen presence & his protrayal of Al Capone is truly frightening & interesting to see how he manipulates the press into beleiving he's an OK guy whilst behind the scenes his henchmen are murdering anyone who dares disobey him.
Thw film is fantastic, the acting is first class & it's the ultimate story of how decent people can stand up to corruption & lawlessness & reallly make a differnce. This film reallly inspired me & is a good example to us alll of the power for reallly standing up for what you believe in.
There is also a surprising amount of humour & tongue-in-cheek gags throughout the film.
I've always found a bitter irony of the entire situation & an interesting point about human behaviour; People like Al Capone would never have gotten into their position of power if there hadn't been a market for illegal alcohol. In other words; if ordinary people on the streets didn't break the law then Capone wouldn't have any business or certainly not to the degree in which he did.
There's a lesson in there for the sorts of people who break laws which they feel are smalll & unimportant but in fact they are fueling much bigger crime organisations behind the scenes. For example the illegal DVD market.
The point is if you like crime thrillers it doesn't get much better than this.
