The Untouchables (1987)

The Untouchables (1987)

In director Brian De Palma's epic, stylistic crime/gangster drama of the Prohibition era - it was bolstered by writer David Mamet's brilliant screenplay. The title of the film "The Untouchables" - referred to a group of fearless "special agents" employed by the Bureau of Prohibition, a law enforcement agency in the early 1930s, created to enforce Prohibition laws and to end the criminal activities of the lead crime boss in Chicago, Alphonse (or Al) "Scarface" Capone. The gangster-kingpin was eventually imprisoned in 1933 for tax evasion. The label "untouchables" (originally referring to an outcast group in India) was popularized by Chicago Daily News writer Charles Schwarz who called the intimidating, anti-bootlegging elite agents "Untouchables."

One of the film's posters described the main plot with its tagline:

"AL CAPONE He ruled Chicago with absolute power. No one could touch him. No one could stop him.
Until Eliot Ness and a small force of men swore they'd bring him down."

The artfully-filmed movie with strong acting performances was loosely based on the popular ABC-TV series (from 1959-1963 for four seasons, starring Robert Stack). [Note: The pilot episodes of the TV show were compiled and released as a theatrical film titled The Scarface Mob (1959).] The late 1950s TV show was based on the books and characters created by Oscar Fraley. Fraley had worked with real-life lead federal agent Eliot Ness to write his autobiographical memoir that was published in 1957. Following the film, a second "The Untouchables" TV show aired for two seasons (from 1993-1994).

The big-budget, energetic production cleverly intermixed real-life events (and characters) - mainly 1930s Chicago gangster Al Capone (portrayed by Robert De Niro), the head of the elite squad of "untouchables" Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner), and Irish beat cop James Malone (Sean Connery), with other similar fictionalized recreations and characters, as the crime boss was brought to justice. The film was enhanced by Ennio Morricone's magnificent score, cinematography by Stephen H. Burum, and wardrobe-fashion design by Giorgio Armani.

Although nominated for four Academy Awards, the sole winner was Sean Connery's Best Supporting Actor Oscar. The other nominations were Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score. On a budget of 25ドル million, the film grossed 76ドル.2 million (domestic) and 106ドル.2 million (worldwide).

• after the opening title credits, the film began with a title card superimposed over the first sequence:
  • "1930. Prohibition has transformed Chicago into a City at War. Rival gangs compete for control of the city's billion dollar empire of illegal alcohol, enforcing their will with the hand grenade and tommy gun. It is the time of the Ganglords. It is the time of Al Capone."
• in a barber shop, Al Capone (Robert De Niro) - with his head wrapped in a towel, was being questioned by a news reporter (Charles Keller Watson) about a newspaper article that essentially declared Capone as the unofficial, unappointed "Mayor of Chicago"; the crime lord joked and responded:
  • "Well, I tell ya, you know, it's touching. Like a lot of things in life, we laugh because it's funny, and we laugh because it's true. Some people say, reformers here say: 'Put that man in jail, what does he think he is doing?' Well, what I hope I'm doing, and here's where your English paper's got a point, is, I'm responding to the will of the people. (laughter) People are gonna drink. You know that, I know that. We all know that. And all I do is act on that. And all this talk of bootlegging. What is bootlegging? On the boat it's bootlegging, on Lake Shore Drive, it's hospitality. I'm a businessman"
• Capone appeared flustered when the reporter insinuated in a follow-up question that the gangster used violence to rule his business, at the same time that Capone's barber slightly nicked his cheek and drew blood. But Capone proceeded calmly to explain:
  • "I grew up in a tough neighborhood. And we used to say: 'You can get further with a kind word and a gun than you can with just a kind word.' And in that neighborhood, it might've been true. And sometimes a reputation follows you. There is violence in Chicago, of course, but not by me and not by anybody I employ, and I'll tell ya why, because it's not good business."
• a younger, less-experienced Treasury Department agent law enforcer Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) from Washington DC was assigned to Chicago to end the reign of gangster terror; he was mentored by veteran, older Irish street cop James Malone (Sean Connery), who was adamantly opposed to rampant corruption in the police force
• during a private church conversation, Ness vowed that he would do "everything within the law" to "get" the notorious prohibition criminal Al Capone (Robert De Niro); the wise old Malone challenged Ness by first asking a question - and then he answered his own question by advising Ness to "be prepared to go all the way":
  • Malone - "You said you wanted to know how to get Capone. Do you really want to get him? You see what I'm saying? What are you prepared to do?....You wanna get Capone? Here's how you get him. He pulls a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way! And that's how you get Capone. Now do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that? I'm making you a deal. Do you want this deal?"
    Ness - "I have sworn to put this man away with any and all legal means at my disposal, and I will do so."
    Malone - "Well, the Lord hates a coward. (He shook hands with Ness) Do you know what a blood oath is, Mr. Ness?... Good, because you just took one"

• to go after Capone, Ness and Malone recruited individuals who were not yet corrupted by the ganglord's widespread influence:
  • George Stone (Andy Garcia), an Italian-American (nee Giuseppe Petri), a trustworthy, gunslinging rookie
  • Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith), a nebbish accountant who was commissioned to investigate Capone's tax evasion schemes
• after a successful raid of a Capone liquor warehouse, the anti-Capone forces were dubbed "The Untouchables"
• during a board and dinner meeting held in a fancy setting around a large circular table, Capone was asked about his favorite "enthusiasms" that brought him joy - when he mentioned a love for baseball, his guests applauded his choice; as he wielded a baseball bat and circled the table, he delivered an increasingly-menacing speech about his admiration for the sport:
  • "What draws my admiration? What is that which gives me joy?...Baseball! A man... a man stands alone at the plate. This is the time for what? For individual achievement. There he stands alone. But in the field, what? Part of a team. (Teamwork) Looks, throws, catches, hustles. Part of one big team. Bats himself the live-long day, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and so on. (laughter) lf his team don't field, what is he? You follow me? No one. Sunny day, the stands are full of fans. What does he have to say? l'm goin' out there for myself. But l get nowhere unless the team wins"
• as the group of hoods chanted: "Team, team, team!", Capone violently and brutally bashed in the brains of one of his unsuspecting cohorts with the bat; his victim was the manager of the liquor warehouse; he hit him four times from behind; the man slumped over dead onto the white tablecloth as blood drained from his head, and the camera pulled back in an overhead shot

• after a shipment of liquor from Canada into the US was intercepted, Ness attempted to have Capone's captured bookkeeper George (Brad Sullivan) testify and admit to his gangster-boss' proven, guilty involvement in payments through entries in his ledger; Oscar Wallace, Malone, a Mountie Captain (involved in the seizure) and Ness realized that they had the evidence that they needed - if they could get George to squeal:
  • - Oscar: "If we can establish that any of these coded entries indicate payment to Capone, then we can put Capone away."
    - Ness (to George): "I want you to tell us which one of these entries is Al Capone's"
    - Oscar: "A. Costa. Is that your code name for Al Capone?"
    - Malone: "You're gonna do the whole thing in the joint unless you help us here, pal, huh?"
    - Ness: "I want you to translate this ledger for us..."
• but the accountant refused to talk, and Malone reacted by punching him in the face, out of frustration: "We have to have that information, one way or another"; the beat cop Malone then demonstrated a ruthless and trick method to get him to cooperate; he held up a dead man on the porch that Ness had already shot (and pretended that he was still alive) - and then he threatened: "I need you to help me to translate this book!"; he placed a gun in a dead man's mouth, and loudly counted to three to get a confession before he blew the man's brains out
• George witnessed the horrifying event, believing it was a cold-blooded murder; he immediately agreed to reveal everything: "I'm gonna tell ya whatever ya want. What do ya wanna know?"; although Malone's method worked, a Mountie Captain (Robert Swan) was disapproving: "I do not approve of your methods"; Ness quipped back: "Yeah, well, you're not from Chicago"
• in the immediate next scene, Capone was livid after being informed that his entire shipment of liquor from Canada had been impounded - he angrily pointed his finger and reprimanded his henchman to find and kill Ness and his entire family, and burn down his house:
  • "I want that son-of-a-bitch dead. I want him dead....I want you to get this f--k where he breathes! I want you to find this nancy-boy Eliot Ness, I want him DEAD! I want his family DEAD! I want his house burnt to the GROUND! I wanna go there in the middle of the night and I wanna PISS ON HIS ASHES!'
• shortly later, it was announced that a subpoena was issued for Alphonse Capone "for the crime of evading and conspiring to evade Federal lncome Tax"
• following his rant, Capone's enforcer Frank Nitti (Billy Drago) disguised himself as a policeman, and he murdered crooked accountant George being escorted by Wallace in a police station service elevator; Ness was further taunted with the word "TOUCHABLE" that were scrawled in blood on the wall
• Ness directly confronted Capone who was surrounded by his large entourage inside the Lexington Hotel (Capone's residence) as he came down a grand stairway into the lobby; Ness reminded Capone's bodyguard: ("My friend was killed today"), and challenged Capone to a personal, one-on-one fist-fight:
  • "Come on out here, Capone. You wanna fight? You wanna fight, you and me, right here? That's it, come on! What's the matter? You afraid to come out from behind your men? Are you afraid to stand up for yourself?"
• Malone arrived and intervened - and prevented a major gun-battle in the lobby when everyone drew their guns; he grabbed Ness and urged him to find a wiser way to fight as he backed the two of them out of the hotel: "It's me. Not this way." Capone continued to deprecate Ness' case against him with bravado as they exited:
  • "You f--k, you got nuthin'! You're nuthin' but a lot of talk and a badge. You're here because you got nuthin'. You got nuthin' in court, you don't got the bookkeeper, you've got nuthing! Nuthing! And if you were a man, you would have done it now. You don't got a thing, you punk"
• after the deaths of George and Wallace, Malone realized that Police Chief Mike Dorsett (Richard Bradford) was on Capone's payroll and had betrayed them; the case against Capone was weakening (with their deaths), and the DA was threatening to drop the case without a "witness" and without another of Capone's bookkeepers Walter Payne (Jack Kehoe) present to testify; a subpoena was issued for Payne, who made plans to escape town
• Malone pressured the corrupt Police Chief Dorsett to reveal where Payne was hiding by threatening to expose him: ("l'm gonna rat you out for all the s--t l know that you've done in your life! l'm gonna turn you over!"); Dorsett was unphased: "This is a dead man talking to me, Jimmy...You're dead! (They fought) Who the hell do you think you are? I'll have your ass hanging from a flagpole in the morning!"; Malone acquired the upper-hand, by groining him and holding him at gunpoint: "Let's cut the wolfing, pal! You tell me, or you're going to the hospital or the f--king morgue!"; Dorsett divulged the detailed plan to get Payne out of town by train
• shortly later, one of Capone's Italian knife-wielding thugs entered into Malone's house through a bathroom window (seen from the thug's POV as he stalked Malone through the hallways); Malone confronted the intruder: ("Isn't that just like a wop? Brings a knife to a gunfight") and held him at bay with a shotgun as they exited the back-door, where Malone had unfortunately been deliberately lured; he was ambushed by Nitti repeatedly firing an automatic tommy gun at him from the dark shadows; before Malone died, Ness and Stone were notified about Payne's departure on a train to Miami on the Miami Flyer - (it was confirmed with Malone: "The bookkeeper, he's on this train?")

• the signature sequence in the film was a climactic, fierce shoot-out scene in Chicago's Union Station - an homage or tribute to the Odessa Steps sequence in The Battleship Potemkin (1925) ; the T-men stood guard inside the station, awaiting the arrival of Payne and his protective escorts; Ness noticed a mother struggling with suitcases and a baby carriage (with a baby inside) as she climbed to the top of a steep flight of stairs; he aided the distressed mother just as Payne was entering with Capone's men at about 12 midnight (acc. to a large clock); Ness inadvertently nudged the carriage onto the stairs and caused it to slowly pick up speed and then plummet down the stairs, as the gunfight erupted; the mother cried out ("My baby!"), but Ness could only watch and continue firing on gang members as the carriage careened downward; Ness followed the carriage downward and continued to defend himself but ran out of bullets; Stone deftly slid into the scene, stopped the runaway carrier, and threw a loaded gun toward Ness, who finished off the rest of his attackers; only one of Capone's men (and bookkeeper Payne) survived the carnage
• the remaining thug refused to turn over Payne, using him as his hostage: ("The bookkeeper and me are drivin' away. See? Or else he dies. He dies, and you ain't got nothin'"); Payne pleaded for his life: ("He's crazy! Don't let him do this, l'll tell you what you want to know!"); Stone shot the mobster in the mouth, and Payne was apprehended
• during the subsequent trial of Capone, Ness realized that Capone was acting unusually peaceful and calm, although Payne was testifying against him: ("ln a three-year period, l personally disbursed monies to Mr. Capone in excess of one and a third million dollars"); and then Ness noticed that Capone's white-suited enforcer Nitti in the courtroom was packing a pistol: (Ness quizzically asked himself: "We're nailing the lid on his coffin, and he's smiling"); although Nitti was confronted by the Bailiff about carrying a weapon, he produced proof that the Chicago Mayor William Hale Thompson had issued him a permit to carry; Nitti had emptied his pockets during a search, and Ness intuited that Nitti was Malone's killer - he had in his possession a matchbook with Malone's scrawled address
• after Nitti shot the Bailiff, a chase ensued between Ness and Nitti to the courthouse roof, where the gangster was forced to surrender to Ness; he reminded the killer that he would be punished for murdering Malone: ("They're gonna burn you, buddy.... Yeah. l'm gonna come see you burn, you son-of-a-bitch, 'cause you killed my friend!"); Nitti disrespectfully mentioned how Malone had died: "Your friend died screamin' like a stuck Irish pig," and gloated about how he would 'beat the rap' and wouldn't be convicted of the murders (of either Malone or Wallace); the vengeful Ness shouted at the screaming Nitti as he pushed him off the roof and watched him plummet to his death: "Did he sound anything like that?"; Nitti crashed through the roof of a car parked on the street
• back in the courtroom, Stone showed Ness a list taken from Nitti's pocket, providing evidence of bribed jurors; although the Judge was about to do nothing, Ness was able to successfully convince the Judge to swap juries: ("I told him his name was in the ledger, too" - actually a false claim), and have Capone's case heard by another group of jurists called for a divorce case; Capone's lawyer realized defeat and entered a 'guilty' plea to tax evasion, although Capone objected by punching his own attorney; as Ness left the courtroom, he approached toward Capone to remind him: "Never stop fighting till the fight is done...Here endeth the lesson"

• the case against Capone led to a sentence of 11 years in prison; as Ness was packing up and departing from the police station to go home, he gave Malone's St. Jude's medal to Stone: ("He'd have wanted a cop to have it"); in the film's last amusing line of dialogue after Ness was asked by a reporter: "They say they're going to repeal Prohibition. What will you do then?" - Ness' reply: "I think I'll have a drink"