Film Review - The Untouchables (1987)

The Untouchables stars Kevin Costner as Elliott Ness, an agent with the Treasury department who is assigned to the city of Chicago to stop the flow of illegal alcohol in the period known as Prohibition, at the heart of this is kingpin Al Capone (Robert De Niro) but his reach is far and wide in Chicago and to stop him Ness will need his own handpicked team of men to carry out the job.

25 years since its original release in June of 1987 (September 3rd in Australian cinemas), the Untouchables stands up very well indeed and a lot of that is the involvement of director Brian de Palma who infuses the film with his trademark directorial style and the script by then playwright David Mamet which is full of great lines that are still quoted today when it comes up, lines like Connery's famous "The Chicago Way" monologue and his "He Brings a Knife to a Gunfight."

Which then brings me to my next point which is the performances, almost everyone in this film is very well cast from Costner in one of his better roles to Connery in his Oscar winning performance to people like Andy Garcia, Charles Martin Smith who both do a good job in their roles (this was Garcia's first big role) and even down to De Niro as Capone which was an inspired choice (the part was originally offered to Bob Hoskins) and Billy Drago as Netti who oozes evil with his mere presence on screen with his slimy face and perfect white suit.

But there is one other person who also deserves major kudos and that is composer Ennio Morricone, best known for his work on the Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Westerns and Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America, Morricone crafts a great score that puts you in the right mood and is used effectively to help the on screen action as well as open the film powerfully with the great main titles music that puts you in the mood for the film about to unfold.

So all in all, the Untouchables is a finely crafted piece of filmmaking and if you haven't seen it yet or you have but not for a good while then do not hesitate like someone bringing a knife to a gunfight to see the film for the first time or to experience it all over again, it's well worth doing so, 4 and a half out of 5.