Cops Vs. Crooks Epic

Rating: 10/10 (24 October 2012)

The Untouchablesis 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.This crime drama is directed by Brian De Palma.Based on the book of the same title, the film stars Kevin Costner as government agent Eliot Ness together with Robert De Niro as gang leader Al Capone and Sean Connery as Irish-American officer Jimmy Malone.Charles Martin Smith,Andy García and Patricia Clarkson co-star to play key supporting roles.All of the credits also includes music from Ennio Morricone and costumes by Giorgio Armani.
The story follows Elliot Ness' autobiographical account of his efforts to bring Capone to justice during the Prohibition era. Ness is 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 Al Capone 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 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 and joined by nebbish accountant Oscar Wallace, 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.
Director Brian De Palma continued his tradition of including a homage to past masters of the cinema with a taut stairway shoot-out that is Slick on the surface but loaded with artful touches.This is a classical gangster thriller is a sharp look at period Chicago crime, featuring excellent performances from a top-notch cast particularly Sean Connery,who won an Oscar in it.It's one of the all-time great gangster flicks, a gorgeously realized production that places archetypal heroes and villains in the service of a rip-roaring story line.It is a masterpiece that is an exhilarating, moving and larger-than-life cops vs. crooks epic.