Excellent crime drama

Rating: 8/10 (11 February 2006)

There is plenty of gun play and action in this movie, but where it really shines in my opinion is in capturing an era. The cars, the clothes, the street scenes, the buildings, the elaborate sets, create the image of a time gone by. The filming is done through the eyes of an artist.
The cast is first rate. Eliot Ness is a perfect role for Kevin Costner - a what you see is what you get American hero with a passion for justice. Robert De Niro has played so many tough guys and mobsters that playing Al Capone is second nature to him; I just wish Capone and his mob had been a little better fleshed out here. Sean Connery steals the show in his Academy Award winning role as a beat cop who reluctantly signs up with Ness. And Andy Garcia's performance as another of Ness' team should not be overlooked. The music by Ennio Morricone creates tension and mood. All together, the production values are very high.
And there are some great scenes, like Ness' group and the Canadian Mounties pincering a liquor run at a bridge - on horses no less. I'm easy, I thought the re-staging of the famous baby carriage scene from "Battleship Potemkin" in the context of a shoot-out was a knockout.
I wish there had been more context given about the effects of the Eighteenth Amendment - maybe something that would give some perspective on our more recent war on drugs. But this movie is more to be enjoyed than thought about.
Costner's last line does add a touch of irony and foreshadows the Twenty-first Amendment.