A strikingly authentic re-creation of 1930s gangster films and Prohibition-era Chicago.

Rating: 9/10 (16 May 2010)

The Untouchables is time honoured mayhem in the windy city. The story is about law enforcers in 1920s Chicago who go after Al Capone and other mobsters.
The long-running TV show is given a new polish in this showy, violent and widely popular gangster picture. Director Brian De Palma stages some spectacular sequences, most famously a re-creation of the Odessa Steps sequence in Battleship Potemkin (1925), but at a railway station. It looks lavish, Ennio Morricone's score ensures it sounds wonderful and David Mamet reins himself in with some crisp, pointed dialogue. Kevin Costner's stardom was confirmed by his portrayal of Eliot Ness, while Robert De Niro as a menacing Al Capone and Sean Connery as a veteran cop lend first-class support. The film is a hugely entertaining treat.