So much violence...

Rating: 8/10 (1 August 2019)

"The Untouchables" is an American 2-hour movie from 1987, so this one is already over 30 years old and it is one of the most known works by director Brian De Palma for sure. Actually I am a but surprised this has over 250k ratings here on imdb, I did not think it was this famous. But crime always sells in terms of films I suppose, even long after the years of mob glory films à la Godfather. And it probably helps that it is based on real events and a book written by Eliot Ness, the central character here who is played by Kevin Costner during his days when probably no female would have pushed him out of their bed(room). Kinda ironic the real Ness survived all this and then died from a heart attack still relatively young. But let's take a look at the film now: It won former James Bond Sean Connery an Oscar, his biggest career success, and managed more nominations, including one for Ennio Morricone. I watched this movie as part of a retrospective on the legendary composer and I am actually really glad this way they get old films back to the theater, especially if they are as interesting to watch as the one we got here. I would say that for me it lived more through individual scenes than the plot as a whole, but that was fine because there were really many memorable moments. One would be the first meeting on the bridge between Connery and Costner. Of course the spectacular scene at the train station, even if the buggy moments were maybe a bit over the top, but the rest of it was just as good as it gets. Of course then everything right before and after the death of Connery's character. The umbrella delivery. Or also when the finance guy is killed in the elevator together with the one who has many information on the main antagonist. I still must say this finance guy's rise to gun action was a bit too much reality-wise perhaps. Or the final scene with Billy Drago who has great recognition value as always in perhaps his most known movie and career performance, although I always think of Charmed with him. And then of course everything involving Robert De Niro, who is as good as always playing the legendary career criminal Al Capone. A truly haunting turn by him, also in these scenes when he does not smash a man's head out of nowhere. The baseball monologue is probably still his greatest moment, but there are several others too. He almost feels like outside this movie a bit because he almost never shares screen time with the title characters. Except on two occasions when Costner's Ness meets him, first of all a victory for Capone, but in the end when we see them with their upper bodies directed at each other, which was just an amazing shot honestly because they have been going against each other all movie long and in this scene it also culminated completely with Capone's superiority completely gone (as his bribe did not work out) and his anger fully reelased. It was kinda funny when he physically assaults his lawyer because he pleaded guilty.
Okay what else can I say about this movie. It certainly was good enough to deserve a few more lines. For me it is definitely among the more memorable and best films from 1987. There is great attention to detail like also with the little item Connery's character always carries with him and that we see at the end and the words he would have wanted a cop to have it. Of course not always everything works out, but with the high quality all around it comes easy to ignore weaker segments and characters like the photographer who could have been left out completely for all I care. Oh yes the words in the title of my review are memorable enough too, perhaps the best quote of the entire film and there were really many great ones, so it means something. The film could have perfectly ended afterwards with the closing credits rolling in after said quote, but it went on for a little longer still. The actual ending wasn't bad either with Ness saying he's gonna have a drink now that he is allowed to again, which shows that it is not personal for him the job he so relentlessly pursued before that, but he is just a true professional. We also see that during the speech when he talks to the other cops about how he does not care they had drinks occasionally and like alcohol. Or when our finance guy takes a quick drink in-between during the scene when they catch the first guy whose knowledge can get Capone behind bars. Honestly still I found that scene not too great and memorable as some may like it and with how good it could have been. It was slightly messy. But when they move on to the interrogation, it gets better. Honestly when Connery shoots that dead fella in the head right in front of the other guy's eyes, that was pretty funny and badass no kidding. He sure was old school here. But he managed to end up as a nice mentor nonetheless, somebody whose heart is in the right place and honestly with how long he lived after taking all these shots to his torso shows how much of a tough nut he is. I am not sure he gave the best supporting performance that year (kinda showing the BAFTAs did not honor him, but Americans did, the Globes too), but his career adds true greatness and fun and interesting scenes to this movie, so I am glad he won it, obviously also because I really dig Bond. Now sorry I am drifting a bit away. What I actually wanted to say is that you should also pay attention to how Costner suffers for a moment when he shoots that guy because with his native language maybe he did not understand that he was supposed to throw away his gun. So he is not that much of a tough nut, which we also see through his family background. He has a lot to lose for sure and his wife (Clarkson early career performance, but as forgettable as she always is) and kids are clealy more important to him than his work which we see from his reaction after Drago's character threatens them. But not too soft for the job either and if necessary also very violent which we see during the rooftop scene. I won't go into detail about this one, go experience it yourself. Oh yeah and one I did not mention yet was Andy García, he was fun too, especially during his introduction scene. After that he did not have too much to work with anymore other than taking the crucial shot in the great train station scene I already mentioned. He went on to become an Oscar nominee les than five years later for another fairly famous crime movie. Okay I guess that would be all now. Thanks for reading until here. I think by now you should know that I highly recommend this movie to everybody. It is inspired, interesting and includes several memorable characters. Go for it, also you girls. Don't let anybody tell you this is a guys movie. There is a lot more for you to see here than prime Costner!