Entertainment at its finest

Rating: 9/10 (15 May 2007)

The Untouchables is a great film. There, I said it. Perhaps that's not an altogether risky opinion. After all, most people would agree with me. However, some people  namely critics  would not hesitate to rank it several places lower on the gangster ladder than, say, The Godfather and Goodfellas. "It's not as deep," they might say, "pure entertainment." This is exactly why I love this film and find it to be one of the best in the genre. It's not a rich character study, it's not a sweeping epic covering multiple generations, and it's not a twisted tale of corruption and redemption. It's just a damn fine piece of movie-making.
The characters in this film are not fleshed-out, multi-dimensional, altogether interesting people. But this is not a knock against the film's quality; like everything else about the film, these individuals are highly stylized and lacking a fair amount of substance. They're larger-than-life heroes and villains. And it works. The story being told is a classical, metaphorical, allegorical tale of good vs. evil, right vs. wrong, white hats vs. black hats. There are no mentions of conflicted allegiances, double-agents, or self-serving motivations. It is just the good guys against the bad guys.
It is true that the story takes many liberties with the real-life accounts of Eliot Ness and Al Capone. Large portions of the film are radically altered for dramatic and narrative purposes. Many characters never existed. But, again, this is not a fault of the film. This movie does not purport to be a documentary or even a historical retelling of famous events: it is just a movie. Situations and events must be dramatized to create suspense, to draw out sympathies, to direct the audience's feelings. I have no problem with fictionalizing historical events for the purpose of the narrative; after all, films are only 'based' on a true story.
This movie is full of so many classic moments that it's difficult to pick a favourite. Of course, there's the memorable scene when the Untouchables embark on their first liquor raid. The wide, iconic shot of the four crossing the street, the fantastic production design remaking Chicago's beautiful La Salle street, Ennio Morricone's incredibly sweeping music  all combine to make a brief scene that is certain to be remembered on many a film montage in the future. There's the sequence at the Canadian border, which  despite my patriotism flinching at the pathetic portrayal of the Mounties  utilizes the same music and cinematography to maximum effect. And, obviously, there's the brilliant homage to the Odessa Steps scene in Battleship Potemkin, complete with a couple sailors caught in the crossfire. This climatic scene is by far the most thrilling of the film, stretching on for what seems like an eternity but never losing its suspense or excitement. It is, truly, a film of memorable moments.
Sean Connery certainly deserved his Oscar, as he owns the screen whenever he's on it and makes us pine for him whenever he's off. His character is by far the most developed (despite the focus being on Ness) and thus his performance is by far the best. Costner is given little to work with besides a rather boring goody-two-shoes protagonist, and De Niro chews scenery like there's no tomorrow, but Connery draws us in and makes us stay there. It's one of the more deserving Oscar wins I can think of, and it's a fitting tribute to not only the actor, but to the film itself.
As said before, this is definitely no Godfather. In fact, I would liken this film more to something like Star Wars than Scarface. It certainly owes much more to the pulpy serials of the '40s and '50s than the dark sagas of the '70s and '80s. It never pretends to be anything more than a piece of entertainment, and it excels at that brilliantly. Every single aspect of the production is top-notch, from De Palma's recognizable direction to Mamet's solid script to Morricone's amazing score, making for what I believe to be one of the greatest gangster films ever made and certainly a landmark in recent cinema.