A summer movie for kids out of school...

Rating: 4/10 (3 March 1999)

...that's that I thought after I left the theatre. I can go out about certain directorial techniques that annoyed me, but when I saw the Canadian border raid and all of the agents on horseback miraculously dodging bullets, I wanted to become invisible. I WAS EMBARRASSED! I DIDN'T WANT TO BE SEEN WATCHING IT!
The shoot-out on the steps with the baby carriage was straight out of film history 101 - a rip-off of the classic Odessa Steps scene from "Potemkin". The opening scene with DeNiro as Capone getting a shave was a rip-off of the famous shave scene in "Key Largo".
I seem to recall it was promoted as being more true to the historical record than previous (and MUCH better) productions with the same name, and that's why I wanted to see it. Also, I'd really liked "Scarface", so I thought this would be pretty good. WRONG!
I'm not going to pick this apart, but:
1. Al Capone was YOUNG. He did the majority of his "work" in his 20's. By the time he was DeNiro's age he'd already died of syphillis.
2. Frank Nitti was NOT thrown off a rooftop by Eliot Ness. He committed suicide rather than do time in prison.
3. Eliot Ness was not the squeaky clean and honest law man he's portrayed as being in this film. At least the Robert Stack characterization was more entertaining (he used to say he didn't act, but RE-acted to the various characters in the show).
4. Shall I go on?
If you want to see an entertaining movie on gangland Chicago, watch the original Untouchables pilot, "Scarface Mob", with the great Neville Brand as Capone (okay, he's too old too, but a LOT more entertaining!). It set the tone for the whole series, nearly any episode of which is infinitely better than this bloated piece by DePalma. It's not really historically accurate, but it did get the mob upset enough to put a hit on Desi Arnaz (it's a Desilu production). And it's full of little touches that really make it fun to watch. NO ONE does Frank Nitti better than Bruce Gordon.
Oh yeah, Connery was ok, and I guess he was due an Oscar for something, but how this performance or this movie could compare to any of his 007 performances escapes me. His role seemed gratuitous, but his friends who had the votes in the Academy didn't show it if they felt that way themselves.
Oh well, I guess I'm in the minority on this one. Sigh...