The Untouchables

The Untouchables (known in Spanish as Los Intocables de Eliot Ness in Spain, and as The Untouchables in Latin America) is a 1987 American film directed by Brian De Palma and starring Kevin Costner. It is inspired by the novel The Untouchables (1957), written by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley.

The film was released on June 3, 1987. It was also nominated for four Academy Awards, including Sean Connery for Best Supporting Actor.

Plot

Eliot Ness, an idealistic federal agent, is tasked with keeping order in Prohibition Chicago, where alcohol smuggling, because of Prohibition, flourishes and has made the likes of Al Capone very powerful. However, he has also caused a war for control of that business and many deaths for it, in which innocent people also die. Ness's main objective is to kill Capone, the most powerful of all who seeks to put this contraband completely under his control using violence and even murder, even if they die innocently for it.

Early Ness raids an Al Capone warehouse, but when he arrives, they find no alcohol in the warehouse. Given this perspective, Ness suspects that the Chicago police are being bribed. In a chance meeting at night, Ness meets Jim Malone, an honest old-school cop, whom he asks to join his group to take down Capone. He agrees and soon after, they recruit together George Stone, a police cadet, and Oscar Wallace, an accountant and treasury agent. The new team of The Untouchables cleans up the city and even raids the Canadian border.

Seeing that his business is in danger, Capone calls one of his cruelest hit men, Frank Nitti. Shortly after, Nitti receives the order from Capone to get rid of Ness's team and begins to kill them, starting with Oscar Wallace who he kills inside an elevator, then he kills Malone in the back of his house, all this is reported personally to Capone. But since Ness's team had already devised a way to arrest and catch Capone, they manage to capture his accountant after a violent shootout between Capone's hitmen and the last two members of the Untouchables (Ness and Stone).

So Capone is taken to court for having evaded taxes. He calmly awaits the result, but shortly after Ness discovers that Nitti entered the courtroom armed and forces him to leave, to later discover that it is Malone's murderer, Nitti confronts Ness on the roof of the Court and he, mocking Malone's death elicits the wrath of Ness who throws him off the roof of the building to his death. Stone tells Ness that the jurors are on Capone's bribe list, but when he shows them to the judge, he dismisses them. However, Ness tells the judge alone that his name was on the bribery list.

Finally, the judge in the case orders a change of juries, provoking not only Capone's protests, but also the change of opinion of his lawyer who formally accuses him. That way Capone is sentenced to 11 years in jail. Ness, exhausted, retires from the Police, leaving Stone as his replacement on the same day in the US. The prohibition on alcohol was repealed. When a reporter tells Ness, he tells her he'll have a drink when the repeal goes into effect.

Cast

Production

Script

When the script was made, the people in charge of Paramount were not satisfied and therefore changed part of the story. There were also plans by Brian de Palma to do it in black and white that were scrapped. Brian de Palma did not resist this so as not to lose his position as director.

Casting

William Hurt was initially thought to play the role of Elliott Ness, but he was too busy with other projects. Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, Michael Douglas and Don Johnson were also considered but turned down the role. That's why Kevin Costner ultimately got the role. As for Al Capone, Bob Hoskins was thinking of playing him, but in the end the chosen actor was Robert De Niro. To play him, he dressed exactly like Capone and put on twelve kilos. He too was made to look fatter with the help of careful makeup. It should also be noted that Patricia Clarkson made her debut in this film.

Shooting

The film was shot between August and November of 1986, and to resemble the 1930s, the actual locations in Chicago, where the film was made, were properly airbrushed. It was also shot in Montana. To make it believable, the only member of Elliot Ness's Untouchables still alive at the time, named Al Wolff, was also hired as an adviser during filming.

Music

Ennio Morricone was in charge of the soundtrack. He perfectly understood the film and his work was adjusted to it. He thus made a masterpiece that contributed enormously to the success of a movie. For this reason, it is considered one of his best works, and he also received an Oscar nomination for it.

Reception

The cinematographic work was a financial success, grossing more than 76 million dollars in the United States. It was also evaluated positively by specialized critics.

Awards