Year: 1987
Director: Brian De Palma
Country: US
Language: English
Shortly after Eliot Ness brought down Prohibition mobster Al Capone, stories about Ness’ group of handpicked, incorruptible “Untouchables” became the stuff of romanticized storytelling. Americans invited these stories into their homes from 1959 to 1963 with an ABC television series of the same name, starring Robert Stack as Ness. Based on the 1957 book, which Ness co-wrote with Oscar Fraley, Brian De Palma's film reinforces those dreamy visions of Ness’ heroism for the Cinema.
Federal Agent Eliot Ness (Sean Connery) sets out to stop Al Capone (Robert DeNiro); because of rampant corruption, he assembles a small, hand-picked team.
The Untouchables represented a crucial point in his career. De Palma’s last two films, Body Double (1984) and Wise Guys (1986), flopped at the box-office, and he needed something that would show the studios he could direct a profitable picture. Only then could De Palma once again explore his more independent, personal features. It's an intoxicating gangster feature that aesthetically supports the Hollywood vision of a glamorous era of attractive violence, while thematically tearing that vision apart.
De Palma's Mise En Scene is incredible in The Untouchables. Every frame perfectly captures this period in American history, even the architecture is a feast to behold. Throughout the film, characters begin to take on the larger-than-life personalities of their surroundings—the vaulted ceilings, ornate walls, and mannerist styles. The shots perfectly capture the mood of the characters and their surroundings. The Untouchables opens with an overhead shot looking down on Al Capone in a barber’s chair, a throne that De Palma uses to make Capone seem like a king.
The film is quite complicated in regards to the morality of each character. Eliot Ness wants to be the "hero" of the story, but is slowly falling under his own principles. There is no doubt that The Untouchables was made by a technical master in De Palma; he has made quite the visual splendor of a film.
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