Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #427 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-09-13
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Special Edition
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 115 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The DVD extras follow the adage that if one has lemons, make lemonade. This "special" edition has no commentary track, and no new input from stars Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, and Andy Garcia or writer David Mamet. Yet DVD director Laurent Bouzereau has an ace up his sleeve that makes the four new featurettes (about 50 minutes of content) worth listening to: candid talk. The usual, stiff promotional take is jettisoned as producer Art Linson and director Brian De Palma honestly talk about the film's origins, the tricks of shooting, and the casting of Robert De Niro. These refreshing comments (plus insight from the cinematographer Stephen H. Burum and actor Charles Martin Smith), and better-than-average vintage interviews makes for valuable watching--even if the footage is intercut too often with film clips. To top it all off, there's a new Dolby Digital 5.1 EX soundtrack. --Doug Thomas

Special Features
• The Script, The Cast • Production Stories • Reinventing the Genre • The Classic • Original Featurette - The Men • Theatrical Trailer

Synopsis
Kevin Costner is idealistic federal agent Eliot Ness, whose assignment to clean up Prohibition-era Chicago leads to violence and manly questions about upholding the law. Initially powerless to stop the flow of booze into the city (the police force is corrupt and everyone in town seems to be on the mob's payroll), Ness finds guidance from an older streetwise cop (Sean Connery, who won an Academy Award for this role) who convinces him he'll need to break some rules if he wants to bring down head mobster Al Capone (Robert De Niro). Andy Garcia and Charles Martin Smith play Ness's other recruits, who together must stand tall against a city full of assassins. Director Brian De Palma (MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE) packs the film with violence and creative camera movements while David Mamet's intelligent script capably dodges cliche at every turn. There's a real sense of what's at stake for these characters on a personal level, which contrasts nicely with the futility inherent in enforcing Prohibition in the first place. The film is based on the autobiographical book by Ness (cowritten with Oscar Fraley) and the 1959-63 TV series; Ennio Morricone (THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY) composed the uninhibitedly bombastic score.

Customer Reviews

"That's the Chicago Way!"
Brian De Palma's depiction of Probition-era Chicago is a masterpiece of modern film-making, with Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) and Al Capone (Robert De Niro) fighting it out for control of the city. Malone (played by Sean Connery) is a cop who teaches Ness how to get the seemingly "untouchable" mob boss, and the film (with dramatic and often violent scenes) chronicles the demise of the legendary gangster. Sean Connery received an Oscar (Best Supporting Actor) for his efforts, which is testament to the quality of this picture.

Brilliantly Made, But Not A Classic
I watched this film for the first time today, oblivious as to what it was about and only interested in it because of the rave reviews I'd heard. Well, it definatley wasn't what I ewas expecting, but it was very good none the less. Set in the 1930s when alchohol was illegal in the US, Al Capone is the Crime Lord trading the stuff for masses of money, and Eliot Ness, the federal Agent who is determined to bring him down. I wasn't particularly blown away by any of the acting, I guess Kevin Costner as Eliot Ness is worth a mention, but although each character played their part well none of them stood out or really made the character their own. What does deserve a mention however is the style in which the Untouchables was filmed - lots of weird camera angles and shots, lots of dramatic music, all building up suspense, tension, fear, excitement, sadness, etc. The viewer gets sucked into this film, as long as they have the patience to sit through the first 30 or so minutes until it gets really interesting.

A good film, very well made, but not one I'd be quick to recommend to friends or want to watch again in a hurry. Watch, but don't expect to be blown away.

QUITE LITERALLY 'UNTOUCHABLE'
Director Brian Da Palmer's 1987 gangster epic made a star out of Kevin Costner (still one of his finest performances) and gifted Sean Connery the best role of his later career. It's an immaculate 30's set crime thriller as Elliot Ness (Costner) and his band of Untouchables go up against Robert De Niro's magnificently evil and slimy baseball bat weilding mobster Al Capone.
The dialogue is flab free and the movie is full of great action sequences including the iconic and often pastiched 'baby/steps/Grand Central Station shootout.
It's a fascinating, and true, story as Ness and his band of agents, accountants and old cops, attempt to put the most powerful gangster in pre-war America behind bars. They are twarted at every turn until the most mundane method of stopping Capone is discovered - should have remembered to pay that tax bill Al !
De Palmer has never bettered The Untouchables and Sean Connery's old warhorse of a street cop performance as 'Malone' rightly won him an Oscar.
The Untouchables is up there with the very best films from the 80's. Stunning Stuff.