Thursday, September 13, 2012

47/50x2: The Untouchables

It's funny, I never really knew what this film was about. I always saw the DVD (maybe even a VHS) cover in stores and when I worked at video stores, and it always stood out to me for some reason.

Plus, now I know where that famous line came from that I have heard many, many times over the years. And, that scene that was famously parodied (maybe many times) in The Naked Gun.

The Untouchables is a film about Prohibition-era Chicago, and the major hold that Al Capone (Robert De Niro) had over everything during this time.

Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) is a Bureau of Prohibition agent who is summoned to take down Capone and all of the crime happening in Chicago as people continue to peddle alcohol despite it being against the law.

Ness appears to be taking over an impossible task, but soon he meets up with Jim Malone (Sean Connery), a beat cop that Ness takes a liking to and moves him into his task force. Ness also recruits the accountant the company sends over for him into the group.

Finally, Ness and Malone head to the Academy to find the best shot - and best man - to complete their quartet. They take a shining to George Stone (Andy Garcia) and he joins the group that begins to finally make a difference in cracking down on the selling of alcohol.

Despite all of the arrests and seizure of alcohol, Capone continued to stay in the wind - above everything with no real connection to him and the crimes.

Eventually, Malone learns of Capone's accountant, and hopes to use his books to link Capone to everything. Malone finds the accountant's place and gets the information to Ness - who, along with Stone, partake in a shootout at a train station and are able to take the accountant into custody, and put him on the stand to testify against Capone.

This was a pretty interesting film. I like almost all of the actors in the film, and Connery, Garcia and Costner were pretty great. De Niro, despite being the notorious Capone, wasn't really in it as much but was still an overpowering figure.

Of course, the line I was talking about was uttered by Malone, "Brings a knife to a gun fight." Which has been used in many different ways in a lot of movies (and in casual conversation). Good to finally see the film with this iconic quote, and that one iconic scene as well. I liked it, but it wasn't mind blowing.

Grade:

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