Cheap The Untouchables (DVD) (Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Robert De Niro) (Brian De Palma) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of The Untouchables

THE FILM

Loosely based on the old 60's TV show (which was loosely based on the book by Eliot Ness, which was, in turn, a true story), the film places Kevin Costner in his best performance as federal agent Eliot Ness. In 1930s Chicago, during the Prohibition era, crime and corruption are at an all-time high. The mob underworld is ruled by seemingly unstoppable gangster Al Capone (Robert De Niro). So how do you stop the crime? You take out the Big Man - and the big man just happens to be Capone.

So Eliot Ness handpicks a group of dedicated men (Charles Martin Smith, Andy Garcia, and a great performance by Sean Connery) and then sets out to take Capone down.

As mentioned before, Costner and Connery are great, and the rest of the cast is really good as well. Brian De Palma's direction is perfect, and this is very likely his best film. There is another masterpiece score from Ennio Morricone. So what could be wrong?

For the first time ever, De Niro is the film's let-down. De Niro as Al Capone is a great opportunity to let his talent shine - but it doesn't. And it's not completely De Niro's fault; the script's use of Capone is minimal and uninteresting. [9/10]

THE VIDEO

The DVD's picture quality is great! At times, the picture is a little light, and if you squint really really hard, you may be able to pick up some grain. But all in all, the picture quality is very satisfying. [9/10]

THE AUDIO

Other than the film itself, the DVD's true highlight is its sound. The Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mix not only heightens the films impact, but it truly brings out the brilliance in Ennio Morricone's score. [10/10]

THE EXTRAS

Oh, boy. This is where the DVD's grade goes down. Let's see what we have for extras:
- Theatrical Trailer
Uh-oh. They could have done a lot better with the extras than that. With the film's popularity and all, I think I see a big Special Edition on the way in the near future. [1/10]

All in all, the presentation of the film is great, but as far as the extras go, this DVD sucks.

OVERALL SCORE: [7/10]

----------------------------------------------------------------

THE FILM: [9/10] Excellent movie.
THE VIDEO: [9/10] Great job.
THE AUDIO: [10/10] Ennio Morricone has never sounded so great.
THE EXTRAS: [1/10] A trailer. Woo-hoo, that'll last us thirty seconds.
OVERALL SCORE: [7/10] Worth buying for fans of the film or DVD collectors, but otherwise, it's probably best to just wait for a Special Edition.

- Thomas Benton

¿You want to know how to defeat Capone....?¿ Then Watch This
It is the 1930's and the Mob has been successfully breaking the prohibition law, shipping their bootlegged alcohol from one place to another. Law Enforcement is getting fed up of always losing out to the Mafia's operations so they call on Elliot Ness (Kevin Costner). Ness is now assigned to prevent further successful "Mob transactions" how ever he deems necessary. Ness decides he can assemble a small team to assist him in his task. The members that agree to help Ness include an accountant (Charles Martin Smith), a fairly new police officer (Andy Garcia), and a streetwise cop (Sean Connery). This four man team will become to be known as The Untouchables as they fight Al Capone's (Robert DeNiro) illegal operations. This film has an amazing cast, boasting such star power as Sean Connery who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as Malone. This movie is done stylishly which keeps its audience glued on the action. The action scenes are very exciting and the detail put into this film gives it a firm 1930's feel. The film is based on the old television show in which Robert Stack (Host from Unsolved Mysteries) played Elliot Ness.

Touchable...
This film marks several remarkable firsts: The first true representation of a David Mamet film script (although "The Verdict" in 1980 came first), the leading-man status of Kevin Costner (deservedly so, since despite disasters like "The Postman" and "3000 Miles to Graceland", he's a very good actor with a very impressive resume and an Oscar to boot), Sean Connery's first Oscar win, also very much deserved, and most importantly, the first good film from Brian De Palma. People call films like "Body Double", "Carrie", "Blow Out" and "Dressed to Kill" classics... why they do, I have nary a clue. Those are some of the worst rip-off films in history. His "Hitchcockian" feeling is, to me, straight-up plagarism. He rips off plots and shots that are embarassing mish-moshes of Hitch's best (and worst) stuff. And did you see "Mission to Mars"? I didn't think so. And the only people that I can imagine that liked "Femme Fatale" were fans of the bathroom sequence (If you saw it, you know what I'm talking about). The only other film of his that was worth watching was "Mission: Impossible". But "The Untouchables" is a real work of art. I won't go into plot points, but I'll comment on the film's great points: 1) The dialogue is sparkling. Mamet makes these people real as opposed to just making them standard action caricatures (the young idealist, the grizzled old wise-man, the cocky rookie, and the dorky fifth-wheel). 2) The performances are top-notch. Costner, Connery, Martin Smith, Garcia, De Niro, and an underrated performance from Richard Bradford as Chief Dorsett really help to pull this film off. They give it all they got. They make the tragedy and drama and excitement and horror and triumpth of this film work. 3) The visuals are stunning. Stephen Burum really makes that camera work, especially with those beautiful shots of LaSalle Street. This film is a great revisionist telling of the Eliot Ness vs. Al Capone brawl. The film obviously takess a lot of liberties with history, but they really work, especially with the dispatching of one particularly bad man which in my opinion makes for the MOST satisfying film death EVER. It really makes you happy to watch this guy bite it ("Did he sound anything like THAT?!?"). This is a great film and I could not recommend it more highly. But go ahead and skip the rest of De Palma's 'classics'.