The Untouchables Review

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I grew up in a tough neighborhood Sometimes reputation

follows you Robert De Niro is Al Capone there

is violence in Chicago of course But not by me

and not by anybody I employ and I'll tell you

why because it's not good business Kevin Costner

is Elliot Ness. I have sworn to put this man

away with any and all legal means at my disposal

and I will do so. Sean Connery is Jimmy Malone.

You wanna get Capone? Here's how you get him.

He pulls a knife, you pull a gun, he sends one

of yours to the hospital, you send one of his

to the morgue at you, the Chicago way. You just

joined the Treasury Department, son. Everybody

knows where the booze is. The problem isn't finding

it. Let's do some good! The problem is who wants

to cross the pond. Somebody messes with me, I'm

gonna mess with him. You carry a badge? Yes.

Carry a gun. Get your hands in the air! You're

all under arrest. You fellas are untouchable.

Is that the thing no one can get to you? Hey,

everybody can be gotten to. All right, then.

Drive him to the station. Anything happens, you

shoot first. You understand me? I tell you one

more thing. You got an all -out price fight,

you wait till the fight's over, one guy's left

standing, and that's how you know who won. Just

tell me, are you being careful? Careful is nice.

I want to hurt the man, Malone. I want to start

taking the battle to him. I want to hurt Capone.

This man can finger Al Capone. This man can put

Capone behind him. Yeah? Well, you're not from

Chicago. I want you to find this dancing boy,

Elliot Ness. I want him dead. I want his family

dead. Paramount Pictures presents a Brian De

Palma film. I have forsworn myself, I have broken

every law I swore to defend, I have become what

I beheld, and I am content that I have done right!

You got not day! Not day! And if you were a man,

you would have done it now! Never stop fighting

till the fight is done! The Untouchables. Hello

and welcome to MWIRE Movie Weekend Review, brought

to you by the GeekCaster, Radio Network, and

Audible .com. I am one of your hosts, Steve,

Joe, and Mike, and joining me is Steve Megatron.

Hello! Hello. Yes. And now that these superhero

specials are over for the summer... Supposedly.

No, they are. We are wrapping up, finally, after

so long, the 80s movies. 87, 88, and 89 will

end the 80s films for MWIRE. And this time around...

We travel back to 1987 when we talk about that

classic Prohibition -era film, The Untouchables.

So what's been going on with you? Oh, not much.

That's good, that's good. Same here, podcasting

as always. We celebrated our three -year anniversary

back in June, so yay for us being online for

three years. Somehow. Somehow, yes. Not, you

know, ripping each other's throats out. So without

any further ado, we're going to head to JT and

Just the Facts for the Untouchables. Hey guys,

JT from Saskatoon once again with today's Just

the Facts. Today's film is something straight

out of the history books. It's a tale of cops

and robbers set against the backdrop of the Prohibition

era. Remember, if they send one of yours to the

hospital, you send one of theirs to the morgue.

This is the Untouchables. During the Prohibition

era, mob boss Al Capone had a stranglehold on

the City of Chicago. His reach felt in all areas

of it. Flaunting the law prohibiting alcohol,

Capone supplied low quality liquor in illegal

bars and speakeasies all over the city. The government,

wanting to send a message, sends in their best

man, Agent Elliot Ness, to put a stop to it.

Ness immediately sets about raiding various Capone

storehouses, but his efforts fail largely due

to corrupt cops tipping off Capone. Ness also

meets beat cop Jimmy Malone, who impresses upon

the young Ness that in order to get Capone, he'll

have to employ men who have never come under

his influence. Along with Jimmy, Ness recruits

police trainee George Stone and accountant Oscar

Wallace. With his team now in place, Ness' first

act is to raid a post office where illegal liquor

is stored, but it's only the beginning. The four

gain notoriety as they raid more and more of

Capone's holdings, eventually being dubbed the

Untouchables by the press. At first, unable to

find a legal reason to try Capone in court, hope

comes when Wallace discovers that Capone has

not filed any taxes in four years. While pursuing

this lead, Ness is visited by an alderman who

tries to bribe him, but Ness proves to be as

incorruptible as any of his men and refuses to

cooperate. Capone then retaliates by sending

his chief assassin Frank Nitti to threaten Ness's

family, prompting Ness to send them to a safe

house. The team then heads for the Canadian border,

where they're about to raid an incoming supply

of illegal hooch. During the raid, Ness chases

one of the gangsters into an empty house and

kills him in self -defense. Malone then captures

George, one of Capone's bookkeepers, and brings

him into the house for interrogation. George

proves to be uncooperative, so Malone deals with

the situation by grabbing the dead man and shooting

him, threatening George that he'll meet a similar

fate if he doesn't spill the beans. Once they're

back in Chicago, Ness prepares to debrief George,

but word has gotten to Capone and he sends Nitti

to kill the accountant. Nitti kills George and

also kills Wallace as well while he's at the

police station. Ness angrily confronts Capone,

but Malone saves him before anything can happen.

Angered nearly beyond reason, Ness discovers

that the police chief Mike Dorsett sold out Wallace

and George to Capone. Malone learns of Walter

Payne, another Capone accountant they can use

to make their case. When he goes to tell Ness,

Malone is gunned down by Niddy. Malone hangs

on just long enough to tell Ness about Payne's

whereabouts before he succumbs to his injuries.

Ness and Stone rush to Union Station and find

Payne about to leave on a train guarded by several

thugs. After a fierce shootout, the two remaining

Untouchables succeed in taking Payne into custody.

Payne testifies in court about Capone's organization,

but Capone seems oddly at ease despite facing

a lengthy prison term. Ness sees Nitti carrying

a gun and escorts him out of the courtroom only

to discover that he has a permit from the mayor

to carry the weapon. Nitti almost walks before

Ness discovers a matchbook with Malone's address

on it, identifying him as Malone's killer. Niddy

shoots the bailiff and runs, followed by Nest,

who corners Niddy on the roof of the courthouse.

After Niddy mocks Malone and hints at how he'll

never see the inside of the prison, Nest screws

him right by dropping his ass off the roof. Back

inside, Stone discovers a letter that fell from

Niddy's jacket that says the jury has been bribed.

The presiding judge refuses to enter it into

evidence until Nest bluffs that the judge's name

is on a list of people Capone has bribed. The

judge caves and switches juries with a neighboring

courtroom, and before the trial can be restarted,

Capone's lawyer withdraws the plea of not guilty

and enters guilty without Capone's consent. Capone

is then found guilty and he is sentenced to 11

years in prison. With this great undertaking

done, Ness goes to pack up his office, and while

leaving the police station he turns down an offer

to speak to a reporter about the case. When the

reporter asks what he's going to do now that

Prohibition is due to be repealed, Ness responds

by saying, I think I'll have a drink. Opening

on June 3rd, 1987, The Intouchables was helmed

by Scarface director Brian De Palma and written

by David Mamet, whose trademark styles of graphic

filmmaking and street -smart dialogue meshed

very well together. There was also star power

in front of the camera as well. with Kevin Costner

starring as Elliot Ness, Robert De Niro as mob

boss Al Capone, and 007 himself Sean Connery

as Jimmy Malone. The film was a critical and

financial success raking in nearly $77 million

by the end of its run. The film was a huge hit

among both men and women due to its blend of

graphic violence and the relationships between

characters. Most critics loved the film and some

did not as well. Roger Ebert said the production

of the film was top -notch, but it does not have

a great script, great performances, or great

direction. I'd have to disagree. However, Richard

Schickel of Time magazine wrote, Mammoth's elegantly

efficient script does not waste a word, and De

Palma does not waste a shot. The result is a

densely layered work moving with confident, compulsive

energy. I would agree with that. The movie was

nominated for several awards at that year's Oscars,

but only one best supporting role for Sean Connery

as Jimmy Malone. And in the years since, the

film has been nominated several times on various

lists of notable films from the American Film

Institute, such as the 100 Best Movies and the

100 Best Heroes and Villains. The Untouchables

is a rare movie in that its director and writer

were able to work together to produce such an

intricate tale that does not fall apart. It's

a film that still holds up to this day. It's

based on history, but it's never boring. It's

full of graphic acts of violence, but never so

much so that we are turned away by it. It works

on almost every conceivable level a great movie

should. So remember, if he pulls a knife, you

pull a gun. And if someone tells you they've

never seen this movie, you pull out your copy

of the Intouchables and educate them. This has

been Just the Facts for the Intouchables. I'm

JT from Saskatoon. Back to you guys. We are back.

Thank you for sitting the stage with that Just

the Facts, JT from Saskatoon. I think I mentioned

this over on the GeekCast radio feed when we

did GCR in retro episode 1, 1987, that I saw

this. in school, in history class. I probably

should clarify I was in high school by this time

when I saw it. When I saw it, because my high

school history teacher was, we were learning

about the Prohibition Era, and he did show it

to us in high school. I think in the G -Seren

Retro episode I made it sound like we saw it

in elementary school, no. It was in high school.

But I remember seeing it before then though I

honestly do because my Junior senior high school

is 98 99 So I remember seeing it maybe two or

three years after it got released as a girl.

Yeah, I Dude mom, let me watch anything It's

one of the reasons why I don't watch horror movies

is because she actually made me watch Nightmare

on Elm Street as a kid Anyway When did you when

do you remember first seeing this one? Probably

mid 90s. Hmm Because obviously I wasn't old enough

to watch it in the 80s. Yeah, so Yeah, that's

probably about the point that I saw it was probably

mid 90s and I think I saw it with my mom because

I used to watch a lot of old Or at least old

era type shows. Mm -hmm so Yeah, I think that's

pretty much where I would have seen it. Yeah

I just I love this the whole feel of the late,

you know 80s in general but the whole feel of

the late 80s action movie the whole feel of What

it was in the late 80s and early 90s to what

they are nowadays that they were so much better

back then because they didn't just have You know

walk five feet step on a mine boom new explodes,

you know every you know, they didn't just have

an explosion every five seconds like action movies

of today do You know, they told a story beginning,

middle, and end. They told a story of, you know,

moments when, you know, you feel for the characters.

Nowadays in action movies, there's really no

feeling for any characters. There's a little

bit before they kill them. Yes. Okay, well, I'm

not counting the superhero movies. I guess, yes,

that does count as an action film, but... like

you know stuff like The Bay Formers and well

even then you can still argue that There's still

important characters in there Unless they're

50 -foot robots. No, there's not according to

you But no this one was just an amazing look

at what Prohibition in the 20s was and it was

an educational film even though it was already

our film. It was an educated educational film

because obviously You know no one in the 80s

was alive back then and that's that's you know

Preserving a piece of our history and I really

really enjoyed this one. Do you have any? any

other general thoughts um I I Overall liked it

One, I was always intrigued by Sean Connery back

in the day. Despite the fact, I did not know

he was James Bond at that time. I mean, that

was obviously way back when. But I liked how

his character was in this. Just kind of a hard

ass. I just like that era overall. It kind of

ties in with a lot of in a lot of 80s movies

kind of hit on it whether they were comedy or

Serious like this. Mm -hmm. Oh Yeah, I mean it's

just one of those things where you know you have

a role That goes to a certain actor The actor

just embodies what that character is and that's

that's just that was just one of the greatest

things back then As far as the who's who of the

film you have Kevin Costner as Elliot Ness and

Sean Connery as Jim Malone Charles Martin Smith

as Oscar Wallace Andy Garcia's in this oh my

god George Stone uh Giuseppe Petri, of course

Mr Robert De Niro as Al Capone, Patricia Clarkson,

Billy Drago, Richard Bradford, Jack Keough, Brad

Sullivan and Clifton James also star but like

this is what makes an action film you have Costner

on one end as as Ness and you have De Niro on

the other as Capone and you have uh essentially

Connery in the middle as as Malone I mean the

you know and just three of the greatest actors

of all time you know just three of many of the

greatest actors of all time but this is an iconic

film because of the portrayals that these actors

put into their roles and there was just amazing

amazing casting I agree I was I'm not a huge

Kevin Costner fan, but I really love his portrayal

in this film. I think that he did really well

with this. Well, this is also before he jumped

the shark with a couple of crappy movies, late

90s, 2000s. And you get to see some of the awesome

Sean Connery and then of course Robert De Niro.

There's a lot of memorable faces in this film.

Yes, there is. Oh my god. Oh my god. No, I'm

just reading through some of the production notes

in this. You know how we'll often find the wiki

articles or we'll talk about the movies that'll

have the, well, Elliot Ness was originally...

you know this actor was originally asked to be

or you know like who who else would have been

the role other than Costner this is so funny

Although De Niro was De Palma's first choice

to play Capone, the director met with Bob Hoskins

to discuss the role. When De Niro took the part,

De Palma mailed Hoskins a cheque for 20 ,000

pounds with a thank you note, which prompted

Hoskins to call up De Palma and ask him if there

were any more movies he didn't want him to be

in. Nice. Wow. That's crazy. Isn't that Commissioner

Gordon? Bob Hoskins? Yeah. No, you're thinking

of Bob Hastings. Bob Hoskins. Mario. Mario Bros.

Smee from Hook. Yes. And he was in Roger Rabbit.

You're thinking of Bob Hastings. I knew he was

in a cartoon. Roger Rabbit. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Eddie Valiant. Yes. Okay. That's where I got

mixed up. I knew the guy was associated with

animation in some way. This film just shows us

what a different age it was back then. Oh yeah.

And it's an eye -opener how far that we've come.

The action scenes in this are just absolutely

brilliant. You know some of the most memorable

action scenes some of the most memorable music

cues and quotes and everything else I I just

absolutely love this film And it's very true

to some extent to the to the time I mean it it's

pretty much based on a Real guy, so it's based.

Well. Yeah, it's also it's based off a real guy

But it's also the film was based off the off

the book Which I believe came out in the 60s

or 50s, I'm not looking at it right off the top

of my head. I think the book was 1957. Yeah.

And that's crazy that this had so many video

game releases for it. Oh, I know it. That's nuts.

For all the old -ass systems, you have Spectrum,

Amstrad, Commodore 64, which I have heard of,

MSX, Amiga, which I've heard of, MS -DOS, which

is pre -Windows, and NES and SNES. Which, that's

just nuts that that many different incarnations

came out. I find really funny about this is that

this one as far as like some awards and stuff

it got nominated for academies for best costume

design best score best art direction and set

direction it won best actor and supporting role

Sean Connery won an Academy Award for this movie

which is amazing And then AFIs, 100 years, 100

movies, it was nominated. 100 years, 100 thrills,

it was nominated. 100 years, 100 heroes and villains,

both Capone and Ness were nominated for each

category. AFIs top 10, 10 top 10 nominated for

gangster film. You know, so this movie is one

of those ones that everyone needs to watch, I

think. It's just a true classic. Yeah, I can

definitely agree with that. In addition to that,

would you think that this film, being that every

film nowadays, has either a sequel or a remake?

No. You don't even need to finish the sentence.

No. If this got remade today, I don't think that

they could tell the story As I don't I honestly

don't think right now in in this new age of upcoming

actors and actresses. I don't think there's anybody

Of the last 10 or 12 years that could portray

these roles as well as The actors in the original

film portrayed them. I have to agree with you

wholeheartedly Bring that up just to I mean,

there's no way to make a sequel to this because

Capone did end up going to jail I mean, you know.

Unless you had where he comes out. Well, no.

All right. I got I got I got to bring this up

because they've done it in pop culture. There

have been television shows and other movies that

have, you know, had these old gangster types

come back. Oh, God, what was that film a couple

of years ago? Wasn't too long ago. It was, oh,

God, Dylan, the Dillinger film. What was it?

Crap you act like I know You're supposed to know

these things. I know movies, but I don't know

crap But okay the the one example I can I can

give you is there was an episode of and I know

people are gonna hate this but There was an episode

of Lois and Clark where all these gangsters came

back in time or, you know, somehow were brought

back or cloned or something and it had that real

1920s feel to the episode. So there have been

things that have been done with the Capone story

but in really really weird ways. As far as a

sequel, no, I don't think that a sequel could

be done today. If they were to remake it and

retell the story... In today's Hollywood, it

would probably have some weird ass -end alien

workaround or Martian workaround or Hey, let's

go out and you know, let's send Al Capone to

a you know cryogenic chamber on Mars or it would

have some weird Connotation to it and I think

it would Just fail Mean it wouldn't it wouldn't

take away from what the original film was but

at the same time It's not gonna add anything

to today's generation No, but I could see them

totally screwing it up like Abraham Lincoln vampire

Don't get me started don't even don't I wasn't

trying to get you started I was saying that's

complete crap as well, but don't you don't you

don't fuck with history That's right I'm so right.

It will run you over and kill you. Yes. Besides,

if Lincoln was such a, and I know this is off

topic, but I just want to say this. Let's put

a pin in that for a second because I actually

want to do a special thing afterwards for it.

Okay. Because you're going to get me going and

it has nothing to do with how awesome the Untouchables

is. Exactly. everyone that's at least 21 years

old or hell even 18 years old needs to see this

film at least once if you're if you're a person

who likes action movies if you're a person if

you're a person in general not everyone likes

action movies that's why I was saying if you're

a person who likes action movies this is one

of the ones that is an absolute must see. And

with that, we're gonna go to a quick commercial

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I suppose I still can't say something about Transformers,

can I? Good grief. What about sports? Yeah, that's

alright. Already then, yes. Welcome back to M

-Wire. Yes, as for my one -liner that I'd like

to say about the Abraham Lincoln piece, if Abraham

Lincoln is such a good vampire hunter, why did

he get shot in the back of the head? He's supposed

to hear things coming behind him, so with that...

Oh God. I'm just saying. No disrespect to the

guy, but it's just saying. Alright, so The Untouchables

is on DVD and it's also on iTunes. It's on digital

download, all that stuff. As far as us being

the IGN crew and ranking the film 0 -4, 0 being

don't watch this, you know, unless, you know,

you're having someone gnaw your arm off, and

1 being it's worth a watch if you can find it

for free. Two, if it's on TV, three, Netflix,

which I don't even think it's on Netflix, and

four, DVD. I'd give it a four, because it is,

even though it's a movie, it's based off of true

events, and it's worth kind of having. So, what

about you? Is zero to four? I'd give it a four.

Yes. It was a really good film. I think that

it... Definitely deserves a watch It does look

a little dated but hey, it's supposed to be a

30s timepiece Yeah, well, yeah 1920s 1930s. Yeah,

and by now it's it's very dated for the 87 film

style, but it's still a man I mean, it's not

dated in a bad way at all. It's But it is dated

So, yes, I don't know where I was going with

that fuck I don't either It's too fucking hot.

Now I gotta edit this shit. God damn it. You

heard at the beginning of the show, I want to

remind everyone for you, the listeners of Movie

Week in Review, Audible is offering a free audiobook

download with a 30 -day free trial to give you

the opportunity to check out their service. Use

audibletrial .com slash GeekCastRadio. We hope

you enjoyed this episode of MY. I wish you'll

join us next time when we will be continuing

our 80s movies with Cocktail. For now, I am TFG1Mike

with Steve Megatron Phillips. Keep those film

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