“This is the job. Don't wait for it to happen. Don't even want it to happen. Just watch what does happen.”

Review: The Untouchables
An Augustus Review of 9/10
 For today’s review, we travel back to Chicago, 1920s, during the time of prohibition. The Untouchables is based on the real Eliot Ness and his agents along with the infamous Al Capone.

This 1987 movie stars Kevin Costner as Eliot Ness, Sean Connery as Jimmy Malone, Andy Garcia as George Stone, Charles Martin Smith as Oscar Wallace and Robert Di Niro as Al Capone. This movie is based on the 1957 book by the same name written by Oscar Farley. 

The movie begins with the rich and powerful Al Capone gloating over his success. At this point, he has the entire city of Chicago in the palm of his hand and is controlling the illegal sale of alcohol. He feels unbeatable and no one dares to interfere… Except for a local government agent, Eliot Ness, who wants to bring in Capone on a silver platter. 

Ness sets up a team of highly trained police officers to help him with a bust he is sure will get Capone. However, the majority of the police force is corrupted and has tipped off Capone, resulting in a failed raid. Ness seeks Jimmy Malone, an uncorrupted officer who is willing to help him out. Malone summons George Stone, an officer fresh out of the academy and Oscar Wallace, an accountant from Washington to create the Untouchables. 

Wallace tells Ness that Capone has not filed income tax returns in over four years and that they can charge him for tax evasion. Ness however, is determined to prove Capone guilty of illegal alcohol distribution and murder. On his way home, Ness is stopped by one of Capone’s henchmen who tries to make a deal with Ness to drop the case. Ness refuses to leave the case alone and the man threatens to murder his family. Ness quickly assembles help to move his family out of Chicago and swears vengeance on Capone. 

The team goes to the Canada-United States boarder to raid an alcohol shipment and get into a brawl with Capone’s men. Ness is forced to kill one of the men in self defense. Malone capture’s Capone’s accountant and begins to interrogate him. The accountant proves to be uncooperative and Malone shoots the already dead gangster whom was killed earlier by Ness to scare him. The method works and the accountant surrenders. 

Back at the headquarters, the men celebrate their victory. But, the party is short lived as they realize the entire police force is under Capone’s control. A police officer sold out Wallace and the accountant to Capone who in return, sends his gangster to the squad to pay Ness a very unfriendly visit. Ness is pushed into a corner where he must decide his next move. 

The Untouchables ranked 6th highest grossing movie in its opening weekend with an income of over ten million. It received overall positive reviews and was nominated for four academy awards. Sean Connery won the award for Best Supporting Actor.

As Vincent Canby from The New York Times stated, The Untouchables is "vulgar, violent, funny and sometimes breathtakingly beautiful". 

- Augustus