1987
Director: Brian De Palma
Starring: Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Robert De Niro
De Palma’s ode to the Prohibition era gangster mythology is a taut, suspenseful story that, despite his trademark wide brushes of violence, also manages to be an interesting look at daily life in the 1930s.
The story is right up there in the annals of great American folklore: Al Capone (De Niro, in full scene-chewing mode) is the Gangster King of Chicago, giving the people the booze they so crave during Prohibition. Eliot Ness (Costner) is a federal agent intent on bringing him down. Typical stakeout stuff gets him nowhere, so he assembles the classic “rag tag” group to bring down Capone. There’s the accountant (Charles Martin Smith), the sharpshooter (Andy Garcia), and most importantly, the world-weary beat cop who has seen it all and, more importantly, seems to know it all (Connery, in an Academy Award winning performance). Together, they are The Untouchables.
