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The Untouchables Special Collector’s Edition Description:

In THE UNTOUCHABLES, federal agent Elliot Ness leads a group of mob fighters with the intent of taking out the infamous Al Capone in 1930’s Prohibition-era Chicago. Realizing that practical methods will not work in securing Capone’s capture, Ness and his men resort to using even more force in order to take down the Chicago mob boss once and for all.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #743 in DVD
• Brand: COSTNER,KEVIN
• Released on: 2004-10-05
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Collector’s Edition, Color, Dolby, DVD, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 119 minutes

Features

• ISBN13: 9780792199090
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Customer Reviews:

Good versus Evil in a deadly dance of operatic proportions.
Sometimes dubbed “the Master of the Macabre,” director Brian De Palma is best known for his enactments of the supernatural (”Carrie”), mania (”Dressed to Kill”) – and his mob stories. The latter part of his reputation is primarily grounded on four of his movies from the ten-year period between 1983 and 1993: “Scarface” (1983, starring Al Pacino), “Wise Guys” (1986, starring Danny De Vito, Joe Piscopo and Harvey Keitel), “Carlito’s Way” (1993, again starring Pacino) … and “The Untouchables” (1987), featuring an all-star cast including Robert De Niro, Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Andy Garcia and Charles Martin Smith. Among these, “The Untouchables” stands out as the only movie not primarily told from the gangster’s but from the lawmen’s perspective – but what it does share with all of De Palma’s works is an almost voyeuristic appeal to its audience’s visual senses; going far beyond the lavish display of film blood it is most often cited for.

Less fact-based than cinematic grand opera par excellence, the movie takes as its premise the end of the career of Chicago’s ganglord of ganglords, Al “Scarface” Capone, who (after a few half-hearted attempts to prosecute him for murder had failed due to the unavailability of witnesses) pled guilty, in 1931, to evading federal income tax, and was sentenced to an 11-year prison term and a $50,000 fine. Capone’s downfall was brought about by a group of initially 50 but later only nine Treasury Agents, formed in 1929 (not in 1930, as suggested here) with the express purpose of breaking up his operations, and headed by Eliot Ness, whose 1957 book “The Untouchables” posthumously gave new rise to his fame – Ness died of a heart attack without ever having witnessed the full extent of his book’s success – and inspired, inter alia, the like-named 1959 television series starring Robert Stack and Brian De Palma’s 1987 movie.

Scripted by Pulitzer Prize winner and Chicago native David Mamet (”Glengarry Glen Ross”), “The Untouchables” is not so much a study in character development as based on a western’s classic “good versus evil” setup; although that doesn’t mean that its protagonists are two-dimensional in any way. On the contrary: Robert De Niro imbues his Capone with a ruthlessness and glib charm very likely matching those of the real “Scarface,” who was known for his little hesitation to commit murder and other acts of violence as much as he cultivated a reputation as a savvy businessman and benefactor of the poor, for example by running several soup kitchens. (And yes, all of De Niro’s mannerisms are on full display, too; but rarely have they fitted a role as well as here.) Kevin Costner’s Eliot Ness may be a little too assertive – Robert Stack once commented, after several conversations with Ness’s nearest and dearest, that the real-life Treasury Agent had been described to him as “rather soft-spoken, but very effective and brave” – but mildness is certainly not the principle trait written into the larger-than-life role of the man who “got” Al Capone, and Costner *is* an effective lead; although he is matched (not entirely sidelined, but darn near outplayed) by Sean Connery, who deservedly won an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a National Board of Review Award as the crotchety old-timer Malone who has seen it all, somehow managed to stay both clean and alive, and now lets Ness talk him into becoming his tutor in all things Chicago Gangland. Andy Garcia, in his break-through role, is instantly likable as George Stone, the smart, fast kid from the South Side who doesn’t take kindly to put-downs of his origin but can nail a human target with one hand while lying down and holding a baby stroller with the other hand. Charles Martin Smith finally brings humanity and subtle humor to the character probably closest to the real-life “Untouchables,” accountant Oscar Wallace, who first has the idea to charge Capone for income tax evasion. Strong performances by Billy Drago as Capone’s right-hand man Frank Nitti (who of course was not really thrown off a rooftop by Ness), Richard Bradford as Police Chief Mike Dorsett, Patricia Clarkson as Ness’s wife, Jack Kehoe as Capone’s bookkeeper Walter Payne and others round out an altogether impressive cast.

Unmistakeably scored by Ennio Morricone (whose style often, and certainly here, doesn’t even take a full bar to recognize; and who with an ASCAP Award, a Grammy and a BAFTA Award was the movie’s other major winner besides Connery), “The Untouchables” lives off its splendid cinematography, production design – costumes courtesy of Giorgio Armani – and the exquisite timing of its sharp-edged dialogue and editing: Not only is screenwriter Mamet known to have his actors practice their lines according to a metronome; the editing of some of the movie’s most memorable scenes has the distinct feeling of a carefully choreographed, veritable ballet. This is particularly true for Malone’s death, pointedly set against the aria “Vesti la Giubba” from Ruggero Leoncavallo’s opera “I Pagliacci” (”The Clowns”), which is based on a real-life murder and which Capone attends while his lieutenants waylay Malone in his own apartment; and the famous shoot-out in Chicago’s Union Station, which turns into a deadly dance of bullets, blood and a baby stroller, shot almost entirely in slow motion.

Paradoxically, the one plot element this movie is most often criticized for – the jury switch at Capone’s trial – is one of the few facts that actually did take place (although Capone’s attorney would have had to be given the right to conduct a new voir dire). But ultimately, it doesn’t even really matter how much of the plot is fact-based and how much fiction: Even if “The Untouchables” doesn’t quite reach the mythical status of the “Godfather” trilogy – particularly its Parts 1 and 2 – as the mob movie to end all mob movies, it is one of only a handful other films that at least come close to the proportions of Francis Ford Coppola’s epic masterpiece.

Also recommended:
The Untouchables
Eliot Ness and the Untouchables: The Historical Reality and the Film and Television Depictions
Capone: The Life and World of Al Capone
Scarface
Carlito’s Way
Wise Guys
GoodFellas
Casino (Widescreen 10th Anniversary Edition)
Once Upon a Time in America (Two-Disc Special Edition)
The Godfather DVD Collection (The Godfather/ The Godfather – Part II/ The Godfather – Part III)

Flamboyant Tribute to the Chicago Mob
This isn’t a documentary style film – it’s a gorgeous, over-the-top retelling of one of the most famous periods in America’s history. Al Capone and Eliot Ness are well known, as is the Chicago in which they lived. De Niro and Connery are fantasic in their roles, and the cinematography is beautiful. Costner as Ness also shines, but with these other two powerhouses his performance is almost overshadowed.

Great plot, great dialogue, great action, the movie is definitely a fun romp through an appealing period in history. The movie has even more significance as The Sopranos becomes a huge hit – people being drawn into learning about the mob way of life want to trace the roots of this drama and see where it’s taking its guidance. Many Sopranos scenes are taken from this movie, and the characters even quote it at times.

Highly recommended – a DVD you’ll watch many times over!

Effective and entertaining. The all-star cast delivers!
What do you expect from a film in which Kevin Costner and Sean Connery star as the good guys and Robert DeNiro plays all-time Bad Guy Al Capone? A great movie! And that’s what this is–a really really good gangster flick. No, it is not The Godfather, but then again nothing but The Godfather is The Godfather. Having said that, this is a wonderful film that actually does a pretty good job of explaining what Elliot Ness was up against when he was given the job of enforcing prohibition, gunning for Al Capone and cleaning up Chicago.

Costner is effective in his role as Elliot Ness. Connery does fine as the Chicago policeman Ness recruits to show him the ropes as to how things in Chicago operate. De Niro is matchless as Al Capone.

My favorite scene is the one in which Elliot Ness joins forces with the Canadian Mounties. Hilarious!

This movie is good entertainment and the storyline manages to move along pretty well without dragging and losing the viewer’s interest. The film never makes the mistake of taking itself too seriously, and its use of humor is effective and prevents the movie from waxing pompous, which would have been easy for it to do, given the serious theme. This is one that you’ll watch again and again. Recommended.

Amazon.com essential video
As noted critic Pauline Kael wrote, the 1987 box-office hit The Untouchables is “like an attempt to visualize the public’s collective dream of Chicago gangsters.” In other words, this lavish reworking of the vintage TV series is a rousing potboiler from a bygone era, so beautifully designed and photographed–and so craftily directed by Brian De Palma–that the historical reality of Prohibition-era Chicago could only pale in comparison. From a script by David Mamet, the movie pits four underdog heroes (the maverick lawmen known as the Untouchables) against a singular villain in Al Capone, played by Robert De Niro as a dapper caesar holding court (and a baseball bat) against any and all challengers. Kevin Costner is the naive federal agent Eliot Ness, whose lack of experience is tempered by the streetwise alliance of a seasoned Chicago cop (Sean Connery, in an Oscar-winning performance), a rookie marksman (Andy Garcia), and an accountant (Charles Martin Smith) who holds the key to Capone’s potential downfall. The movie approaches greatness on the strength of its set pieces, such as the siege near the Canadian border, the venal ambush at Connery’s apartment, and the train-station shootout partially modeled after the “Odessa steps” sequences of the Russian classic Battleship Potemkin. It’s thrilling stuff, fueled by Ennio Morricone’s dynamic score, but it’s also manipulative and obvious. If you’re inclined to be critical, the movie gives you reason to complain. If you’d rather sit back and enjoy a first-rate production with an all-star cast, The Untouchables may very well strike you as a classic. –Jeff Shannon

Amazon.com
As noted critic Pauline Kael wrote, the 1987 box-office hit The Untouchables is “like an attempt to visualize the public’s collective dream of Chicago gangsters.” In other words, this lavish reworking of the vintage TV series is a rousing potboiler from a bygone era, so beautifully designed and photographed–and so craftily directed by Brian De Palma–that the historical reality of Prohibition-era Chicago could only pale in comparison. From a script by David Mamet, the movie pits four underdog heroes (the maverick lawmen known as the Untouchables) against a singular villain in Al Capone, played by Robert De Niro as a dapper caesar holding court (and a baseball bat) against any and all challengers. Kevin Costner is the naive federal agent Eliot Ness, whose lack of experience is tempered by the streetwise alliance of a seasoned Chicago cop (Sean Connery, in an Oscar-winning performance), a rookie marksman (Andy Garcia), and an accountant (Charles Martin Smith) who holds the key to Capone’s potential downfall. The movie approaches greatness on the strength of its set pieces, such as the siege near the Canadian border, the venal ambush at Connery’s apartment, and the train-station shootout partially modeled after the “Odessa steps” sequences of the Russian classic Battleship Potemkin. It’s thrilling stuff, fueled by Ennio Morricone’s dynamic score, but it’s also manipulative and obvious. If you’re inclined to be critical, the movie gives you reason to complain. If you’d rather sit back and enjoy a first-rate production with an all-star cast, The Untouchables may very well strike you as a classic. –Jeff Shannon

On the DVD
The DVD extras follow the adage that if one has lemons, make lemonade. This “special” edition has no commentary track, and no new input from stars Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, and Andy Garcia or writer David Mamet. Yet DVD director Laurent Bouzereau has an ace up his sleeve that makes the four new featurettes (about 50 minutes of content) worth listening to: candid talk. The usual, stiff promotional take is jettisoned as producer Art Linson and director Brian De Palma honestly talk about the film’s origins, the tricks of shooting, and the casting of Robert De Niro. These refreshing comments (plus insight from the cinematographer Stephen H. Burum and actor Charles Martin Smith), and better-than-average vintage interviews makes for valuable watching–even if the footage is intercut too often with film clips. To top it all off, there’s a new Dolby Digital 5.1 EX soundtrack. –Doug Thomas

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