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The Untouchables

year 1987decade 80sdirector Brian De Palmagenre Crimegenre Dramagenre Thriller

120 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Kevin Costner Eliot Ness
Charles Martin Smith Oscar Wallace
Andy Garcia George Stone
Richard Bradford Mike Dorsett
Jack Kehoe Walter Payne
Robert De Niro Al Capone
Sean Connery Jim Malone
Billy Drago Frank Nitti
Brad Sullivan George
Patricia Clarkson Catherine Ness
Vito D’Ambrosio Bowtie driver
Don Harvey Preseuski
Chelcie Ross Reporter
Robert Miranda Gunned head

The Untouchables | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Chris Ryanproducer Craig Horlbeck
Explore episodeClose episode

Most Rewatchable Scene

Train-station baby-carriage shootout

In the discussion (12)
Approx. transcript time · 00:31:32Read transcript
  • Capone’s opening interview, overhead framing and shaving nick establish both theatrical charm and danger.
  • Malone joining Ness and the church conversation deliver the Chicago-way bargain, blood oath and memorable Mamet rhythms.
  • Garcia’s recruitment is enjoyed for the combative exchange and physical back pat; the ethnic casting reversal and hotheaded persona prompt discussion.
  • Capone’s teamwork speech and baseball-bat killing are memorable; the single impact and others’ reactions are considered sufficient violence.
  • The Canada raid is enjoyable but called clumsy in one assessment; Malone’s fake execution of an already-dead man is particularly admired, while the charge fulfills the Western conception.
  • The elevator revelation and blood-written accusation are admired as a single-shot death reveal.
  • Malone’s assassination is powerful but lengthy, with questions about blood loss and diminished surprise on later viewings.
  • The train-station shootout is called a masterpiece, with the Battleship Potemkin homage and slow motion praised; budget restrictions reportedly replaced an expensive train action sequence.
  • Garcia’s slide, gun toss, baby-carriage stop and precise aim remain indelible.
  • The roof confrontation is enjoyable, though simply shooting Nitti seems legally defensible before the eventual fall.
  • Ness and Malone’s first bridge encounter is an additional favorite, including the joke about claiming to be a treasury officer.
  • The final courtroom confrontation and jury switch are also enjoyed; the train-station sequence remains the shared obvious choice.

What’s Aged the Worst?

Connery’s accent; slow opening; Capone’s baseball analytics; lost death-scene surprise

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:37:43Read transcript
  • Knowing Malone will die removes the original shock on repeat viewings.
  • Connery’s accent and the slow opening are criticized; the child’s bombing death redundantly establishes Capone’s evil after the opening introduction.
  • Capone’s teamwork speech is jokingly faulted for outdated baseball analysis, with VORP and win shares proposed instead.

What’s Aged the Best?

Prohibition; Capone; accent comedy; Armani wardrobe; young Costner; Drago; Heat parallels; trusted crew; Chicago; Mamet dialogue; Morricone score

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:41:07Read transcript
  • Prohibition is an amusingly productive setting for stories; hidden liquor compartments in old Los Angeles homes illustrate the era.
  • Capone is a great villain, and De Niro’s opulent public performance is compared with Trump.
  • Connery’s conspicuously non-Irish accent has become enjoyable comedy, despite also being an aged-worst choice.
  • The Armani wardrobe credit, period clothes and hats, and young Costner’s hair are admired.
  • Billy Drago has an ideal villain’s face, prompting curiosity about his later character-actor career.
  • The dead-man-talking line and limited meetings between Ness and Capone are compared with Heat, inspiring a hypothetical diner conversation.
  • Building a trusted crew outside the usual system prompts a joke about founding The Ringer.
  • Real Chicago locations, accessible Mamet dialogue, and both the opening and romantic Morricone themes are admired.

The Great Shot Gordo Award for Most Cinematic Shot

Opening barbershop shot; church split-diopter shot

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:46:18Read transcript
  • The opening barbershop shot leads a field of visual candidates.
  • The church composition keeping both Costner and Connery in focus is admired as a split-diopter technique.

The Butch’s Girlfriend Award for the Weakest Link in the Film

Ness’s underwritten wife scenes

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:47:11Read transcript
  • Patricia Clarkson is considered a good actress given little to do. Her wholesome home life supplies a moral contrast with Capone, but the scenes themselves still need better writing.
  • The thin wife role prompts speculation that the script remained an unfinished sketch while Mamet was occupied with House of Games.

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

Ness misuses his accountant; 1987 is Costner’s best movie year

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:51:27Read transcript
  • Assigning the accountant to guard the key witness instead of the skilled shooter effectively sentences him to death. — Chris Ryan
  • Catching Capone came at the cost of two colleagues.
  • The Untouchables plus No Way Out make 1987 a favored Costner calendar year; Bull Durham and Field of Dreams are a rival twelve-month run across separate years.

The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award

Train-station hostage-taker; Capone’s courtroom tirade; Nitti’s fall

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:57:13Read transcript
  • The bow-tied gangster threatening the bookkeeper pushes his single scene into exaggerated territory.
  • De Niro’s repeated insistence that Ness has nothing is unusually excessive, compared with the heightened acting in Dick Tracy.
  • Nitti’s death plunge is also nominated, though dated falling effects share the blame.

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:59:06Read transcript
  • Richard Bradford, Don Harvey and Billy Drago are considered before Charles Martin Smith is proposed, with disagreement over whether his established career disqualifies him.
  • Jack Kehoe is mentioned, then an unnamed Midnight Run gangster associated with the moron-number-one/two exchange becomes a personal favorite; the precise character number remains uncertain.
  • Chelcie Ross is remembered from Major League and Hoosiers, while Brad Sullivan is recognized as the Canadian interrogation subject.

Apex Mountain

Al Capone

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:03:55Read transcript
  • Costner and Garcia are rejected; The Sting is preferred for Prohibition, despite its less central use of the subject.
  • Marriage is floated jokingly, with Kramer vs. Kramer as an incongruous comparison, without a settled affirmative answer.
  • This is preferred for Capone over the secret-vault television event and Stephen Graham’s Boardwalk Empire portrayal.
  • De Palma is rejected: Mission: Impossible is the large-budget alternative, while the period around Dressed to Kill and Blow Out better represents maximum career leverage. De Niro is also rejected.
  • Older Connery prompts The Rock and Finding Forrester comparisons, with The Hunt for Red October preferred.
  • The Chicago-movie comparison lists Running Scared, About Last Night, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Above the Law, Adventures in Babysitting, Midnight Run, The Big Town and The Untouchables; Ferris Bueller is preferred for use of the city.

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

Untouchable, with possible prestige-TV version; Ness sequel or Torso

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:10:14Read transcript
  • A hypothetical prewar sequel is compared with The Fugitive leading to U.S. Marshals; an unrealized Rise of Capone prequel is recalled.
  • A costly prestige series is conceivable but overlaps Boardwalk Empire; leaving the film alone is a tentative preference. The unmade Fincher project Torso, concerning Ness and a serial killer, is an appealing alternative.

Just One Oscar

Morricone’s music

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:12:06Read transcript
  • Connery, Costner and Mamet are considered; Costner is judged unlikely to beat the year’s lead-actor field, and Brooks remains an objection to Connery. The music suggestion receives agreement.

The Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson

Get the apple off the tree; trust nobody

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:14:29Read transcript
  • Recruit directly from the source rather than risking a rotten apple in the barrel is preferred; trust nobody is also offered, despite the contradiction of asking Ness to trust Malone.

Who Won the Movie?

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:14:57Read transcript
  • Connery receives the first choice, while Costner is favored for proving his leading-man credentials and unlocking his next decade.
  • Connery’s magnetism in a supporting role is defended; the tiebreaking choice is Connery because the performance creates interest in seeing more of the actor.
Podcast choices
Speaker not identified
Sean Connery
Speaker not identified
Kevin Costner
Speaker not identified
Sean Connery