Ebert’s two-and-a-half-star assessment and preference for the uncut Once Upon a Time in America are challenged on rewatchability grounds.
Ebert’s complaint about clichés rather than invention is rejected; the filmmaking and set pieces merit at least three stars in the response.

Don Johnson or Mickey Rourke as Ness; Bob Hoskins as Capone; other reported candidates

In the discussion (4)

Approx. transcript time · 00:53:44Read transcript

Don Johnson is admired as a plausible Ness, reportedly recommended by Armani and constrained by Miami Vice; the hosts imagine his version smoking.
Mickey Rourke reportedly turned down Ness, but his temperament is considered wrong for the film compared with Angel Heart.
Bob Hoskins reportedly lost Capone when De Niro accepted; the payment is corrected from $250,000 to $200,000, followed by the joke about other films he could be paid not to appear in.
Bridges and Tommy Lee Jones are considered more credible Ness possibilities than a broad Gibson/Keaton list; a Brando Capone offer is mentioned tentatively. The hosts distinguish contemporary reporting from unreliable internet casting lists.

Crew photograph; witness security; calm baby; sailors and Mounties; Capone’s impunity; Ness’s moral shift; falling effects

In the discussion (8)

Approx. transcript time · 00:58:43Read transcript

The artificial-looking fatal fall is blamed partly on period effects, with Die Hard and The Departed comparisons.
Allowing a crew photograph conflicts with distrust of everyone; the promise not to publish it does not eliminate the risk of Capone obtaining it.
Celebrating and smoking during the witness transfer neglects an obvious security priority.
A baby should be crying while bouncing down stairs in an old carriage.
Sailors repeatedly entering lethal gunfire to save the carriage seem implausibly self-sacrificing.
Mounties advancing slowly with revolvers against automatic weapons should suffer casualties; their unscathed crossing is implausible.
Capone’s prolonged immunity prompts frustration, countered by public demand for alcohol and bribery.
Ness moves too quickly from a law-abiding family man to casual lethal violence after his family is threatened.

In the discussion (2)

Approx. transcript time · 01:00:54Read transcript

Gere would make Ness darker and less wholesome, prompting jokes about sexual ambition and infidelity rather than straightforward family life.
Hackman is proposed for Malone’s authority and a potentially more authentic accent; Connery remains difficult to replace imaginatively.

De Niro’s requests and salary; Ness research; fictional action; Naked Gun parody

In the discussion (4)

Approx. transcript time · 01:02:30Read transcript

De Niro reportedly requested an additional scene and time to finish Cuba and His Teddy Bear, wanted to gain weight, and earned $1.5 million for eighteen days according to Premiere.
Costner reportedly consulted former agent Al “Wallpaper” Wolff about Ness; the nickname draws amusement.
The Canadian action, courthouse and railway shootouts, and Ness killing Nitti are identified as fictional; the discussion says Nitti died by suicide and Ness’s unit had little role in the tax conviction.
The railway sequence’s Naked Gun 3 parody is recalled.

No remaining question

In the discussion (1)

Approx. transcript time · 01:09:58Read transcript

In the discussion (1)

Approx. transcript time · 01:12:53Read transcript

Scarface supplies a De Palma crime-epic pairing; No Way Out supplies a 1987 Costner double bill, played before The Untouchables.

Four standout scenes; occasional cheesiness

In the discussion (1)

Approx. transcript time · 01:16:31Read transcript

The first viewing is enjoyable, especially four standout sequences, but finds some of Ness’s closing lines unexpectedly Hollywood-like and cheesy. — Craig Horlbeck