The Untouchables

Since this is Oscar season i will leave you with one of my favourite movies of the 80's - The Untouchables. It has everything to be a great movie, Kevin Costner (in the good days), Sean Connery who won the Oscar for his role of Jim Malone with this movie, Robert De Niro and Andy Garcia, it has a director with some baggage on his cinema background named Brian De Palma, a fantastic screeplay by David Mamet and a wonderful soundtrack by the veteran and breathtaking Mr. Ennio Morricone (one of my all time favourite composers).
The story takes us back to the organized crime Era in Chicago where the Prohibition law was a must, when Al-Capone ruled the city from a violent ferocity to a wave of crime, when police was corrupt, and when people were willing to fight corruption and stop all that. It's when a police agent (Kevin Costner) convinces an hard-boiled old cop to join him in a campaign against the gangster boss Al Capone. Brian De Palma Film Noir thriller The Untouchables is like a battle between god and evil, the black and white, the fear of the dark and the splendor of the Sun.

It's a movie which actually reflects the old cinema by recalling old myths, and not producing mythic cinema. For example the scene when the gangster crwaling into Malone's appartment; the view of the ganster, a scene which was already made before in John Carpenter's Halloween. Brian De Palma clearly is influenced by the Hitchcock effect (For example the movie Dressed to Kill), but that doesn't mean The Untouchables is a copy of the old 7th Art. Noooo, it only means which a refreshing good old action police thriller using the formula many director's used before and that i think it's a tribute to the cinema.

In summing The Untouchables is great action packed thriller mastered by masters. With a more then capable director which always find inspiration for his films in a comprehensive knowlodge of cinematic history, it's possible for the audience to be connected to it and enjoy, even, for the action, just for the story, for the characters, for the actors, whatever, is a must-see from point of view and a tribute to the greatest art's of all - The 7th Art. Watch it, enjoy it. It's a Relic.

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Trailer