With its stellar cast, wonderful 1930s sets and snappy wardrobe, The Untouchables is without a doubt one of the better tax evasion-based films youll see. Based a little on the 1950s TV series and a little on the novel co-written by the real-life bringer-inner Eliot Ness, its the tale of how millionaire Chicago mob-lord Al Capone was finally caught out on a loop-hole. Yup, he was a murderer, an illegal booze smuggler and an all-round bad seed but, much like a modern-day University student, he was also a dirty stinking tax-dodger.
This lavish period piece from the hit-and-miss Brian De Palma (lets face it, hes dropped more than a couple of clangers in his time) pits Kevin Costners poker-faced treasury agent Ness against Robert De Niros cackling chubster Capone, and in doing so brings us an entertaining and at-times gripping tale that gives us some old fashioned goodies against old fashioned baddies. It really is that simple, but for the most part its also extremely effective.
The Untouchables, of course, are Ness cobbled-together band of crime-fighters, comprising ageing father figure Jim Malone (Sean Connery), police academy sharp-shooter George Stone (Andy Garcia) and bespectacled accountancy nerd Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith). They might not sound like the most intimidating of fellahs, but together their outsider status and commitment to the cause make them for want of a better word untouchable.
Performance-wise, its a bit of a mixed bag. Casting the expressionless Costner in the key role of Ness is perhaps a little surprising, as his vacant handling of the part often belies the supposed hard-bitten determination of his character. Garcia and Smith, meanwhile, are faultless in their own jobs, but really have little to do. De Niro seen here in the days prior to becoming a cringe-inducing self-parody plays his part to devastating effect, but hes only on screen for a combined running time of around 20 minutes.
It comes down, then, to being a Sean Connery film. Connery (who, interestingly enough, doesnt share any scenes with De Niro) picked up an Oscar for his display and its tough to see it as anything other than the best of his career. Indeed, the Malone persona is one he seems to have been trying to recapture ever since (as an example, there are definite shades of the character in his later-to-be-seen stint as Indiana Jones dad in The Last Crusade). David Mamets screenplay gives him the best lines by a country mile and, aside from the irksome issue of the continued referral to him as Irish despite his blatant Scottish accent, theyre delivered with panache.
This isnt a great film, but it is a very good one. De Palma moves the story at pace through a variety of interesting sets and backdrops, and the eventual resolution of the story is interesting to watch. It has its faults Costners a little out of his depth and I found Enrico Morricones acclaimed soundtrack to be both intrusive and inappropriate but its an undeniably entertaining way to spend a couple of hours. Highly recommended.