The Untouchables (1987)
82 %
Reviews Counted: 44 Fresh: 36 Rotten:8 Average Rating: 7.2/10
Consensus:
Slick on the surface but loaded with artful touches, Brian DePalma's classical gangster thriller is a sharp look at period Chicago crime, featuring excellent performances from a top-notch cast.
Runtime: 1 hr 59 mins
Synopsis: Kevin Costner is idealistic federal agent Eliot Ness, whose assignment to clean up Prohibition-era Chicago leads to violence and manly questions about upholding the law. Initially powerless to stop the flow of booze into the city (the police force is corrupt and everyone in town seems to be... [More]
Genre: Action/Adventure
Starring: Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Robert De Niro, Charles Martin Smith, Andy Garcia
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
A perfectly adequate Hollywood movie, even classy and entertaining at times, but, despite De Palma's brilliant set piece which reworks the Odessa steps sequence from Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin, this is disappointing stuff.
Comment
05/21/08
Top Critic
The results are watchable enough, with a particularly adept use of Sean Connery, Chicago locations, and period details.
05/21/08
Top Critic
De Palma's masterpiece is an exhilarating, moving and larger-than-life cops vs. crooks epic. Connery and De Niro steal the show in charismatic supporting turns. The best film of 1987.
02/18/06
Top Critic
It's one of the all-time great gangster flicks, a gorgeously realized production that places archetypal heroes and villains in the service of a rip-roaring storyline.
10/12/04
It's one of the all-time great gangster flicks, a gorgeously realized production that places archetypal heroes and villains in the service of a rip-roaring storyline.
10/12/04
Steeped in De Palma’s glorious violence and sinuous cinematography, but stripped of his tricky sensuality and his anarchic self-reflective wit.
10/05/04
Superb performances, exquisite direction and that Ennio Morricone score create an authentic 1920s Chicago feel and a hugely entertaining crime drama.
09/15/04
The pacing is lethargic as the director seems to treat this saga of law and order with mock seriousness.
08/25/04
a magnificent movie about political clout -- a worthy subject that Hollywood’s rarely bothered to tackle and usually gets wrong
08/19/04
Costner's lack of charisma, Connery's arrogance, and De Palma's disinterest in his material add up to a pretty lame couple of hours.
03/07/04
Too campy for its topic matter...Costner is typically dull as a 75 year-old unsharpened sword.
03/01/04
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