The Untouchables is one of his most referenced films, being the film that contains the iconic baby carriage rolling down steps, as well as DeNiro as Al Capone saying "I want him dead! I want his family dead! I want his house burned to the ground!"
Kevin Costner stars as a treasury agent who is put in charge of a new division charged with capturing Al Capone. He enlists beat cop Sean Connery, rookie Andy Garcia, and accountant Charles Martin Smith (who we just saw in the tremendous film Never Cry Wolf) to help him in this endeavor, and in the meantime DeNiro as Al Capone uses thugs Billy Drago and others to carry out his evil plans and strike back once the fight comes to blows.
The film feels like all of the gangster movies that have come before and after, not in a unoriginal or generic way, but in the way of standing out, being good. This is right up there with the best gangster type films, if that is your thing. It's brutal, bloody, taught, and risky.
There's not a ton of character things going on but it's got enough and it's riding high on us rooting for the good guys cause they're good and frowning at the bad guys cause they're bad. I am not sure if I mean it as a critique or as an observation when I say it felt quite patriotic. It felt like it was coming from a place of "look at this amazing cop beat the bad guy through both brains and brawn".
When all is said and done, this is not a movie for me, but I'm glad to have seen it. I don't have many DePalma movies left, but I'll continue to watch them, and then one day it'll be over. At that point I'll eventually rewatch things like Body Double or even Raising Cain (I'll try to redeem it in my eyes), but I doubt I'd rewatch this one. That said, 4 stars.
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