DVD Review | The Untouchables (Special Edition)
Written by: Kage Alan

Ah, don’t you miss the days when Kevin Costner could make a 2 hour or 2+ hour movie and not have critics ravaging him?  I do.  The man has a vision, but it’s a shame that it’s not always a shared vision.  Still, give him a solid script, an outstanding supporting cast and a director with that shared vision and magic can happen.  Such is the case here with Brian De Palma’s “The Untouchables.” I’ve never been a fan of the gangster genre or films set in the decade this one is, so you can imagine what it took to first get me to watch this back during my high school days of 1987.  I feel fortunate that I did.

Federal Agent Eliot Ness (Costner) is a man with a dream.  He wants to make sure justice is served for all American citizens and especially those in the Chicago area where gangland kingpins like Al Capone (Robert De Niro) reign freely.  It’s not going to be easy for Ness to do his job, either.  It seems that Capone has his fingers in many pockets and is able to stay a step or two ahead of his nemesis at all times.  Failure is an ugly feeling, but a very wise mentor and street cop named Jim Malone (Sean Connery) suggests a different tactic.  Rather than rely on those around him who he can’t trust, Ness handpicks a team consisting of Malone, Wallace (Charles Martin Smith) and rookie Stone (Andy Garcia) to meet the enemy gun sight to gun sight.

As Ness and his group of Untouchables begin to challenge Capone and take his businesses down one by one, it’s only natural that Capone fight back.  Things get ugly and it’s not long before our hero and nemesis go toe to toe, each trying to bring the other down.  Casualties are abound and our filmmakers have given such an authentic look and feel to the picture that it’s impossible for viewers not to get lost (in the good way, thank you) in what’s going on while getting caught up in the action.  The script provides a great deal of tension and fantastic dialogue, but also some humorous moments to break it up a bit.  There’s also heart and De Palma knows how to get the best performances from his cast and show the relationships between the members.

De Niro chews each one of his scenes up and while I can’t vouch for how authentic he plays the character, the end result leaves an impression.  To offset the evil of the opposition, it’s necessary to have a heavyweight on the opposite side.  In this case, it’s Connery and there’s little doubt why won the Oscar that year.  The character was what made the group happen, what gave it its focus and the reason why the others had to see things through to the finish.  If there’s one thing that felt a little out of place, it was Ennio Morricone’s score.  It always struck me as a tad too modern sounding and even after not having seen the film for a decade or so, still strikes me that way.

Paramount has released “The Untouchables” in its original Widescreen format.  This is the first time I ever saw it this way after years of VHS and the picture quality here is pretty outstanding.  There are only a few glitches here and there from time to time (not many) and audio is crisp and zesty.  Special features this time (the studio released a barebones disc a few years back) include “The Script, The Cast” (18 ½ min), “Production Stories” (17 ¼ min), “Re-inventing The Genre” (14 ¼ min), “The Classic” (5 ½ min), “Original Featurette: The Men” (5 ½ min) and the Trailer.  Oddly enough, there’s no commentary.  Why?  I can’t imagine that someone from the cast or crew wouldn’t have been willing to participate.  Fortunately, the featurettes are well done and provide a wealth of information.

The short of this is that Paramount has finally given “The Untouchables” the treatment it deserves or at least better treatment than it’s had.  While not entirely complete in Special Features, there’s enough here to keep fans happy…or at least me.  It also gives me faith that I can like another genre outside Sci-Fi, Horror and Foreign.

Film Rating: A
DVD Special Features: B+