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Araceli Nunez

U.S. History, B3

Mrs. Terry

26 May 2017

The Untouchables. Dir. Brian De Palma. Perf. Robert De Niro, Kevin Costner, Sean Connery,
Charles M. Smith, Andy Garcia. Paramount Pictures, 1987. Web.
American drama and crime film, The Untouchables is set in Chicago in the year 1930

where prohibition has not been so succesful. The film covers the mission of newly employed

Treasury Department agent Eliot Ness to stop bootlegging by the gangs of Chicago within the

limits of legality. After a failed raid, Eliot Ness partners with a cop, an accountant and a training

police officer from the police academy to stop bootlegging. Soon the scale of work they do

escalates from small raids to direct attacks on Al Capones gang. Eventually they are able to stop

Capone by charging him for tax evasion which locks him up in prison for 11 years. Starring

Robert De Niro as Capone, Kevin Costner as Eliot Ness and being directed by Brian De Palma,

the motion picture lacks historical accuracy while excelling in the cinematic aspects.

Beginning with a scene in which Al Capone is being pampered by his barber and

interviewed by a reporter, the film gives a short informational paragraph off to the side which

sets the background for the movie. The interviewer asks Capone why he has not been appointed

to the position of Mayor as that is what he practically is, to which Capone responds that he is

adhering to the will of the people, something the new prohibition laws are not. The next day or

later that day, (it is unclear when) a speakeasy is blown up and a young girl is killed in the

explosion. This is the result of the speakeasys owner refusing to buy beer from Capone and

instead a rival. The next day is agent Eliot Ness first day at the department of treasury and he is
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interviewed by a few reporters wondering about his plan against bootlegging and if it is another

showpiece program. That night he leads a raid on a supposed liquor warehouse which turns out

to be storing only boxes with umbrellas. The fiasco was embarrassing for Ness and worsened by

the fact that it was published in the newspaper. As embarrassing the failure of his first raid was, it

helps Ness realize the police department and treasury are just as corrupt as bootleggers. On his

way home, he encounters a police officer who gives him a short lesson about working on the

force. The short encounter leads to Ness looking for the police, Jimmy Malone, and asking for

his help. Malone gives him several tips such as distancing themselves from the already rotten and

corrupt police officers and instead looking for those untouched by corruption. With that in mind,

the pair visits the police academy and end up choosing George stone, whose name used to be

Giuseppe Petri, as he is one of the best shooters in training. The trio returns to the departments

headquarters and see that an accountant, Oscar Wallace, has been assigned to help Ness in his

mission. The four create a team and raid a post office successfully. Capone is then seen batting to

death a man from the post office, presumably for failing to keep control of the situation. After

this bonanza, the press takes note of their success which also brings unwanted visitors to the

headquarters, such as a corrupt alderman who attempts to dissuade the team from taking Capone

to court on the basis of tax evasion. Ness refutes the bribe and the alderman refers to the group as

thinking themselves as untouchables, hence the groups and the movies name.

After that confrontation, Eliot decides it best to move his wife and child out of their home

to evade any possible attacks from Capone. The same night before finalizing his decision to

move his family, one of Capones underlings Frank Nitti is sitting outside the familys home and

suspiciously states that men should see that nothing happens to their families. The next day the

group becomes aware of a liquor trade planned to occur at the Canadian border and make their
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way over to stop it. There they take hostage one of Als bookkeepers, George, and persuade him

to work with them, albeit not easily. When they return to the department, Wallace and George are

murdered in the elevator by Nitti who was undercover. The word touchable was written in their

blood on the walls of the elevator, leaving three of the four original Untouchables. Unable to

prove Nitti or any other underling of Capones murdered the men, Ness is frustrated and upset

about the loss of a friend. He rushes to the hotel in which Capone stays at, demanding to see him

and being denied as the hotel negates they have an Al Capone staying with them. Less than 5

minutes later, the man in question is descending the stairs with his posse and Ness picks an

almost physical but mainly verbal fight. Malone, Ness and Stone discuss their next action and it

is revealed that the attorney will not go to court without a witness. Malone and Stone argue the

paperwork they have is enough but Ness is about ready to give up, frustrating Malone. Malone

asks if this is the end, if they are giving up and Ness repeats that the attorney will not go to court

without a witness, without the bookkeeper. With a quick realization, the team moves onward on

to getting a hold of Walter Payne, another of Capones bookkeepers. After a confrontation

between Dorsett and Malone about Wallace, Malone calls over Eliot to meet up at his house,

while on the phone a man enters Malones home with a knife but Malone sensed him and shoots

him when he turns around. He throws the guy out but quickly realizes his mistake as he shot by

Nitti from another balcony and has to crawl back into his apartment, When Stone and Ness arrive

Malone is barely breathing and tells them the train that Walter Payne will be on.

At the train station Eliot and George await Paynes arrival. There is a mom who is

struggling to bring her luggage and child in a stroller up the stairs, Eliot watches for a while and

finally decides to help but his timing was off and that is when Payne and his gangster escorts

arrive. Stone, Ness and Capones henchmen engage in a shootout. During the chaos, the baby in
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the stroller is falling down the stairs and Eliot is too busy shooting to notice. Thankfully, George

catches the stroller with his body at the end of the stairs and most of the henchmen are dead.

Only one remains and captures Walter in a headlock, threatening to shoot him if Ness or Stone

shoot. George successfully shoots a bullet through the mans head, killing him instantly. Payne

does not put up a fight and actually fully cooperates with Ness and Stone. In court, Payne

confesses to moving money around and giving money to Capone. Al Capone seems very relaxed

for someone who is going to go to jail and it bothers Ness. Aside from Capones nonchalant

attitude, he notices Nitti is carrying a weapon and asks the bailiff to escort him out of the room.

Once out of the room there is a short fight in which Ness ends up killing Nitti by pushing him off

of the top of a building after being taunted about Malone's screams as he died.

When Eliot re-enters the court, Stone shows him paper that indicates the jury has been

bribed and they take it to the judge who is also corrupt and has no desire to use it against the

gang leader. Eventually the judge is convinced into to changing his mind and he decides to

switch the jurors in the courtroom for another set of jurors in another courtroom. When the

announcement is made, Capones lawyer immediately changes the plea from Not guilty to

guiltyto the upsetting of Capone as he is sentenced to 11 years in prison. The ending scene is a

reporter alerting Eliot Ness that the courts may repeal prohibition and asks Ness what he will do

then, to which Ness replies that he will have a drink.

The Untouchables touches upon American societys struggle to give up liquor, the

business of bootlegging and corruption of government officials for their own benefit. Similar to

the corrupt government officials during the Gilded Age, the officials portrayed in the movie that

turned a blind eye to bootlegging created an accurate parallel between the two eras in American

history. The film was a great cinematic piece of art, enjoyable from beginning to end. The
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foreshadowing phrases spoken, adequate fight scenes and added plot twists convened for a great

movie. In contrast, the lack of historical accuracy such as the fact that Nitti and Capones brother

had been convicted prior to Capone and even the fact that Malone successfully inserted himself

into the gang and gathered information to use later in a testimony against the gang. The movie is

a great pick for movie night but not for anyone interested in the reality that was Al Capones fall

as the biggest bootlegger in Chicago. On the basis of entertainment the movie receives a solid

9/10, alas the same can not be said for the movie in the context of history.
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Works Cited
The Untouchables. Dir. Brian De Palma. Perf. Robert De Niro, Kevin Costner, Sean Connery,

Charles M. Smith, Andy Garcia. Paramount Pictures, 1987. Web.

"The Untouchables (1987)." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 26 May 2017.