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«The Untouchables»

The Untouchables is a 1987 crime drama film based on the 1959 television series, and follows Eliot Ness's autobiographical account of his efforts to bring Italian-American gangster Al Capone to justice during the Prohibition era. It was directed by Brian De Palma and adapted by David Mamet, and starred Kevin Costner as Ness, Sean Connery as Irish-American beat cop Jim Malone, and Robert De Niro as Capone.

Connery received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the film. The film became a solid hit, grossing over $76 million domestically. A prequel, The Untouchables: Capone Rising, is currently in production. Directed by Brian De Palma, the film's plot details the story of Al Capone's rise to power.

Prohibition in the United States has led to an organized crime wave in the 1920s and early 1930s. Various gangs bootleg vast amounts of alcohol and control their businesses with violence and extortion. The problem is most serious in Chicago, where gang leader Al Capone (Robert De Niro) has almost the whole city (even the Mayor of Chicago) under his control, and supplies low-quality liquor at high prices. Treasury Department agent Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) is put in charge of leading the crusade against Capone and his empire. Ness's initial strategy is to conduct raids using a large squad of uniformed officers, but these fail due to high level corruption in the Police Department, who secretly warn Capone's men of Ness's raids and hope that a public humiliation will put a quick end to Ness's efforts.

Seeking ideas for a change of tactics, Ness solicits help from Jimmy Malone (Sean Connery), an incorruptible Irish police officer, following a chance encounter one evening. Malone advises Ness to recruit directly from the police academy in order to ensure the officers not have a chance to come under Capone's influence. An Italian American trainee George Stone, formerly Giuseppe Petri (Andy García) is enlisted, due to his superior marksmanship and intelligence under pressure. Joined by accountant Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith), assigned to Ness from Washington, he has built an incorruptible team, capable of combating Capone.

Their first raid takes place in a local post office, where its storeroom is used to house illegal liquor. Malone, along with most of the police, know where the alcohol is, and know it is left alone because no one wants to provoke Capone and his gang. The raid succeeds without anyone getting killed, though Capone takes his revenge on the foreman later by beating him to death with a baseball bat. As the four pick up steam and become noted by the press, Wallace informs Ness that Capone has not filed an income tax return in four years. Therefore a feasible method of prosecuting him is through a tax evasion charge, if nothing else. At one point, Ness and his men are visited by a local alderman, who offers them a large sum of money in exchange for their dropping the investigation. Ness angrily rejects the bribe and throws him out, but not before the man invents the name "The Untouchables" for them, and tells them that anyone can be assassinated, even them.

The man's words prove to be true when Capone's chief hit man, Frank Nitti (Billy Drago), makes smart remarks about Ness and his family outside his house, and drives off before Ness can capture him. Realizing Capone is targeting him and his family, Ness orders his wife and daughter moved to a safer place while he instructs his team to keep a lower profile during the investigations.

During a raid on the Canada – United States border, Malone captures one of Capone’s bookkeepers, George (Brad Sullivan). George is skeptical at first, and refuses even after Malone assaults him. He only agrees to work with them, however, after Malone shoots a thug (who was actually already dead) in the mouth to frighten him. Enraged even further, Capone orders his men to hunt down and kill Ness, knowing that with Ness dead, the Untouchables will be finished. Ness's wife, meanwhile has just given birth to their second child, a baby boy.

However, at the police station, where the Untouchables are being congratulated, when Wallace is escorting the Capone accountant to witness protection, Nitti, disguised as a policeman, shoots and kills them both in the service elevator, mocking them by writing the word "Touchable" on the wall with their blood. Ness is left with insufficient evidence to press charges, and the frustration drives him into challenging Capone in public to a physical fight in front of his son and henchmen at Capone’s headquarters, the Lexington Hotel. Malone intervenes and forces Ness out of the hotel, defusing the confrontation.

Malone tells Ness to stall the prosecutor from dropping the case while he searches for information regarding Capone’s other bookkeepers. He learns about Walter Payne, another bookkeeper after a brutal fight with his old Irish friend, Mike Dorsett, the corrupt police chief who had sold out Wallace and George. He calls Ness and asks to meet him at Malone's home.

Later, Malone is stalked by a knife-wielding thug, "Bowtie," at his home, whom he quickly drives out the back door at gunpoint (and belittles for his incompetence), only to be ambushed by Nitti wielding a tommy gun. He survives, however, long enough for Ness and Stone to find him. With the last of his strength, he clutches his beloved Saint Jude pendant and informs the two about Payne’s upcoming departure from Chicago by train, and dies in Ness's arms.

Ness and Stone arrive at Union Station and find Payne guarded by Bowtie and many gangsters. After a fierce shootout (a homage to the famous Odessa Steps scene from 1926 Russian film The Battleship Potemkin), the two succeed in killing all of the gangsters (including Bowtie) and taking Payne alive.

Payne testifies in court against Capone, admitting he has disbursed $1.3 million for Capone over a three-year period. Ness, however, notices Capone relaxed and even smiling despite the probability of serving a long prison sentence, and also sees Nitti carrying a gun in court. He takes Nitti out of the courtroom with the bailiff and discovers that Nitti was permitted by the corrupt mayor of Chicago to carry the gun into court. However, Ness identifies Nitti as Malone’s murderer after seeing Nitti's matchbook with Malone's address on it.

Panicking, Nitti shoots the bailiff (explaining why he was permitted to carry the gun) and runs up to the roof of the building, exchanging gunfire with Ness all the way. Eventually, Ness has Nitti in his sights, but can't bring himself to shoot him in cold blood. Nitti gives himself up to Ness, taunting him that Malone died "squealing like a stuck Irish pig" and bragging that he will be found innocent. Enraged at the thought that Nitti will escape punishment for his crimes (even with evidence and testimonies to prove his guilt) and provoked to revenge, Ness throws Nitti off the roof to his death.

Back inside the courthouse, Stone shows Ness a document from Nitti’s jacket that reveals that the jury has been bribed, explaining Capone's relaxed mood. The judge, however, has no intention of using it as evidence and is fully prepared to let Capone go free, inadvertently revealing his corruption. In a last ditch effort, Ness extorts the judge into doing the right thing, bluffing that the judge's name is among those in the bookkeeper's ledger of official payoffs. As a result, the judge decides to switch the jury with another preparing to hear a divorce case next door, which shatters Capone's previously calm demeanour. Before the trial can continue, Capone's lawyer withdraws the plea of "not guilty" for a plea of "guilty" without Capone's consent (in real life, an action prohibited by criminal defense attorneys). Capone is sentenced to 11 years in prison. Although it is literally Capone's own lawyer who puts Capone behind bars, Ness receives all of the credit. Ness advises Capone not to give up though, but Capone just brushes Ness off, calling him "nothing but a lot of talk and a badge." Ness packs up his Chicago office. He sees the Saint Jude pendant that Malone had carried with him for many years. Ness offers Stone the pendant, having shaken hands with him. "He would have wanted a cop to have it," Ness insists, because Jude was the patron saint of police officers. Out on the street, a reporter wishes to have a word from the man who put Capone away, but Ness merely remarks he was just there "when the wheel went 'round." When the reporter mentions that Prohibition is due to be repealed, he asks what Ness might do then. Ness says the now-famous line, "I think I'll have a drink."

Guinea, 2007, Al Capone, «The Untouchables», «Scarface»