The Untouchables

Dom Robinson reviews

The UntouchablesDistributed by

Paramount

• Cert:
• Cat.no: PHE 8065
• Running time: 115 minutes
• Year: 1987
• Pressing: 2001
• Region(s): 2, PAL
• Chapters: 24 plus extras
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround
• Languages: English, German
• Subtitles: 15 languages available
• Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Anamorphic Panavision)
• 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
• Macrovision: Yes
• Disc Format: DVD 9
• Price: £19.99
• Extras: Trailer
  

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  Director:

  Brian De Palma

  (Blow Out, Body Double, Bonfire of the Vanities, Carlito’s Way, Carrie, Casualties of War, Dressed To Kill, The Fury, Mission: Impossible, Mission To Mars, Raising Cain, Scarface, Snake Eyes, The Untouchables)

Producer:

Art Linson

Screenplay:

David Mamet

Music:

Ennio Morricone

Cast:

Eliot Ness: Kevin Costner
Jim Malone: Sean Connery
Al Capone: Robert De Niro
Oscar Wallace: Charles Martin Smith
Guiseppe Petri: Andy Garcia

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In The Untouchables, it’s 1930 and prohibition is in force.Illegal booze and mucho violence are all the rage, but of course it can’t beanything to do with Al Capone (Robert De Niro) because he denies any kindof wrong-doing(!) Federal agent Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) is the mandetermined to put a stop to it all, with the help of cop Jim Malone (SeanConnery).

This is a film that needs little explanation because most people with aninterest in the characters will already have seen it, but here De Niro smarmshis way through his big baddie role, Costner is his usual wimpy self trying tobe macho and hard and Sean Connery is… Sean Connery, as always. Of course,good will out in the end anyway.

The thumping opening music from Ennio Morricone‘s score, the trainstation shoot-out aped inNaked Gun 33.3and lifted from The Battleship Potemkin and the murder of Connery’scharacter when he seems to have more lives than not only a cat but alsoBond’s aide Felix Leiter, are three moments sure to remind you of when youlast saw this hugely-entertaining movie.

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And Andy Garcia was left holding the baby.

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Shown in an anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen ratio, it’s the only way toview any of De Palma’s Panavision presentations. The only downside is thatit looks just a little soft throughout, although this was probably done toevoke the period of the piece. There’s also a few print scratches, butnothing major to complain about.The average bitrate is 6.90Mb/s, occasionally peaking over 8Mb/s.

The soundtrack is a remastered Dolby Digital 5.1 for English dialogue (Germansget surround-only) and any gunfights or action revel in the multi-speakersetup.

There are 24 chapters which is a decent amount, but the only extra is2½-minute 16:9 anamorphic trailer and the menus are silent and static.Subtitles are available in 15 languages ;English (and hard of hearing), Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish,German, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Swedish and Turkish.

FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS


OVERALLReview copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2001.