The Untouchables (1987) on Netflix
Prohibition agent Eliot Ness arrives in Chicago to stop Al Capone's liquor operation. Corrupt police tip Capone off and his first raid fails, so he builds a squad he can trust.
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- IMDb7.8/10357,138 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes83%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1930 Chicago, Prohibition agent Eliot Ness is assigned to shut down Al Capone's bootleg liquor trade. His first raid, on a warehouse holding crates shipped from Canada, fails when policemen on Capone's payroll tip off the gangster. Veteran officer James Malone, who opposes the corruption around him, offers to help and suggests looking to the police academy for a recruit not yet tied to Capone. They choose cadet George Stone for his marksmanship and integrity. Accountant Oscar Wallace joins them, proposing a tax evasion case against him. A raid on a Capone warehouse brings the group public attention.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Untouchables (1987)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- De Palma met Bob Hoskins about Al Capone in case Robert De Niro could not appear, because of his Broadway play. When De Niro took the part, De Palma mailed Hoskins a cheque for £20,000 with a thank-you note, prompting Hoskins to call and ask whether there were any more films he did not want him to be in.
- De Palma initially wanted Don Johnson to play Eliot Ness, and Mickey Rourke, Jeff Bridges, William Hurt, Harrison Ford and Michael Douglas all turned the role down. A 1985 issue of Variety even announced Jack Nicholson as Ness, but he was ultimately replaced by Kevin Costner.
- From 6 to 20 October the bridge was closed to traffic so the shootout could be filmed, and 25 local residents were cast to ride horseback as Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The crew then built cabins and summer homes along the river and planted 600 trees brought in from the Lincoln and Kalispell areas in a day and a half.
SPOILER
Ness did not kill Frank Nitti, who died in 1943, twelve years after the Capone trial, by suicide the day before he was due in court. Ness's unit in fact had very little to do with Capone's tax evasion conviction, which was orchestrated by U.S. Attorney George E. Q. Johnson and IRS agent Frank J. Wilson.- The scene in which Capone beats a lieutenant to death with a baseball bat comes from an urban legend that historians doubt actually happened: after discovering that John Scalise, Albert Anselmi and Joseph Guinta planned to betray him, Capone reportedly invited the three to a dinner party and beat them to death.
- De Niro's research for Capone included reading about him and watching historical footage, and he had one extra scene written for the character. He contacted Capone's original tailors to have identical suits and silk underwear made for him, and was paid $2 million for the role.
- Despite winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film, Connery was voted first place in a 2003 Empire poll for worst film accent, because his Scottish accent was still very noticeable.
