thomas4cinema

I remember I truly loved that film when it came out in the cinemas, and I also remember the hype especially around de Niro’s method acting approach to Al Capone – namely to wear underpants tailored following those that Capone was wearing at the time. Did it hold up? I think it did, actually: The film looks stunning, opulent in its imagery, especially when using church interiors or large courthouse staircases as backdrops, filmed from low angle. I was thinking of images Scorsese made use of, the big, operatic pictures used from “Gangs of New York” onwards. There are fabulous mini set pieces such as Capone’s speech about “the team”, the meeting between Elliot Ness and Al Capone on the hotel stairs, and there is, of course, the deepest koutou to Battleship Potemkin I have ever seen. Apart from some strange rhythm in the narration that you would probably do differently today, the only downer is the soundtrack: too often is there a score drowning whole scenes under a wave of 80s sound carpet…

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/untouchables/