It isn’t often when two of the most respected critics of their generations are united in their dismissal of a movie that most others swear by, but that’s what happened in 1987. Director Brian De Palma rounded up a star-studded cast for an epic gangster movie with Western overtones; the movie was a major box-office hit, grossing nearly $190 million worldwide against a reported budget of $25 million. It was also honored with four Oscar nominations, winning in the Best Supporting Actor category. Despite the high pedigree on display — the music was composed by the legendary Ennio Morricone and the script was written by David Mamet — the movie was given negative reviews by Pauline Kael and Roger Ebert.
Kael and Ebert remain perhaps the most well-known critics of their respective eras, but for a brief moment in time, their careers overlapped, and they found themselves largely agreeing about De Palma’s The Untouchables. It was the first time that De Palma made a feature based on a popular television series; the second was Mission: Impossible. The movie featured Kevin Costner as a law enforcement agent during Prohibition, who rounds up a ragtag team to take down notorious gangster Al Capone, played by Robert De Niro. The movie also featured a memorable supporting performance by Sean Connery, who played a veteran beat cop recruited by Costner’s character for the elite task force.
Here’s How Long You Have Left to Watch ‘The Untouchables’ on Peacock
The Untouchables holds an 83% critics’ score and an 89% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. The aggregator website’s consensus reads, “Slick on the surface but loaded with artful touches, Brian De Palma’s classical gangster thriller is a sharp look at period Chicago crime, featuring excellent performances from a top-notch cast.” Kael noted in her review for the New Yorker that The Untouchables “is not a great movie; it’s too banal, too morally comfortable. The great gangster pictures don’t make good and evil mutually exclusive, the way they are here.” In his review for the Chicago Sun-Times, Ebert criticized the script and the performances, particularly the scenes revolving around Capone. “De Niro comes onscreen with great dramatic and musical flourish, strikes an attitude, says a line, and that’s basically the whole idea,” he wrote.
You can make up your own mind about the movie on Peacock, but remember that it will be removed from the platform on July 1. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
- Release Date
-
June 3, 1987
- Runtime
-
119 minutes
- Director
-
Brian De Palma
- Writers
-
David Mamet, Chip Miller
- Producers
-
Art Linson
You must be logged in to post a comment Login