The Untouchables. 1987. USA. Directed by Brian De Palma. Screenplay by David Mamet. With Kevin Costner, Andy García, Robert De Niro, Sean Connery. DCP. 119 min.
It’s hard to know who to root for, Elliot Ness and his G-men or Al Capone and his henchmen, in this still-thrilling potboiler, in which Brian De Palma evokes the twilight years of the Roaring Twenties, which ended in a hail of bullets; the “sweet and lowdown” sybaritic pleasures of the Prohibition era; and 1930s gangster films like Scarface and Little Caesar (with a coy nod to the Odessa Steps montage of Battleship Potemkin). David Mamet’s script still crackles, Sean Connery, even in formidable company, reminds us why he is a bona fide movie star (and won an Oscar for his trouble), and Ennio Morricone’s score, counterpointed with Duke Ellington’s “Mood Indigo” and the Pagliacci aria “Vesti la Giubba,” gives the film a propulsive energy.