Podcast 43: The Untouchables (1987)

January 6, 2022 Jon S Movies, Podcasting 01:11:1467MB 0 Comments
The Untouchables

The 3 Guys Podcast

Recorded on 9/02/2021

For our first episode of 2022, we pull an unreleased recording from our vault.  In this podcast episode we review the movie The Untouchables (Released 1987) starring Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Charles Martin Smith, Andy García and Robert De Niro. WARNING: There will be SPOILERS!

The Untouchables Blu-Ray

Interested in checking out the movie on Blue-ray? Click on the link below.

The Untouchables Blu-Ray

Notes From The Show

  • Quick Synopsis

  • Released: June 3, 1987

    Directed By:  Brian De Palma  

    Screenplay By: David Mamet

    Based On:  The Untouchables by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley

    Stars:   Kevin Costner, Charles Martin Smith, Andy García, Robert De Niro, Sean Connery

    Plot:  During the era of Prohibition in the United States, Federal Agent Eliot Ness sets out to stop ruthless Chicago gangster Al Capone and, because of rampant corruption, assembles a small, hand-picked team to help him.

    How did this movie do
    Budget: $25 Million
    Box office: $106 Million

  • Awards

  • Academy Awards

    Oscar Winner

    • Sean Connery – Best Actor in a Supporting Role

    Oscar Nominee

    • Patrizia von Brandenstein, William A. Elliott, Hal Gausman – Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
    • Marilyn Vance – Best Costume Design
    • Ennio Morricone – Best Music, Original Score

  • Casting

    • Marlon Brando refused $5 million for two weeks’ work as Al Capone during early casting. He was replaced by Robert De Niro, who portrayed young Vito Corleone in The Godfather: Part II (1974).

    • Brian De Palma first noticed Andy Garcia in 8 Million Ways to Die (1986) and first pictured him playing a villain, in this case, Frank Nitti. Garcia insisted on reading for Stone instead

    • Don Johnson was offered the role of Eliot Ness, but declined. Kevin Costner, a good friend of Johnson, later accepted the part. Johnson said he congratulated Costner on getting the role, never telling him he was offered the part first until several years later, in order to not offend Costner, nor steal any thunder away from his acclaim. Costner and Johnson co-starred in Tin Cup (1996).

    • Brian De Palma said that at first he was a little reluctant to cast Kevin Costner as Eliot Ness, because he was not a well-known actor at the time.

    • Mickey Rourke turned down the role of Eliot Ness.

    • Jack Nicholson was also offered the role of Eliot Ness, but declined.

    • Bob Hoskins was initially signed on to play Al Capone, but then Brian De Palma’s first choice, Robert De Niro, became available. Hoskins was dismissed but still received a six-figure paycheck by De Palma, for “being a great standby”.

    • Alec Baldwin, Nicolas Cage, Michael Douglas, Rutger Hauer, Ed Harris, William Hurt, Don Johnson, Michael Keaton, Mel Gibson, Christopher Lambert, Stephen Lang, John Malkovich, Ron Perlman, Kurt Russell, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, John Travolta, Bruce Willis, and James Woods were considered to play Eliot Ness.

  • Fact vs. Fiction

    • In real life, Al Capone, knowing that killing a Prohibition agent would only lead to more trouble than he or his outfit could handle, actually had a non-violence order to his men concerning the Untouchables. While Capone did repeatedly attempt to buy them off, he never once attempted to kill Eliot Ness or any of his men.

    • Despite the final courtroom scene in this movie, the real Al Capone and Eliot Ness never came face to face during their battles.

    • Eliot Ness and his role in bringing down Al Capone had been completely forgotten at the time of his death in 1957. No Chicago newspaper carried news of his passing. His heroic reputation only began with the posthumous publication of the Untouchables book he had co-written with Oscar Fraley, and The Untouchables (1959) television series adapted from it.

    • This movie portrays Eliot Ness as being happily married, and his wife having a daughter and a baby son. In real life, Eliot Ness had been married three times (he was married to his first wife Edna Staley during the early 1930s), and the only child he ever had was an adopted son named Robert.

    • In real life, Eliot Ness brought the only non-tax-related charges against Al Capone, which resulted in 5,000 separate Volstead Act indictments.

    • One point about Al Capone’s trial that never showed up in the movie. He attempted to plea bargain before the trial, but the judge wouldn’t hear of it. He did attempt to bribe the jury, and when the judge found out, he promptly switched the juries.

    • The character of Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith) was loosely based on Frank Wilson, the IRS agent who worked to indict Capone for income tax evasion. Wilson had been working on this project since 1928, and had next to nothing to do with Ness and the Untouchables in real life. Wilson was not killed by Capone, though Capone reportedly placed a contract on his life, which was never carried out.

    • Before his tax evasion conviction, Capone served 8 months at the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for a weapons charge. This was actually arranged by himself and the mob bosses (among them Capone’s boyhood friend and a founding father of American organized crime, Lucky Luciano, and mentor Johnny Torrio) of the newly created National Syndicate because Capone drew the ire of Syndicate leaders for the aftermath of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and his publicity seeking.

    • In real life Eliot Ness disliked guns, often wore an empty holster on duty, and never shot anyone in his entire career.

    • The scene in which Al Capone pulls out a baseball bat at a dinner party and suddenly beats one of his men to death is based on a true incident which happened on May 7, 1929. Two of Capone’s most feared hitmen, Albert Anselmi and John Scalise, hatched a plot to kill Capone and take over his gang. Capone got wind of it and invited all of his associates to a dinner party, including Anselmi and Scalise. In the middle of the party, Capone pulled out a baseball bat, beat both men to death, then shot them both in the head. A conflicting version of the story has Tony “Joe Batters” Accardo, another Capone’s hitman, as the man who bludgeoned the traitors to death.

    • The real Frank Nitti did not die in the manner and at the time depicted in this movie. He took over Al Capone’s empire when Capone was sent to prison. In 1943, Nitti and other Chicago mob members were indicted for extortion. The mob leader blamed Nitti for the indictments, and told him to take responsibility for all of the charges. Fearing a lengthy prison sentence, due to his claustrophobia, Nitti drunkenly wandered to a railroad track five blocks from his house and shot himself, after missing with the first shot, in the head with a .38 caliber revolver. His real-life death was portrayed in Frank Nitti: The Enforcer (1988), which starred Anthony LaPaglia as Nitti.

  • Trivia

    • Albert H. Wolff, the last survivor of the real-life Untouchables, was a consultant on this movie, and helped Kevin Costner with his portrayal of Eliot Ness.

    • An envelope is dropped on the desk of Eliot Ness in one scene. It is assumed to be a bribe, but the amount inside is never revealed. In real life, Al Capone promised Eliot Ness that two $1,000 bills would be on his desk every Monday morning if he turned a blind eye to his bootlegging activities (an enormous amount of money then; more than $30,000 today). Ness refused the bribe, and in later years struggled with money. He died almost broke at the age of fifty-four.

    • Robert De Niro tracked down Al Capone’s original tailors and had them make him some identical clothing for the movie.

    • According to director Brian De Palma and producer Art Linson in the DVD documentary, it was Sir Sean Connery’s idea to film the “blood oath” scene between Ness and Malone in a Catholic church. Originally, it was going to take place on the street (in the same scene that follows the church scene). Connery felt that a church would be the only “safe” place in Chicago where the two characters would make such a commitment to fight Capone.

    • Robert De Niro insisted on wearing the same style of silk underwear that Al Capone wore, even though it would never be seen on-camera. The producers, knowing De Niro’s reputation as a method actor, gave in.

    • The baby in the carriage at the train station was the stunt coordinator’s son.

    • At the end of the film, reporter Scoop asks Ness what he’ll do if they repeal prohibition, to which he replies, “I think I’ll have a drink.” Eliot Ness later did become a heavy drinker and even got involved in a alcohol-related traffic accident.

    • There was originally a different ending for the movie. It was to have been a scene with the camera shooting a close-up of Robert De Niro’s face as it is being warmed up for a shave. Then, the camera would have pulled up while still focused on Capone to show the audience that he has reporters around him, much like the opening scene of the movie, but this time, he is in his jail cell.

    • Sir Sean Connery turned up to the shoot in his golf clothes. They did a close open, and Sean was dismissed for the day. He came back after a full day of golf, acted for five minutes then went to go home. Andy Garcia and Charles Martin Smith grabbed him after the scene and said that was “very clever of you, you just got back from golf, turn up for five minutes and do your scene, and that’s it.” Connery turned to them and said, “this is not my first barbecue.”

    • George Carlin is the voice in the radio broadcast program to which the Ness family was listening in the living room.

    • Sean Connery’s only Oscar nomination (and win) came from this film.

    • Cinematographer Stephen H. Burum originally wanted to film the movie in black-and-white.

    • The infamous dinner scene was based on an incident in Cicero, Illinois in February 1929, two weeks after the most notorious murder in Chicago gangland history. Unlike what was in the movie, Al Capone did not execute one but three disloyal associates who were plotting to assassinate him and take over his criminal empire.

    • The only scenes that have Kevin Costner and Robert De Niro together are the scenes in the hotel lobby and the courtroom.

    • Any police officer or federal agent seen drinking alcohol on-screen in this movie is killed.

    • By being killed at home and not on shift, Malone ironically fulfilled his first rule of law enforcement.

    • Body Count: 24

Released: June 3, 1987

Directed By:  Brian De Palma  

Screenplay By: David Mamet

Based On:  The Untouchables by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley

Stars:   Kevin Costner, Charles Martin Smith, Andy García, Robert De Niro, Sean Connery

Plot:  During the era of Prohibition in the United States, Federal Agent Eliot Ness sets out to stop ruthless Chicago gangster Al Capone and, because of rampant corruption, assembles a small, hand-picked team to help him.

How did this movie do
Budget: $25 Million
Box office: $106 Million

Academy Awards

Oscar Winner

  • Sean Connery – Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Oscar Nominee

  • Patrizia von Brandenstein, William A. Elliott, Hal Gausman – Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
  • Marilyn Vance – Best Costume Design
  • Ennio Morricone – Best Music, Original Score
  • Marlon Brando refused $5 million for two weeks’ work as Al Capone during early casting. He was replaced by Robert De Niro, who portrayed young Vito Corleone in The Godfather: Part II (1974).

  • Brian De Palma first noticed Andy Garcia in 8 Million Ways to Die (1986) and first pictured him playing a villain, in this case, Frank Nitti. Garcia insisted on reading for Stone instead

  • Don Johnson was offered the role of Eliot Ness, but declined. Kevin Costner, a good friend of Johnson, later accepted the part. Johnson said he congratulated Costner on getting the role, never telling him he was offered the part first until several years later, in order to not offend Costner, nor steal any thunder away from his acclaim. Costner and Johnson co-starred in Tin Cup (1996).

  • Brian De Palma said that at first he was a little reluctant to cast Kevin Costner as Eliot Ness, because he was not a well-known actor at the time.

  • Mickey Rourke turned down the role of Eliot Ness.

  • Jack Nicholson was also offered the role of Eliot Ness, but declined.

  • Bob Hoskins was initially signed on to play Al Capone, but then Brian De Palma’s first choice, Robert De Niro, became available. Hoskins was dismissed but still received a six-figure paycheck by De Palma, for “being a great standby”.

  • Alec Baldwin, Nicolas Cage, Michael Douglas, Rutger Hauer, Ed Harris, William Hurt, Don Johnson, Michael Keaton, Mel Gibson, Christopher Lambert, Stephen Lang, John Malkovich, Ron Perlman, Kurt Russell, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, John Travolta, Bruce Willis, and James Woods were considered to play Eliot Ness.
  • In real life, Al Capone, knowing that killing a Prohibition agent would only lead to more trouble than he or his outfit could handle, actually had a non-violence order to his men concerning the Untouchables. While Capone did repeatedly attempt to buy them off, he never once attempted to kill Eliot Ness or any of his men.

  • Despite the final courtroom scene in this movie, the real Al Capone and Eliot Ness never came face to face during their battles.

  • Eliot Ness and his role in bringing down Al Capone had been completely forgotten at the time of his death in 1957. No Chicago newspaper carried news of his passing. His heroic reputation only began with the posthumous publication of the Untouchables book he had co-written with Oscar Fraley, and The Untouchables (1959) television series adapted from it.

  • This movie portrays Eliot Ness as being happily married, and his wife having a daughter and a baby son. In real life, Eliot Ness had been married three times (he was married to his first wife Edna Staley during the early 1930s), and the only child he ever had was an adopted son named Robert.

  • In real life, Eliot Ness brought the only non-tax-related charges against Al Capone, which resulted in 5,000 separate Volstead Act indictments.

  • One point about Al Capone’s trial that never showed up in the movie. He attempted to plea bargain before the trial, but the judge wouldn’t hear of it. He did attempt to bribe the jury, and when the judge found out, he promptly switched the juries.

  • The character of Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith) was loosely based on Frank Wilson, the IRS agent who worked to indict Capone for income tax evasion. Wilson had been working on this project since 1928, and had next to nothing to do with Ness and the Untouchables in real life. Wilson was not killed by Capone, though Capone reportedly placed a contract on his life, which was never carried out.

  • Before his tax evasion conviction, Capone served 8 months at the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for a weapons charge. This was actually arranged by himself and the mob bosses (among them Capone’s boyhood friend and a founding father of American organized crime, Lucky Luciano, and mentor Johnny Torrio) of the newly created National Syndicate because Capone drew the ire of Syndicate leaders for the aftermath of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and his publicity seeking.

  • In real life Eliot Ness disliked guns, often wore an empty holster on duty, and never shot anyone in his entire career.

  • The scene in which Al Capone pulls out a baseball bat at a dinner party and suddenly beats one of his men to death is based on a true incident which happened on May 7, 1929. Two of Capone’s most feared hitmen, Albert Anselmi and John Scalise, hatched a plot to kill Capone and take over his gang. Capone got wind of it and invited all of his associates to a dinner party, including Anselmi and Scalise. In the middle of the party, Capone pulled out a baseball bat, beat both men to death, then shot them both in the head. A conflicting version of the story has Tony “Joe Batters” Accardo, another Capone’s hitman, as the man who bludgeoned the traitors to death.

  • The real Frank Nitti did not die in the manner and at the time depicted in this movie. He took over Al Capone’s empire when Capone was sent to prison. In 1943, Nitti and other Chicago mob members were indicted for extortion. The mob leader blamed Nitti for the indictments, and told him to take responsibility for all of the charges. Fearing a lengthy prison sentence, due to his claustrophobia, Nitti drunkenly wandered to a railroad track five blocks from his house and shot himself, after missing with the first shot, in the head with a .38 caliber revolver. His real-life death was portrayed in Frank Nitti: The Enforcer (1988), which starred Anthony LaPaglia as Nitti.
  • Albert H. Wolff, the last survivor of the real-life Untouchables, was a consultant on this movie, and helped Kevin Costner with his portrayal of Eliot Ness.

  • An envelope is dropped on the desk of Eliot Ness in one scene. It is assumed to be a bribe, but the amount inside is never revealed. In real life, Al Capone promised Eliot Ness that two $1,000 bills would be on his desk every Monday morning if he turned a blind eye to his bootlegging activities (an enormous amount of money then; more than $30,000 today). Ness refused the bribe, and in later years struggled with money. He died almost broke at the age of fifty-four.

  • Robert De Niro tracked down Al Capone’s original tailors and had them make him some identical clothing for the movie.

  • According to director Brian De Palma and producer Art Linson in the DVD documentary, it was Sir Sean Connery’s idea to film the “blood oath” scene between Ness and Malone in a Catholic church. Originally, it was going to take place on the street (in the same scene that follows the church scene). Connery felt that a church would be the only “safe” place in Chicago where the two characters would make such a commitment to fight Capone.

  • Robert De Niro insisted on wearing the same style of silk underwear that Al Capone wore, even though it would never be seen on-camera. The producers, knowing De Niro’s reputation as a method actor, gave in.

  • The baby in the carriage at the train station was the stunt coordinator’s son.

  • At the end of the film, reporter Scoop asks Ness what he’ll do if they repeal prohibition, to which he replies, “I think I’ll have a drink.” Eliot Ness later did become a heavy drinker and even got involved in a alcohol-related traffic accident.

  • There was originally a different ending for the movie. It was to have been a scene with the camera shooting a close-up of Robert De Niro’s face as it is being warmed up for a shave. Then, the camera would have pulled up while still focused on Capone to show the audience that he has reporters around him, much like the opening scene of the movie, but this time, he is in his jail cell.

  • Sir Sean Connery turned up to the shoot in his golf clothes. They did a close open, and Sean was dismissed for the day. He came back after a full day of golf, acted for five minutes then went to go home. Andy Garcia and Charles Martin Smith grabbed him after the scene and said that was “very clever of you, you just got back from golf, turn up for five minutes and do your scene, and that’s it.” Connery turned to them and said, “this is not my first barbecue.”

  • George Carlin is the voice in the radio broadcast program to which the Ness family was listening in the living room.

  • Sean Connery’s only Oscar nomination (and win) came from this film.

  • Cinematographer Stephen H. Burum originally wanted to film the movie in black-and-white.

  • The infamous dinner scene was based on an incident in Cicero, Illinois in February 1929, two weeks after the most notorious murder in Chicago gangland history. Unlike what was in the movie, Al Capone did not execute one but three disloyal associates who were plotting to assassinate him and take over his criminal empire.

  • The only scenes that have Kevin Costner and Robert De Niro together are the scenes in the hotel lobby and the courtroom.

  • Any police officer or federal agent seen drinking alcohol on-screen in this movie is killed.

  • By being killed at home and not on shift, Malone ironically fulfilled his first rule of law enforcement.

  • Body Count: 24

The 3 Guys Rating

3/5

About The Movie From IMDB

The Untouchables Crime, Drama, Thriller | June 3, 1987 (United States) 7.9
Director: Brian De PalmaWriter: David Mamet, Oscar Fraley, Eliot NessStars: Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Robert De NiroSummary: After building an empire with bootleg alcohol, legendary crime boss Al Capone rules Chicago with an iron fist. Though Prohibition Agent Eliot Ness attempts to take Capone down, even his best efforts fail due to widespread corruption within the Windy City's police force. Recruiting an elite group of lawmen who won't be swayed by bribes or fear, including Irish-American cop Jimmy Malone, Ness renews his determination to bring Capone to justice. —Jwelch5742

Photos


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Videos


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Cast

Kevin Costner
...
Eliot Ness
Sean Connery
...
Jim Malone
Robert De Niro
...
Al Capone
Charles Martin Smith
...
Oscar Wallace
Andy Garcia
...
George Stone
Richard Bradford
...
Mike
Jack Kehoe
...
Payne
Brad Sullivan
...
George
Billy Drago
...
Nitti
Patricia Clarkson
...
Ness' Wife
Vito D'Ambrosio
...
Bowtie Driver
Steven Goldstein
...
Scoop
Peter Aylward
...
Lt. Anderson
Don Harvey
...
Preseuski
Robert Swan
...
Mountie Captain
John J. Walsh
...
Bartender
Del Close
...
Alderman
Colleen Bade
...
Mrs. Blackmer

See full cast >>
Countries: United StatesLanguages: EnglishBudget: $25,000,000 (estimated)
Source: imdb.com
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7.9
The Untouchables Crime, Drama, Thriller | June 3, 1987 (United States)
Director: Brian De PalmaWriter: David Mamet, Oscar Fraley, Eliot NessStars: Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Robert De Niro
Summary: During the era of Prohibition in the United States, Federal Agent Eliot Ness sets out to stop ruthless Chicago gangster Al Capone and, because of rampant corruption, assembles a small, hand-... Read all
Countries: United StatesLanguages: English
Source: imdb.comDisclaimer: This plugin has been coded to automatically quote data from imdb.com. Not available for any other purpose. All showing data have a link to imdb.com. The user is responsible for any other use or change codes.

Quotes

Malone: [talking privately in a church] You said you wanted to get Capone. Do you really wanna get him? You see what I'm saying is, what are you prepared to do?

Ness: Anything within the law.

Malone: And *then* what are you prepared to do? If you open the can on these worms you must be prepared to go all the way. Because they're not gonna give up the fight, until one of you is dead.

Ness: I want to get Capone! I don't know how to do it.

Malone: You wanna know how to get Capone? They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. *That's* the *Chicago* way! And that's how you get Capone. Now do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that? I'm offering you a deal. Do you want this deal?

Ness: I have sworn to capture this man with all legal powers at my disposal and I will do so.

Malone: Well, the Lord hates a coward.

[jabs Ness with his hand, and Ness shakes it]

Malone: Do you know what a blood oath is, Mr. Ness?

Ness: Yes.

Malone: Good, 'cause you just took one.

[last lines]

Scoop: Word is they're going to repeal Prohibition. What'll you do then?

Ness: [jokingly] I think I'll have a drink.

George Stone: [after Ness has pushed Nitti off the roof and gone back in the courthouse] Where is Nitti?

Ness: He's in the car.

Malone: [to Ness on the walkway underneath a bridge] You just fulfilled the first rule of law enforcement: make sure when your shift is over you go home alive. Here endeth the lesson.

Capone: [to his henchmen after Ness and his team intercepted his shipment of liquor from Canada] I want you to get this fuck where he breathes! I want you to find this nancy-boy Eliot Ness, I want him DEAD! I want his family DEAD! I want his house burned to the GROUND! I wanna go there in the middle of the night and I wanna PISS ON HIS ASHES!

Malone: [at the police training academy] Why do you want to join the force?

George Stone: To protect the property and citizenry of...

Malone: Ah, don't waste my time with that bullshit. Where you from, Stone?

George Stone: I'm from the south-side.

Malone: Stone. George Stone. That's your name? What's your real name?

George Stone: That is my real name.

Malone: Nah. What was it before you changed it?

George Stone: Giuseppe Petri.

Malone: Ah, I knew it. That's all you need, one thieving wop on the team.

George Stone: Hey, what's that you say?

Malone: I said that you're a lying member of a no good race.

George Stone: [He cuffs Stone across the face. As he draws back his arm again, Stone presses a gun under his chin] Much better than you, you stinking Irish shit pig.

Malone: Oh, I like him.

Ness: [Ness looking a bit nervous and Malone smiling at Stone] Yeah I like him too.

Malone: [on the walkway underneath a bridge] OK, pal, why the mahaska? Why are you carrying the gun?

Ness: I'm a treasury officer.

Malone: Alright. Just remember what we talked about now.

[Malone walks away]

Ness: Hey, wait a minute! What the hell kind of policemen you got in this god damn city? You just turned your back on an armed man.

Malone: You're a treasury officer.

Ness: How do you know that? I just told you that.

Malone: Who would claim to be that who was not? Hmm?

Ness: [referring to Malone] I'm going to see you burn, you son of a bitch, because you killed my friend!

Frank Nitti: He died like a pig.

Ness: What did you say?

Frank Nitti: I said your friend died screaming like a stuck Irish pig. Now you think about that when I beat the rap.

[He runs a comb through his hair and walks toward the door. Ness, enraged, grabs him from behind and pushes him past the door]

Frank Nitti: Hey... hey!

[Ness propels him toward the ledge]

Frank Nitti: *Hey!

[Ness pushes him off the roof. He falls, screaming]

Ness: Did he sound anything like *that*?

Malone: Why do you want to be a police officer?

Williamson: To protect the... people and the... p...

Malone: I'm not looking for the "yearbook" answer. Why do you want to join the force.

Williamson: The force?

Malone: Yeah, why do you want to join the force.

Williamson: Because... I...

Malone: Yeah?

Williamson: ...think I could help.

Malone: You think you could help.

Williamson: ...with the force.

Malone: Thank you very much, you've been most helpful.

[Williamson leaves]

Malone: [to Ness] There goes the next chief of police.

Bowtie Driver: [while on the main stairway inside the train station] Me and the bookkeeper are walking out of here, getting into a car, and driving away. Or else he dies! He dies! And you ain't got nothing! You got five seconds to make up your minds!

Ness: You got him?

George Stone: Yeah, I got him.

Bowtie Driver: [Bowtie starts counting off five seconds] One!

Ness: Take him.

George Stone: [Stone shoots him] Two!

Malone: [to Ness as they assemble their team] If you're afraid of getting a rotten apple, don't go to the barrel. Get it off the tree.

Reporter: [interviewing Capone while a barber shaves him] And what of your reputation for violence? That those who don't buy your product are dealt with violently?

Capone: [pulls his face away from the razor, sees that he's bleeding slightly, the barber looks horrified] S'alright. I grew up in a tough neighborhood and we used to say "You can get further with a kind word and a gun than you can with just a kind word."

Mountie Captain: [under the impression Malone shot a man in the mouth while he was still alive] Mr. Ness! I do not approve of your methods!

Ness: Yeah, well... You're not from Chicago.

Capone: [to the members of his crime family] A man becomes preeminent, he's expected to have enthusiasms. Enthusiasms, enthusiasms... What are mine? What draws my admiration? What is that which gives me joy? Baseball! A man stands alone at the plate. This is the time for what? For individual achievement. There he stands alone. But in the field, what? Part of a team. Teamwork... Looks, throws, catches, hustles. Part of one big team. Bats himself the live-long day, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and so on. If his team don't field... what is he? You follow me? No one. Sunny day, the stands are full of fans. What does he have to say? I'm goin' out there for myself. But... I get nowhere unless the team wins.

Hoods: Team!

[Capone beats one of the men to death with a baseball bat]

Malone: [upon meeting each other for the first time] You, you carry a badge?

Agent Oscar Wallace: Yes?

Malone: [gives him a shotgun] Carry a gun.

Malone: [to Ness while they wait in a cabin for Capone's shipment of liquor coming through Canada] Don't wait for it to happen. Don't even want it to happen. Just watch what does happen.

Capone: [to reporters] I'm gonna tell you something. Somebody messes with me, I'm gonna mess with with him. Somebody steals from me, I'm gonna say you stole. Not talk to him for spitting on the sidewalk. Understand? Now, I have done nothing to harm these people but they are angered with me, so what do they do, doctor up some income tax, for which they have no case. To speak to me like me, no, to harass a peaceful man. I pray to god if I ever had a grievance I'd have a little more self respect. One more thing, you have an all out prize fight, you wait until the fight is over, one guy is left standing. And that's how you know who won.

Ness: [Ness has just shot a gangster after the Canadian border raid while they stand outside the cabin] I had to kill him.

Malone: Oh, yeah. He's as dead as Julius Caesar... Would you rather it was you?

Ness: No, I would not.

Malone: Well, then, you've done your job. Go home and sleep well tonight.

Malone: [to Capone's bookmaker with Oscar and Ness present inside the cabin on the Canadian countryside] You're muckin' with a G here, pal!

Malone: [Ness and Malone are at the training academy looking for new recruits for their special "Untouchables" unit, Stone approaches and Malone asks him while looking down at his clipboard] Why do you want to join the force?

George Stone: To protect the property and the citizenry of the city...

Malone: [interrupts, annoyed] Oh, please, don't waste my time with that bullshit...

[he looks up and sees Stone for the first time, noticing his dark complexion and slick black hair]

Malone: Where are you from, Stone?

George Stone: From the south side.

Malone: [clarifying] "Stone"? "George Stone"? That's your name? What's your *real* name?

George Stone: That is my real name.

Malone: Nah. What was it before you changed it?

George Stone: [long uncomfortable pause and then] Giuseppe Petri.

Malone: [turns to Ness] Jeez, I knew it! That's all you need is one thieving wop on the team!

George Stone: [stunned and offended but remaining calm, Stone pats him coolly on the back to get his attention] Hey...

[Malone turns back around to face him]

George Stone: What's that you said?

Malone: [poking him belligerently in the chest with his clipboard] I said that you're a lying member of a no-good race.

George Stone: [Stone angrily slaps the clipboard out of his hands; Malone goes for a melee weapon on his person but Stone already has his revolver pointed right under Malone's chin and fiercely says to him] It's much better than you, you stinkin' Irish pig.

Malone: [suddenly Malone is quite amused, saying to Ness] Oh, I like him.

Ness: [nervously] Yeah, I like him, too.

Malone: [Stone draws back his weapon and Malone says to him] You just joined the treasury department, son.

George Stone: [both smile and shake hands] Yeah, okay.

Ness: I have foresworn myself. I have broken every law I have sworn to uphold, I have become what I beheld and I am content that I have done right!

Malone: [firing his gun to stop a suspect from running from away from him in the Canadian countryside] All right! Enough of this running shit!

Ness: [looking at a gold chain Malone is holding while they celebrate after a successful liquor raid] What is that?

Malone: Ah, I'm among the heathen. That is my call box key, and that... is my St. Jude medallion.

Ness: Saint who?

George Stone: Santo Jude. The patron saint of lost causes.

Malone: And policemen.

Ness: Well, which are we, gentlemen - policemen, or lost causes?

Ness: [in court] Never stop, never stop fighting till the fight is done.

Capone: What'd you say? What're you saying?

Ness: I said, "Never stop fighting till the fight is done."

Capone: What?

Ness: You heard me, Capone. It's over.

Capone: [sneering] Get out, you're nothing but a lot of talk and a badge.

Ness: Here endeth the lesson.

Capone: [to reporters] People are gonna drink! You know that, I know that, we all know that, and all I do is act on that. And all this talk of bootlegging - what is bootlegging? On a boat, it's bootlegging. On Lake Shore Drive, it's hospitality. I'm a businessman!

Mrs. Blackmer: [showing up unannounced to his office] I came here to thank you. It was my little girl that got killed with that bomb.

Ness: I'm sorry, please. I'm so sorry.

Mrs. Blackmer: You see it's because I know that you have children too... and that this is real for you, that these men caused this tragedy. And I know that you will put a stop to them. I know you'll do that now.

Malone: [after a plan intercepting Capone's shipment of liquor through Canada goes wrong] Oh what the hell? You gotta die of something.

District Attorney: [when the Judge announces the switch of jury] What did you tell him?

Ness: I told him his name is in the ledger too.

[Close-up of the Judge, staring daggers at Ness from the bench]

District Attorney: His name wasn't in the ledger...

[first lines]

Title Card: 1930. Prohibition has transformed Chicago into a City at War. Rival gangs compete for control of the city's billion dollar empire of illegal alcohol, enforcing their will with the hand grenade and tommy gun. It is the time of the Ganglords. It is the time of Al Capone.

Reporter: [to Al Capone] An article, which I believe appeared in a newspaper, asked why, since you are, or it would seem that you are, in effect, the mayor of Chicago, you've not simply been appointed to that position.

[other reporters laugh]

Capone: Well, I'll tell ya, you know, it's touching. Like a lot of things in life, we laugh because it's funny and we laugh because it's true. Now, some people will say - reformers, they'll say, 'Put that man in jail! What does he think he is doing?' Well, what I hope I'm doing, and here's where your English paper's got a point, is - I'm responding to the will of the people.

Malone: [stopping at a post office] Well, here we are.

Ness: What are we doing here?

Malone: Liquor raid.

Ness: [looking at the police station across the street] Here?

Malone: Mr. Ness, everybody knows where the booze is. The problem isn't finding it, the problem is who wants to cross Capone.

Ness: [Ness has just dismissed the rest of the team from his office] We have several operations in the works, so we're rather busy, Alderman. What can we do for you?

Alderman: I came up to congratulate you on a job well done. Share your good fortune on such a lovely day.

[Drops bribe envelope on the desk]

Ness: What's that?

[shrugs and makes a giggle sound]

Ness: What is that.

Alderman: Mr. Ness, you're an educated man. Let me pay you the compliment of being blunt. There's a large, a large and popular business that you are causing dismay. Why don't you just cross the street and let things take their course.

Ness: [Summoning the team] Would you come in here please?

[as the team enters]

Ness: In roman times, when a when a fellow was convicted of trying to bribe a public official, they would cut off his nose, and sew him in a bag with a wild animal, and throw him in a river.

[picking up the bribe and throwing it at Alderman]

Ness: You tell your master that we must agree to disagree!

Alderman: You're making a mistake.

Ness: Yeah I know, well I've made them before I'm beginning to enjoy them.

Alderman: You fellows are untouchable, is that the thing? No one can get to you? Hey, everyone can be gotten to.

Ness: [speaking over Alderman and throwing him out] You tell Capone, that I'll see him in hell.

Hoods: [while on the main stairway inside the train station] You got 5 seconds to make up your minds

Ness: You got him?

George Stone: Yeah I got him

Hoods: 1...

Ness: Take him

[Stone shoots, the Hood drops with blood coming out of his mouth]

George Stone: Two

Judge: [after Ness has discovered Capone bribed the jury to acquit him] Bailiff, I want you to go next door to Judge Hawton's court, where they've just begun hearing a divorce action. I want you to bring that jury in here, and take this jury to his court. Bailiff, are those instructions clear?

Bailiff: [puzzled] Yes, sir, they're... clear...

Capone: [to his attorney] What's he talking about? What is it?

Judge: Bailiff, I want you to switch the juries.

Bailiff: Yes sir.

Defense Attorney: Your honor, I object!

Judge: Overruled.

Bodyguard: [Ness confronts Capone] Something you want here?

Ness: [referring to Oscar Wallace] My friend was killed today.

Bodyguard: I don't care.

Ness: You don't care.

[Ness punches the bodyguard in the nose, knocking him to the ground]

Ness: Now he does.

[to Capone]

Ness: Come on here, Capone. You want to fight? You and me, right here? That's it, come on! What's the matter? You afraid to come out from behind your men, you afraid to stand up for yourself?

Capone: You want to do it now? You want to do the mat now?

Ness: Yeah! Come on, you guinea son of a bitch!

Capone: What? You talk to me like that in front of my son? Fuck you and your family!

Ness: Fu...

[Ness goes for his gun, while all of Capone's men pull out there guns and point them at Ness]

Frank Nitti: [taunting Ness as he holds onto a rope from the edge of the roof of the courthouse] Come on Mr. Treasury man, ARREST ME!

Scoop: Mr. Ness! Any comment for the record?

Ness: I just happened to be there when the wheel went round.

Malone: [Mike is unwilling to disclose the information of Walter Payne] I need to know where this guy is! And I need to know NOW! Or I'm gonna rat you out for all the shit I know that you've done in your life! I'm going to turn you over!

Police Chief Mike Dorsett: [icily] This is a dead man talking to me, Jimmy.

Malone: Is it?

Police Chief Mike Dorsett: [muttering] You're dead.

[they fight until Mike gets the upper hand]

Police Chief Mike Dorsett: Who the hell do you think you are? I'll have your ass hanging from a flagpole in the morning!

Malone: [Malone kicks Mike in the groin, pins him to a wall and point his gun at him] Let's cut the wolfing, pal! You tell me, or you're going to the hospital or the fucking morgue!

Ness: So much violence...

Malone: [holding him against the window of the cabin in Canada] You're gonna talk, pal. You're gonna beg to talk. Because somebody's going to talk!

[walks out of the shack, and holds the dead body of a gangster Ness shot]

Malone: Hey you, on your feet! We need you to translate this book! And I'm not going to ask you a second time! I'm gonna count to three.

[places gun in the gangster's mouth]

Malone: What's the matter? Can't you talk with a gun in your mouth? One... two... THREE!

[pulls the trigger, blowing the corpse's skull cap off]

George: [screams] Don't! Okay! I'm going to talk! I'll tell you whatever you want! What do you want to know?

Malone: [to Ness] Welcome to Chicago.This town stinks like a whorehouse at low tide.

Ness: [confronting Capone at the entrance to a hotel] Come on Capone! You wanna fight? You wanna settle it right now? Right here? Let's go!

Capone: Listen to me here! You ain't got nothin' on me, nothin'! You're just a cop! Fuck you and your family!

Ness: Fuh... know what?

[Ness goes to pull his gun, Capone's goons pull their guns and point them at Ness]

Malone: Not now Eliot, not now.

[Malone grabs Ness]

Capone: [to reporters] When you got an all-out prizefight, you wait until the fight is over, one guy is left standing. 'N' that's how you know who won.

Malone: Isn't that just like a wop.

Hoods: [He starts backing away from Malone]

Malone: Brings a knife to a gun fight.

Hoods: [He backs away faster]

Malone: Get outta here you Dago Bastard!

Hoods: [He runs out the door of Malone's home]

Malone: Go on get your ass outta here!

[Malone, dying of multiple gunshot wounds, reaches for something on the floor]

Ness: What? What do you want? This?

[Ness grabs Malone's St. Jude medallion and hands it to him, but Malone throws it aside and reaches for a railway timetable]

Malone: [pointing, wheezing] Book... book...

Ness: The bookkeeper?

Malone: Bookkeeper! Now... *what are you prepared to do?*

[Malone dies]

Ness: [after blowing away a crook who wouldn't "Freeze!" inside the cabin on the Canadian countryside] Didn't you hear what I said? What are you, deaf? What is this, a game?

Blackmer Girl: Hey, mister! Mister, wait! Mister! You forgot your brief...

[the briefcase explodes]

Ness: I wanna hurt the man, Malone. You hear me? I wanna start taking the battle to him. I wanna hurt Capone!

Ness: [to his men while he rides on a snow plow truck] All right now, let's do some good!

Malone: [On a liquor raid. With his hand on the door] If you walk through this door now, you're walking into a world of trouble. And there's no turning back. You understand?

Ness: [Nods] Yes I do.

[Pumps his shotgun]

Ness: Good.

[Points]

Ness: Get me that ax.

Malone: [Enters the liquor cache and fires into the air] Federal officers!

Ness: Get your hands in the air! Nobody move!

Malone: This is a raid!

Ness: Everybody into the center of the room!

Baseball Bat Victim: What are you doing here?

Malone: All this stuff is impounded! You're all under arrest!

Baseball Bat Victim: Hey, this isn't right! Hey, this is no good!

[Points at Malone's face]

Baseball Bat Victim: You got a warrant?

Malone: Sure, here's my warrant!

[Punches him twice in the stomach. He collapses]

Malone: How do you think he feels now? Better? Or worse?

Malone: [Repeated line to Ness] what are you prepared to do?

Malone: First, who can you trust?

[Ness starts to answer but Malone interrupts him]

Malone: Nobody. The cops, nobody. 'Cause nobody wants you here.

Ness: Then why are you helping me?

Malone: Because I swore to uphold the law. And if you believe that, I'll tell you another. Now, who can you trust?

Ness: [resigned] I can trust nobody.

Malone: That's the sorry truth.

Eliot Ness: [visiting Malone at his home after hours] If you'd like to come with me, I need your help. I'm asking you for help.

Jim Malone: Well. That's the thing you fear, isn't it?

Bartender: That green beer you're peddlin' just ain't any good.

Bowtie Driver: It ain't supposed to be good! It's supposed to be bought.

Bartender: I ain't buyin'.

Bowtie Driver: Don't worry about it, pops! We won't come back.

Capone: [to reporters] Yes! There is violence in Chicago. But not by me, and not by anybody who works for me, and I'll tell you why because it's bad for business.

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