Search - The Untouchables (Special Collector's Edition) on DVD


The Untouchables (Special Collector's Edition)
The Untouchables
Special Collector's Edition
Actor: Kevin Costner
Genres: Drama, Mystery & Suspense
2004

As noted critic Pauline Kael wrote, the 1987 box-office hit The Untouchables is "like an attempt to visualize the public's collective dream of Chicago gangsters." In other words, this lavish reworking of the vintage TV ser...  more »

     

Movie Details

Actor: Kevin Costner
Genres: Drama, Mystery & Suspense
Sub-Genres: Drama, Mystery & Suspense
Studio: Paramount
Format: DVD
DVD Release Date: 10/05/2004
Release Year: 2004
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaDVD Credits: 1
Total Copies: 0
Members Wishing: 1
Edition: Collector's Edition
See Also:

Similar Movies

GoodFellas
Director: Martin Scorsese
   R   2007   2hr 26min
   
Donnie Brasco
+ Digital Copy
Director: Mike Newell
   R   2008   2hr 7min
Unforgiven
HD DVD
   R   2006   2hr 11min
Heat
Special Edition
   R   2005   4hr 17min
The Good the Bad the Ugly
2-Disc Collector's Edition
Director: Sergio Leone
   R   2007   2hr 41min
Once Upon a Time in America
9
   R   2011   3hr 49min
Casino
Director: Martin Scorsese
   R   2006   2hr 58min
   
Public Enemies
Single-Disc Edition
   R   2009   2hr 20min
   

Similarly Requested DVDs

Stir of Echoes
Blu-ray
Director: David Koepp
   R   2006   1hr 34min
   
Crazy Heart
Rental Ready
   R   2010
   
The Mask
New Line Platinum Series
Director: Chuck Russell
   PG-13   2005   1hr 41min
   
The Toy
Director: Richard Donner
   PG   2001   1hr 42min
   
Hancock
Unrated Special Edition
Director: Peter Berg
   UR   2008   1hr 32min
   
The Time Machine
   PG-13   2002   1hr 36min
   
Next of Kin
   R   1998   1hr 48min
   
Amazing Grace
Director: Michael Apted
   PG   2007   1hr 58min
   
Stuck On You
Widescreen Edition
Directors: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
   PG-13   2004   1hr 58min
   
When Harry Met Sally
Director: Rob Reiner
   R   2001   1hr 36min
   
 

Member Movie Reviews

Ronald S. (Tony)
Reviewed on 12/14/2010...
This was a great movie. Anything with a gangster theme is alright with me, but this was really great.

Movie Reviews

Where's the Beef?
William P. Heck | England | 11/20/2000
(2 out of 5 stars)

"What kind of incompetent nutbag puts out a classic like this on DVD without 1 single extra feature. Come on.. Where's the bonus material? Where's the Commentary, Deleted Scenes, etc? It's not like Kevin Costner is too busy doing other movies! There should be a law against putting out DVD's that only contain the movie without extra stuff. It's not only a waste of valuable space, it's very nearly a ripoff. Thank you, goodnight."
Good versus Evil in a deadly dance of operatic proportions.
Themis-Athena | from somewhere between California and Germany | 03/06/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sometimes dubbed "the Master of the Macabre," director Brian De Palma is best known for his enactments of the supernatural ("Carrie"), mania ("Dressed to Kill") - and his mob stories. The latter part of his reputation is primarily grounded on four of his movies from the ten-year period between 1983 and 1993: "Scarface" (1983, starring Al Pacino), "Wise Guys" (1986, starring Danny De Vito, Joe Piscopo and Harvey Keitel), "Carlito's Way" (1993, again starring Pacino) ... and "The Untouchables" (1987), featuring an all-star cast including Robert De Niro, Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Andy Garcia and Charles Martin Smith. Among these, "The Untouchables" stands out as the only movie not primarily told from the gangster's but from the lawmen's perspective - but what it does share with all of De Palma's works is an almost voyeuristic appeal to its audience's visual senses; going far beyond the lavish display of film blood it is most often cited for.

Less fact-based than cinematic grand opera par excellence, the movie takes as its premise the end of the career of Chicago's ganglord of ganglords, Al "Scarface" Capone, who (after a few half-hearted attempts to prosecute him for murder had failed due to the unavailability of witnesses) pled guilty, in 1931, to evading federal income tax, and was sentenced to an 11-year prison term and a $50,000 fine. Capone's downfall was brought about by a group of initially 50 but later only nine Treasury Agents, formed in 1929 (not in 1930, as suggested here) with the express purpose of breaking up his operations, and headed by Eliot Ness, whose 1957 book "The Untouchables" posthumously gave new rise to his fame - Ness died of a heart attack without ever having witnessed the full extent of his book's success - and inspired, inter alia, the like-named 1959 television series starring Robert Stack and Brian De Palma's 1987 movie.

Scripted by Pulitzer Prize winner and Chicago native David Mamet ("Glengarry Glen Ross"), "The Untouchables" is not so much a study in character development as based on a western's classic "good versus evil" setup; although that doesn't mean that its protagonists are two-dimensional in any way. On the contrary: Robert De Niro imbues his Capone with a ruthlessness and glib charm very likely matching those of the real "Scarface," who was known for his little hesitation to commit murder and other acts of violence as much as he cultivated a reputation as a savvy businessman and benefactor of the poor, for example by running several soup kitchens. (And yes, all of De Niro's mannerisms are on full display, too; but rarely have they fitted a role as well as here.) Kevin Costner's Eliot Ness may be a little too assertive - Robert Stack once commented, after several conversations with Ness's nearest and dearest, that the real-life Treasury Agent had been described to him as "rather soft-spoken, but very effective and brave" - but mildness is certainly not the principle trait written into the larger-than-life role of the man who "got" Al Capone, and Costner *is* an effective lead; although he is matched (not entirely sidelined, but darn near outplayed) by Sean Connery, who deservedly won an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a National Board of Review Award as the crotchety old-timer Malone who has seen it all, somehow managed to stay both clean and alive, and now lets Ness talk him into becoming his tutor in all things Chicago Gangland. Andy Garcia, in his break-through role, is instantly likable as George Stone, the smart, fast kid from the South Side who doesn't take kindly to put-downs of his origin but can nail a human target with one hand while lying down and holding a baby stroller with the other hand. Charles Martin Smith finally brings humanity and subtle humor to the character probably closest to the real-life "Untouchables," accountant Oscar Wallace, who first has the idea to charge Capone for income tax evasion. Strong performances by Billy Drago as Capone's right-hand man Frank Nitti (who of course was not really thrown off a rooftop by Ness), Richard Bradford as Police Chief Mike Dorsett, Patricia Clarkson as Ness's wife, Jack Kehoe as Capone's bookkeeper Walter Payne and others round out an altogether impressive cast.

Unmistakeably scored by Ennio Morricone (whose style often, and certainly here, doesn't even take a full bar to recognize; and who with an ASCAP Award, a Grammy and a BAFTA Award was the movie's other major winner besides Connery), "The Untouchables" lives off its splendid cinematography, production design - costumes courtesy of Giorgio Armani - and the exquisite timing of its sharp-edged dialogue and editing: Not only is screenwriter Mamet known to have his actors practice their lines according to a metronome; the editing of some of the movie's most memorable scenes has the distinct feeling of a carefully choreographed, veritable ballet. This is particularly true for Malone's death, pointedly set against the aria "Vesti la Giubba" from Ruggero Leoncavallo's opera "I Pagliacci" ("The Clowns"), which is based on a real-life murder and which Capone attends while his lieutenants waylay Malone in his own apartment; and the famous shoot-out in Chicago's Union Station, which turns into a deadly dance of bullets, blood and a baby stroller, shot almost entirely in slow motion.

Paradoxically, the one plot element this movie is most often criticized for - the jury switch at Capone's trial - is one of the few facts that actually did take place (although Capone's attorney would have had to be given the right to conduct a new voir dire). But ultimately, it doesn't even really matter how much of the plot is fact-based and how much fiction: Even if "The Untouchables" doesn't quite reach the mythical status of the "Godfather" trilogy - particularly its Parts 1 and 2 - as the mob movie to end all mob movies, it is one of only a handful other films that at least come close to the proportions of Francis Ford Coppola's epic masterpiece.

Also recommended:
The Untouchables
Eliot Ness and the Untouchables: The Historical Reality and the Film and Television Depictions
Capone: The Life and World of Al Capone
Scarface
Carlito's Way
Wise Guys
GoodFellas
Casino (Widescreen 10th Anniversary Edition)
Once Upon a Time in America (Two-Disc Special Edition)
The Godfather DVD Collection (The Godfather/ The Godfather - Part II/ The Godfather - Part III)"
Flamboyant Tribute to the Chicago Mob
Lisa Shea | 01/18/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)

"This isn't a documentary style film - it's a gorgeous, over-the-top retelling of one of the most famous periods in America's history. Al Capone and Eliot Ness are well known, as is the Chicago in which they lived. De Niro and Connery are fantasic in their roles, and the cinematography is beautiful. Costner as Ness also shines, but with these other two powerhouses his performance is almost overshadowed.Great plot, great dialogue, great action, the movie is definitely a fun romp through an appealing period in history. The movie has even more significance as The Sopranos becomes a huge hit - people being drawn into learning about the mob way of life want to trace the roots of this drama and see where it's taking its guidance. Many Sopranos scenes are taken from this movie, and the characters even quote it at times.Highly recommended - a DVD you'll watch many times over!"