The Untouchables

The Untouchables is a 1987 American crime film directed by Brian De Palma, produced by Art Linson, and written by David Mamet. The film is loosely based on the book of the same name (1957) and the real-life events it was based on, but most of its plot is fictionalized. The film stars Kevin Costner, Charles Martin Smith, Andy García, Robert De Niro (in the third collaboration between De Palma and De Niro, following 1968's Greetings and 1970's Hi, Mom!), and Sean Connery, and follows Eliot Ness (Costner) as he forms the Untouchables team to bring Al Capone (De Niro) to justice during Prohibition. The Grammy Award–nominated score was composed by Ennio Morricone and features period music by Duke Ellington. The Untouchables premiered on June 2, 1987, in New York City, and went into general release on June 3, 1987, in the United States. The film grossed $106.2 million worldwide and received generally positive reviews from critics. It was nominated for four Academy Awards; Connery won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Plot In 1930, during Prohibition, the notorious gangland kingpin Al Capone supplies illegal liquor and nearly controls all of Chicago. Bureau of Prohibition agent Eliot Ness has been tasked with halting Capone's activities, but his first attempt at a liquor raid fails due to corrupt policemen alerting Capone. He then encounters veteran Irish-American officer James Malone, who opposes the rampant corruption and offers to help Ness, suggesting they find a man from the police academy who has not yet come under Capone's influence and still believes in the idealistic aspects of law enforcement. They recruit Italian-American trainee George Stone (birth name Giuseppe Petri) for his superior marksmanship and integrity. Joined by accountant Oscar Wallace, assigned to Ness from Washington, D.C., they successfully raid a Capone liquor warehouse and start gaining positive publicity, with the press dubbing them "The Untouchables". Capone later kills the warehouse manager with a baseball bat to warn his other subordinates.