If you like excellent gangster films, you cannot ignore “The Untouchables”. Including Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Robert De Niro and Andy Garcia, who just hit theaters with ‘The Expendables 4’, a first-class cast and with excellent guidance from music master Ennio Morricone, Brian De Palma a thriller that is as exciting as it is impressive. staged.
ZDFneo will show “The Untouchables” today, September 27, 2023, from 11:15 PM – and completely without commercials. If you miss the broadcast, you can find the must-see classic on the Paramount+ streaming service:
But now let’s reveal something about the movie: we have to talk about one scene in particular.
This is “The Untouchables”
Brian De Palma’s “The Untouchables” is set in Chicago at the height of Prohibition. Gangster boss Al Capone (Robert De Niro) has the city under control. Because he has also bribed or blackmailed a number of officials, no one seems able to harm him.
To deal with this situation, young Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) is hired as an outsider to clean up the metropolis. When he realizes that he is alone in the field due to rampant corruption, he gathers a small, motley crew around him that he can completely trust…
The fight between the very different outsiders (Sean Connery as an old hand, Andy Garcia as a sniper and Charles Martin Smith as a little nerd) against the apparently all-powerful gang boss is fascinating and to the point. Hitchcock fan Brian De Palma expertly tightens the turnbuckle again and again to keep us excited…
For example, Capone strikes back against anyone who refuses to be bribed. A murderer breaks into the apartment of old, honest street cop Malone. De Palma films the event from the killer’s first-person perspective, using elements from the horror film he loves to create a creepy atmosphere…
But one other moment in particular made movie history:
Can action be better? The train station sequence in “The Untouchables”
We’re talking, of course, about the legendary train station sequence, which is so brilliant it works as a short film in itself. Show the scene to someone who knows nothing about the rest of the movie, doesn’t know the characters, and that person will most likely still be captivated.
Actually, the series was never planned that way. The script called for a gunfight on a train. But Studio Paramount found replicating an authentic 1930s train too expensive, so De Palma had to improvise – recalling the famous staircase scene from the classic film “Battleship Potemkin.” It has been quoted many times, from Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ to Coppola’s ‘The Godfather’, but never as brilliantly as by De Palma.
The scene opens with Costner and Garcia showing up at the train station to catch Al Capone’s accountant. Because he has evidence that could land the crime boss in jail.
The structure itself is masterful: De Palma takes a few minutes to show us in almost real time how the two police officers position themselves in the enormous building where unsuspecting passersby go about their daily business – and one of them catches the attention of Ness and the audience.
A young, fully packed mother has to get her stroller down the heavy stairs. Even though he has to watch the accountant, Ness decides to help her out of harm’s way.
But just as he is about to do so, he sees several men enter the station hall who, thanks to a familiar face, can be identified as Capone’s accomplices. And the accountant also enters the scene. From now on, chaos breaks out in slow motion, a bloody gunfight begins and Ness releases the stroller, which rolls down the stairs in a hail of bullets…
De Palma impressively proves the power of cinema. Because he only talks about the special thing about cinema: images. As mentioned, you don’t need any prior knowledge of the story to find the scene exciting. With the visuals of this scene alone, with the carefully placed positioning of all the characters and the establishment of the conflict, De Palma conveys everything that counts and is important. He doesn’t need words either.
For example, the camera describes what is going on in Ness’s mind as he struggles to leave his post to help the woman. And there is no shouting during the shooting. All we hear is the music and the sound of gunshots.
The stair scene from “The Untouchables” has long been one of the legendary and one of the most exciting action scenes in film history – and it’s just a quote born out of necessity…