David Mamet had just won a Pulitzer for Glengarry Glen Ross , and his dialogue—staccato, rhythmic, and profane—was in high demand. De Palma, fresh off the critical whiplash of Body Double , needed a hit. The result was a synthesis: Mamet’s Shakespearean street poetry filtered through De Palma’s operatic, voyeuristic visual style.
The film follows the classic "hero’s journey" with a gritty, urban twist. Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) begins as a naive, by-the-book Treasury agent who realizes that the law is useless against a city controlled by graft. The narrative engine is the "corruption of the incorruptible." the untouchables -1987-
The film follows their campaign to stop Capone’s bootlegging operation, culminating not in a shootout, but in a tax evasion trial. The famous "The Untouchables" moniker comes from the squad’s refusal to take bribes—they cannot be "touched." David Mamet had just won a Pulitzer for
While the violence is brutal, the heart of the film is Ennio Morricone’s score. The main theme is a sweeping, melancholic piece that feels more like a funeral march than a cop movie. It gives Ness's mission a tragic, heroic weight. The brass stabs during the action sequences are primal, while the quiet, string-heavy moments—specifically after Malone’s death—elevate the violence to Greek tragedy. Morricone was nominated for an Oscar for this score, losing to The Last Emperor , though history has reversed that judgment. The film follows the classic "hero’s journey" with
Brian De Palma utilizes a grand, Hitchcockian visual language. The film is famous for its formalist techniques: