Into the Blu

The Untouchables

Posted on 20. Jul, 2007 by Gino Sassani in 1080p, 2.35:1, AVC MPEG-4, Collector's Edition, DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio 6.1 (English), Dolby Digital 2.0 (French), Dolby Digital 2.0 (Spanish), Dolby Digital EX (English), Drama, Paramount, Reviews

Where do you start with a film like The Untouchables? I suppose you start at the beginning. This has to be the best script David Mamet has ever written. The highly stylized vision of 1930 Chicago utilizes as much of the myth as it does the fact. After all, we want our mobster dramas larger than life. For rights issues the film claims to be based on the 1959 Robert Stack television series; however, all of the participants admit the result is completely unique and original.

What of the story? The time: Prohibition. The smell of bootleg gin and the sound of bullets linger in the urban air. It’s Chicago. It’s Good vs. Evil. Elliott Ness vs. Al Capone. Kevin Costner vs. Robert DeNiro. Federal Agent Eliott Ness (Costner) vows to take down Al Capone (DeNiro) and his bootleg operation that holds the entire city of Chicago in its terrorizing grip. With the help of an old beat cop, Malone (Connery), a Treasury accountant (Smith), and a Police Academy rising star (Garcia) Ness’s group of “Untouchables” takes on the hoods.

Next up we have to talk about the direction of Brian DePalma (no relation to cab dispatcher Louie, I think). DePalma has a solid reputation for breaking the rules, but in this case I think he simply invented new ones. When you consider the influence the film has had, you can’t very well say that rules weren’t firmly in place. Everything from camera angles to the smallest set dressing detail is firmly under De Palma’s control. Often the results are more style than substance. The Untouchables is that rare exception. In this film even the style is substance. The sets are grand in stature yet subtle in the details. The clothes were designed by Armani and do more than just place the characters in the times. The clothes become props that allow these actors to become their parts with amazing ease.

The cast is the ingredient that activates the whole project. Bob Hoskins was originally signed to play Al Capone. Mel Gibson was scheduled to play Ness. Gibson’s schedule got too tight and DePalma had another idea for Capone. At first there appeared to be resistance to casting DeNiro in the role. The film was already over budget. Hoskins would now have to be paid in any event and DeNiro just doesn’t work cheap. When he first showed up for the role there was concern that he would never be as imposing as Capone needed to be. DePalma, having already worked with DeNiro, knew how well the actor prepared for a role. Just three months later he was Capone as no other actor could have been. Honestly, this film would lose a lot without him. Once Gibson was lost, DePalma admittedly “settled” for a relative unknown. I don’t think much of Kevin Costner. Most of his roles I consider pretty lame. This is not one of them. Costner can, and does, play the ultimate G man. He wears the part like a tailored Armani suit. Mamet made the ingenious decision to give Ness a mentor. DePalma compounded the brilliance by casting Sean Connery in the role of Malone. Not since James Bond has Connery shone so brightly. Again, the role was such a comfortable fit. Andy Garcia and Charles Martin Smith add their own powerful nuances to the ensemble. Still, even a stellar cast with a great script make simply a very good film. Greatness comes from chemistry. These players, just like the characters they play, blend perfectly. Each adds a unique quality, making the whole greater than the sum of its parts.

Video

The Untouchables is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The disc contains an AVC / MPEG-4 / 1080p transfer. The bit rate averages an astounding mid 30’s mbps. There were moments when the rate entered the low 40’s. While I’ve only seen a little more than a dozen Blu Ray transfers to date, this is hands down the very best. How easy it would have been to simply bump up the compression rate and add a little window dressing to this early Hi-Def transfer. A splash of color there, a dab of detail here. There are already more than a few such examples. This transfer is simply beautiful. Colors fly along with bullets. Reds bloom like fresh garden roses while even the subdued earth tones that dominate the film display a level of texture I seriously doubt existed during the original theatrical release of the film. Check out the weave on the clothes. Notice the woodgrain on Malone’s phonograph cabinet. Many of these subtle shades are little to write home about when taken alone. Put enough together and you have texture. It is this sense of texture that’s missing in too many transfers whether they be HD or simply SD. The image is a testament to DePalma and his eye for detail long before any of us were talking HD. Black levels are perfect, containing a level of depth I’ve not seen in my own theatre before. Give some credit to the folks who lit this film. I think the lighting sells the whole thing. It is the natural look of everything that immerses you deeply into the film. It’s simply a difference between watching a film or experiencing one. This transfer allows you the latter. I would never have expected a nearly 20 year old film to be this good. If this is the future of Hi-Def discs, sign me up for more. Look closely in Malone’s final scene and you can see camera equipment reflected in his apartment window.

Audio

While neither the Dolby Digital EX5.1 track nor the DTS 6.1 version might be as much of an improvement as the picture it is indeed a noticeable notch above the SD release. The film ultimately lacks something in the sub levels. The notable exception is the driving snow plow early in the film. It rumbles like a tank toward the warehouse doors. Sadly this level of low end strength does not continue and never reaches that kind of a high point again. On the plus side is most definitely the Ennio Morricone score. From back in the days of the Eastwood Spaghetti Westerns, Marricone has created some of the most distinctive film scores around. The Untouchables is no exception. You can actually hear the reeds from the woodwinds and breath in the flutes. Fortunately the score received a significant upgrade from SD releases of the film. Here the sound is truly dynamic, even if a little light in the sub range. The rousing score is often used as a theme for the Acadamy Awards, and this release lets us truly appreciate why. The instruments are allowed to sing until the sound sustains beyond our ability to hear it any longer. Even then you can feel it somehow, a glorious call to action as The Untouchables ride across the fields to battle Capone’s smugglers at the Canadian border. Sound is so good at times that the crying of the oversized infant in the climax was getting on my nerves.

Special Features

• “The Script The Cast” This 18 minute feature, like all of those contained here, are carryovers from the SD release and are presented in SD. DePalma admits that at first he was just hoping to get a commercial success out of the way so he could go back to what he loved doing. Little did he know then’ Most of this 18 minutes are taken up giving us a sort of genesis of the story and original casting of the film. A ton of vintage interviews as well as more recent clips are worked in and out of the piece.
• “Production Stories” Pretty much a continuation of the first piece. This 17 minutes gives us a look at the sets and designs of the film. “Corruption looks fabulous” is the tag line for this segment.
• “Reinventing The Genre” We all know the mobster film has been done to death. Still, every once in awhile someone comes along with a fresh look at familiar ground. This 14 minutes continues pretty much in the style of the first two while looking at the inventiveness of the film.
• “The Classic” Best part of this 6 minutes is the attention given to Morricone. Not long enough, if you ask me.
• “The Men” This is a vintage promo piece running about 5 minutes long. Like the previous features, it was included in the SD release.

There is an HD trailer but it really doesn’t look any better than it did before.

Final Thoughts

The term classic is used far too often, so I’m reluctant to apply it here. It particularly bothers me when the term is applied to a relatively recent film. For me a classic has to have stood the test of time. Even a record breaking box office smash has no guarantee it will ring as true after 20 hard years have passed. As I watched the film for maybe the 15th time, I don’t think it’s possible, and certainly it wouldn’t be fair to describe The Untouchables without knighting it a classic. A common theme running through the extra features is this idea of texture. As I look at the film I am taken at just how apt that term is as a theme for this film. The idea of texture applies to the clothes, the sets, and even the acting here. Each thread, beautiful in itself, weaves together to form a grand Greek tapestry. The Untouchables has become a veritable classroom for film study, another integral element when describing a classic. Like the first two Godfather films before it, lessons abound in every aspect of filmmaking. Perhaps much of it is owed to lucky happenstance, but the end result is a wonderful example of how to make a film. You start with a compelling script. You bring together the finest craftsmen, from the director to the set designers. You put these words into the mouths of the best actors available, always keeping in mind chemistry. And with just a little luck, a masterpiece creates itself. “Thus endeth the lesson.”