Simply A Masterpiece

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

This revived version of The Untouchables drew from both the original Robert Stack television series and the Brian DePalma film that won for Sean Connery that Best Supporting Actor Award. As such it had the strengths and weaknesses of both.The Untouchables themselves under Eliot Ness were as described a group of incorruptible federal prohibition agents at a time when that group generally could be bought and sold. They were the group who hurt Al Capone and Bugs Moran the rival gang heads in Chicago in the pocketbook with their raids on their illegal distilleries. They did not however bring Capone down, that was the job of some hard working accountants in the US Attorney's office in Chicago who got him for income tax evasion.This series did not take its characters from the original Robert Stack series that was based on Ness's memoirs ghosted by Oscar Fraley. The characters are from the film that starred Kevin Costner with Tom Amandes as Ness, John Rhys-Davies in Sean Connery's role as Malone and William Forsythe as one mean and nasty Al Capone.Amandes captured a lot of the self righteousness of Eliot Ness who back in the day fancied himself as some kind of Eagle Scout. In work I've seen him in subsequently, Amandes has been more villainous which may have been his true niche as an actor. Forsythe was the best thing that series. In his career he's played a succession of great villains, his style of psychotic villain is similar to Lyle Bettger's. Capone by all accounts was a generally easy going man, but had a hair trigger temper which was demonstrated on more than one occasion here.The Untouchables just like the previous series ran out of real plots and then had the guys going all over the country taking care of all the known criminals of the time. The silliest episode I recall had Amandes and his crew going to New York and tangling not only with Lucky Luciano but with Thomas E. Dewey. Charles Martin Smith played Dewey and on those grounds alone, Tom Dewey's heirs should sue. In fact Dewey had a lot more to do with bringing down New York's criminals than Ness did in Chicago. In fact both men aspired to a political career, but Dewey certainly got a lot farther than Ness who ran for Mayor of Cleveland and lost in a landslide. Still Eliot Ness and his crew will probably get another look in the next generation, they do fascinate us so.

This show was the best one i have ever seen. Great stories and great acting in this series. I have been watching the clips on you tube, which are great. I think this show was taken off way to soon and may be why we will never see it on DVD. This was the best untouchables show or movie made, it was ahead of its time.We need to do whatever we can to get this series to DVD. I gave it 10 in voting for it. If anyone has DVD info on this show please let me know about.Or if anyone is selling DVD's i'm very interested in buying them. please email me at jpisano@bostonvolvo if you have info. Why do we need to have a minimum of 10 lines for this??

I really liked the development of the characters throughout the episodes I have been able to watch. Especially the character of Paul Robbins played by David James Elliott. The story lines were clever and kept me watching from episode to episode. The actor that portrays Elliott Ness does indeed remind me of Jimmy Stewart. With the onset of reality TV programs, I miss the scripted dramas of old and would really like a revival of good series programs such as The Untouchables. If you enjoy gangster movies and shows where the good guys win, you will enjoy this program. In my opinion, it was canceled way too soon. If it were to come out on DVD, I would buy it in it's entirety.

I honestly enjoyed this series. It moved fast and had great music. In fact, I wish I could find the theme song an a CD someplace. There were moments in which the writers drew parallels between Ness and Capone, revealing that the two men actually had some things in common. I never missed an episode and was truly disappointed that it was not renewed for a second season.