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The Untouchables (Special Collector's Edition) [HD DVD] by Brian De Palma
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DVD detailsActor: Andy Garcia, Charles Martin Smith, Kevin Costner, Robert De Niro, Sean Connery Director: Brian De Palma Brand: PARAMOUNT PICTURES DVD: Region Code 0 Audio: English (Original Language); French (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Dubbed); Spanish (Dubbed) Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Subtitled Picture Format: 2.35:1 Running Time: 119 minutes DVD Release Date: 2007-07-03 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment
DVD Reviews of The Untouchables (Special Collector's Edition) [HD DVD]DVD Review: Classic movie! Summary: 5 StarsThis movie is a classic! It was in excellent condition and arrived on time! Great seller!
DVD Review: Good Flick Summary: 5 StarsFor some reason I never tire of seeing this movie. Good guys and bad guys and lots of action.
DVD Review: a keeper Summary: 3 Starsthis was an excellent movie and had wonderful extra stuff, my antipathy towards Kevin Costner lowered my overall opinion of the movie.
DVD Review: A CLASSIC of the Action genre! Summary: 5 StarsThe Untouchables is a CLASSIC of the Action genre. Sean Connery gives his all-time GREATEST performance (non-007) and deservedly won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Kevin Costner, Robert DeNiro (who BETTER to play Al Capone?!) and Andy Garcia all give GREAT performances.
Anytime you have a film scored by the GREAT Ennio Morricone, it's as GOOD as it gets. I know what I'm speaking of because my all-time favorite score in a film is Morricone's "Once Upon a Time in the West".
Ironically (I know this is hard to believe, but it's TRUE) what attracted me to this film was NOT the GREAT cast, but the story of Al Capone and those times. I'm a BIG History Channel buff and I LOVE films about historical subjects.
If one were to assemble a list of the "Top 10 Action Films" of all-time, The Untouchables would have to included on that list.
DVD Review: Paramount "Touched" the Untouchables Summary: 4 StarsI've always been a big fan of this movie, which I remember as first marking Brian DePalma as a "blockbuster" director. It's filled with sharp dialog, Oscar winning acting, some inspired (clearly by Hitchcock) camerawork, a dramatic score by Ennio Morricone, and a nostaglic/patriotic retelling of a truly gritty real-life crime drama.
As far as this blu-ray goes, it features a very nice transfer that ups the detail, contrast, color and stability considerably over the previous DVD release. Unfortunately it also introduces nearly constant edge halos and some shimmering - both presumably artifacts of edge enhancement used to make the film look more appealing to modern audiences.
On the Audio front the 6.1 DTS-HD track does a very fine job considering the age of the film. I was particularly impressed by the dynamic range of the score and the use of discrete effects in the Union Station shootout.
Overall, if it were not for the digital retouching, I would have rated this release at 5 stars. Since I can't give 4 and a half I had to downgrade it full star for the botched digital enhancements.
Hopefully someday there will be a untouched version of The Untouchables.
Description of The Untouchables (Special Collector's Edition) [HD DVD]The critics and public agree. Brian De Palma's The Untouchables is a must-see masterpiece - glorious, fierce, larger-than-life depiction of the mob warlord who ruled Prohibition-era Chicago... and the law enforcer who vowed to bring him down. This classic confrontation between good and evil and stars Kevin Costner as federal agent Eliot Ness, Robert De Niro as gangland kingpin Al Capone and Sean Connery as Malone, the cop who teaches Ness how to beat the mob: shoot fast and shoot first. As noted critic Pauline Kael wrote, the 1987 box-office hit The Untouchables is "like an attempt to visualize the public's collective dream of Chicago gangsters." In other words, this lavish reworking of the vintage TV series is a rousing potboiler from a bygone era, so beautifully designed and photographed--and so craftily directed by Brian De Palma--that the historical reality of Prohibition-era Chicago could only pale in comparison. From a script by David Mamet, the movie pits four underdog heroes (the maverick lawmen known as the Untouchables) against a singular villain in Al Capone, played by Robert De Niro as a dapper caesar holding court (and a baseball bat) against any and all challengers. Kevin Costner is the naive federal agent Eliot Ness, whose lack of experience is tempered by the streetwise alliance of a seasoned Chicago cop (Sean Connery, in an Oscar-winning performance), a rookie marksman (Andy Garcia), and an accountant (Charles Martin Smith) who holds the key to Capone's potential downfall. The movie approaches greatness on the strength of its set pieces, such as the siege near the Canadian border, the venal ambush at Connery's apartment, and the train-station shootout partially modeled after the "Odessa steps" sequences of the Russian classic Battleship Potemkin. It's thrilling stuff, fueled by Ennio Morricone's dynamic score, but it's also manipulative and obvious. If you're inclined to be critical, the movie gives you reason to complain. If you'd rather sit back and enjoy a first-rate production with an all-star cast, The Untouchables may very well strike you as a classic. --Jeff Shannon As noted critic Pauline Kael wrote, the 1987 box-office hit The Untouchables is "like an attempt to visualize the public's collective dream of Chicago gangsters." In other words, this lavish reworking of the vintage TV series is a rousing potboiler from a bygone era, so beautifully designed and photographed--and so craftily directed by Brian De Palma--that the historical reality of Prohibition-era Chicago could only pale in comparison. From a script by David Mamet, the movie pits four underdog heroes (the maverick lawmen known as the Untouchables) against a singular villain in Al Capone, played by Robert De Niro as a dapper caesar holding court (and a baseball bat) against any and all challengers. Kevin Costner is the naive federal agent Eliot Ness, whose lack of experience is tempered by the streetwise alliance of a seasoned Chicago cop (Sean Connery, in an Oscar-winning performance), a rookie marksman (Andy Garcia), and an accountant (Charles Martin Smith) who holds the key to Capone's potential downfall. The movie approaches greatness on the strength of its set pieces, such as the siege near the Canadian border, the venal ambush at Connery's apartment, and the train-station shootout partially modeled after the "Odessa steps" sequences of the Russian classic Battleship Potemkin. It's thrilling stuff, fueled by Ennio Morricone's dynamic score, but it's also manipulative and obvious. If you're inclined to be critical, the movie gives you reason to complain. If you'd rather sit back and enjoy a first-rate production with an all-star cast, The Untouchables may very well strike you as a classic. --Jeff Shannon
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