The true history and the TV show that inspired the movie both get short shrift here, but who cares? In De Palma’s hands, David Mamet‘s script about the Al Capone-Eliot Ness face-off makes for larger-than-life drama. (Who but De Palma would lift the Odessa Steps sequence from silent 1925 classic "The Battleship Potemkin" for his climactic train-staton shootout?)
Robert De Niro (whom De Palma discovered a quarter-century earlier) makes a charismatic villain, and Kevin Costner became a star as his nemesis, but the movie belongs to Sean Connery (in his Oscar-winning performance) as Costner’s seasoned mentor.
Leave a Reply