tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post5121116891876280539..comments2024-03-29T04:57:26.162-04:00Comments on John Kenneth Muir's Reflections on Cult Movies and Classic TV: Thirty Years Ago This Weekend: The Untouchables (1987)John Kenneth Muirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15629979615332893780noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-20537944251852221452017-06-04T18:04:17.398-04:002017-06-04T18:04:17.398-04:00John, I appreciate your adroit review of one of my...John, I appreciate your adroit review of one of my favorite movies. I agree: some critics took issue with the very aspects of "The Untouchables" that made audiences LOVE it. The Western sequences were necessary not only to DePalma's cinematic language, but to the audience's final commitment to the characters. <br /><br />You see, I think up until that part of the movie, the viewer is still somewhat skeptical of the "good guys" because DePalma has laid the groundwork for us to question their commitment to one another and to their enterprise on some level. Ness initially seems committed to do the job of bringing Capone down because it's a job he's required to do, not because he's fully invested in it. Malone is the ruthlessly committed one who must convince Ness--and thus the audience--but Ness doesn't fully trust his (or anyone's) motivations and we aren't sure of Malone, either--he's just an Irish cop with his own axe to grind at first. The dweebish accountant is one of those necessary bureaucrats whose motivations happen to coincide temporarily with need, so to the audience he represents a dangerous weak link. The Montana interlude enables us to witness them all acting in ways that commit them to one another and for the good of the "side" they're on. Malone takes action that he recognizes he can't expect of Ness and the audience appreciates him doing this. Ness finally proves willing to be bold and confrontational, so the audience recognizes his investiture in his position--we're now sure he will do what's required even if he doesn't like it. And Mr. Accountant emerges from his nebbishy trappings and proves courageous. In Western terms, this is how a loosely affiliated bunch of guys "become men" together, and just as with a Western, the audience from this point forward has no doubt or qualm that they will do what is necessary and right.<br /><br />I must draw attention to the sequences with Capone at the opera, where DePalma, using the minimalistic spareness of cinema, shows us the ruthless criminal sociopath who is capable of heedlessly weeping in public--a man unable to be emotionally involved with or moved by the humanity in the world around him who is uncontrollably moved by the monumentally-scaled depiction of humanity provided by the musical-theatrical constructs of Verdian opera. Capone is DePalma's operatic figure.<br /><br />In fact, the Western itself is America's New-World translation of the Old World art form of opera. DePalma uses the devices of both here to present "The Untouchables" as an operatic film.Sherinoreply@blogger.com