The Untouchables

audiobliss

I just watched The Untouchables on TV - was the first time I've seen it. How old is it? Is it an old movie, or is it just set in that time frame?

What do y'all think about it? I loved it! Was really good! I'll have to look for when it comes on again, so I can sit down and see the whole thing.

Micah Cohen

This would be a great film -- one of Brian DePalma's most well made films, with an amazing cast (DeNiro! Connery!) -- except for one small thing... Kevin Costner.

Costner is a wooden puppet in this movie, and his non-acting stinks up the scenes he is in. It's one of his worst performances ever, and he isn't very good to start with.

But... DeNiro! Amazing! Connery! Stellar! Even that guy who plays Frank Nitti, in the white suit -- he's superb! Direction is nearly flawless, loads of cool camera work... But Costner is just so awful. Sometimes, I want to fast forward over his scenes when I watch it, get to the DeNiro/Connery stuff that makes you just sit up and cheer!

Sometimes I think of this film in the same way I think of Coppola's failed COTTON CLUB. It's a great film, it really is, but it's stunk up by one **** acting choice (in COTTON CLUB, it's Richard Gere stinking the place up).

I wish Costner and Gere were not in these films. They'd be so much better. (The films, I mean.)

MC

AsSiMiLaTeD

No, it's not just SET in that time frame...it's really THAT old..

and that's really Costner's grandad, not the Kevin Costner we all know...

haha...just messing with ya...






this was made in the late 80s, maybe 87 or 88...

Micah Cohen

Actually, 1987. And if you can find the "Special Collectors Edition" DVD cheap, you should pick it up. It's worth seeing in widescreen. Except for Costner.

MC

audiobliss

Hehe, yeah, you would have to chime in, wouldn't you!

1987, eh? The year I was born...

And after looking Kevin Costner up on imdb.com so I'd know who we're talking about...

What do you mean he ruins the film? I think he (and Connery) make the film!! I think Costner does a great job in it! I love every scene he's in!

I also just watched Silverado (for the first time) and thought Costner did an equally aweosme job in it, as well!

Man, we just can't agree on anything....lol.

Maurice

I happen to like Costner too. My favorite performance of his was in Bodyguard. :eek: Ok, before you start to blast me, let me explain. I happen to know the guy that Costner's character was based on and he nailed him to a tee. I worked in security for the "real" bodyguard when it was being filmed and Costner did an excellent job portraying this guy.

bobman1235

Oh God. I really worry when I h ear people say they like people like Costner or Keanu Reeves. I sit here and wonder how they can get so many roles, but I guess some people like non-acting.

I hate to sound like Micah here, but whether you like them or not, it's a fact that they're terrible actors. Especially Costner. Holy ****, he's like watching a bad high school play.

audiobliss

I don't think it's a fact. The fact that he gets so many roles, that he gets paid so much, that so many people enjoy his acting disputes that 'fact'. However, it may be a commonly held thought that he's a bad actor. I just don't agree.

But how can you say he's a bad actor? HOW?! I mean, absolutely nothing in The Untouchables made me think he was a bad actor. To quite the contrary, I thought he played his role really well.

bobman1235

I don't know... he just sounds like he's reading everything he says. His face shows no emotion at all. Maybe that's his "character' in the Untouchables - he is an FBI agent - but look at any other movie he's in. Are you saying every character in every one of t hose movies HAPPENS to be exactly the same? And that none of them show emotion?

People get roles because they draw crowds, mostly. I don't know why he does, but people recognize the name at this point. He's been associated with enough good movies that I geuss people forget that he's terrible. It's hard to explain why someone is a bad actor, at least for me. It's just something you feel. If you don't feel it, and he works for you, that's great. It probably made a great movie (the Untouchables) that much better for you.

"How does Kevin Costner keep getting work?" - Chris Griffin on Family Guy

audiobliss

IMHO, I thought Costner displayed a fair amount of emotion in The Untouchables (and Silverado...the only two movies I've seen him in...I think). Anyhoo...

Micah Cohen

absolutely nothing in The Untouchables made me think he was a bad actor

How about this? Did you see Connery in that film? Wait! Did you see DeNiro? The film opens on DeNiro and he has this singular moment, of course, when the barber cuts his chin, when you FEEL the evil come off him in WAVES. Did you see that part? How about when Connery shoots the dead guy to scare the accountant into talking? See that bit? Or, Connery: "Just like a wop to bring a knife to a gun fight!" See that part?

All those things -- great moments in a film filled with great DeNiro and Connery moments -- make the flaccid moments when Costner is on screen feel like HOURS. He's wooden. He's dead. He's got NO emotion. He delivers his lines like a puppet.

It's like Connery and DeNiro are each 22 feet tall, and Costner is like a midget, pretending to be an actor. It's laughable.

If the film didn't have either DeNiro or Connery, the film would be a first class BOMB, DePalma's great direction be damned.

Now, I give Costner one thing and one thing only: DANCES WITH WOLVES. It's not a perfect film by any means, but it's well done, well directed (by Costner), well acted enough by Costner to get by, and it works. It's a laudable project and I weep like a chick in panties at the end every time I see it.

But I tell you: Other than that, Costner should not be a star. He's got nothing "star-like" except passable good looks. He's no actor. When you think ACTOR you think... Well, DeNiro and Connery, of course.

Costner's film career is crap. Movies you wouldn't bother watching twice.

MC

Micah Cohen

audiobliss, I know you hate me, man. I hate that you hate me. But, Costner is just crap. You need to watch more movies. Spencer Tracy, BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK. Cary Grant, SUSPICION. Lee Marvin, THE DIRTY DOZEN. Anything. Real actors make Costner look like a joke.

MC

audiobliss

Well, I'm glad you told me I hate you; I wasn't aware of that, but I'll have to keep in it mind from now on.

What about that moment when Costner is at the train station waiting for the bad guys to show up and this lady is trying to take her baby carriage and her two suitcases up the stairs? And the way Costner is anxiously looking and waiting. And how he finally helps the lady, only to have the bad guys come in while he's doing so. And then how he handles the shotgun with the guy who walks in and the guys on the staircase, and then how we runs after the run-away carriage, catches the pistol his buddy throws him, and then gets the bad guy at the bottom of the stairs? Was that not a great moment in the film? I thought it was. (That's also the exact moment Mom needed me to help her with something, dad-blast-it, but oh well.)

I'll admit that Connery is good. That was a good scene where he blew the dead guy's brains out (though it looked like he was lined up just right for the bullet to go through him and get somebody inside, but oh well). I also liked how he handled the guy who walked in on him and chased him out with his shotgun. But it took me by surprise when he was gunned down. But in the end Connery was tough enough to make it until Costner got there. I thought that was cool.

I'll agree that maybe I don't know what 'good' acting is. I haven't seen many movies (obviously - I mean, I don't recognize any of those actors you mentioned). Once I broaden my horizon and am subjected to what you call good acting, maybe I'll have a different perspective. However, I still maintain that Costner isn't a 'bad' actor. I'd be a bad actor - Costner isn't.

Micah Cohen

What about that moment when Costner is at the train station waiting for the bad guys to show up and this lady is trying to take her baby carriage and her two suitcases up the stairs?

Impressive, huh?

It's a rip off. DePalma's paying "homage" to a Russian director, Sergei Eisenstein, who made a film called BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN in 1925. It's a film about a mutiny on a Russian naval vessel and the massive street demonstration that followed... The place goes nuts, and the police kill a bunch of civilians. Whatever. Anyway, Eisenstein stages this exact same scene, pretty much, with the mayhem all around and this darling little baby carriage bumping down the steps into the jaws of destruction. The scene is called "The Odessa Steps" sequence, and it's overplayed in film school classes the world over. (Pretty much everything DePalma does is an homage to something, whether it's Hitchcock or some little known foreign director. But, he's a pretty good homage-er.)

Costner is merely a bystander in this wonderfully directed bit. In fact, Andy Garcia steals the show, obviously.

I haven't seen many movies

NetFlix is just like $17/m, man. It's a great deal if you watch even one movie a week. You can build a long list, and move titles around, and they have pretty much everything. Watch all the Hitchcock films in order. Watch all the Sergio Leone "Spaghetti Westerns" in order. Watch all the great horror movies. So much fun and great stuff out there. The more you see, the better you get at weeding out the crapola. I highly recommend it.

I'd be a bad actor - Costner isn't.

Ah, I doubt it. You'd be a fantastic actor. Compared to Costner. And I don't even know you!

MC

Roy Munson

Originally posted by Micah:
BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK.

Now that's a great f'n film!!!!!!!

audiobliss

Who's Andy Garcia?

And I watch one movie per, oh, say month or so. So NetFlix wouldn't really be that great of a deal.

Micah Cohen

One movie a month? You're missing out... What else have you got to do?

Who's Andy Garcia?

At the end of the "station steps" scene? Garcia is a little guy Connery recruits because he's a sharp shooter, and at the end of the scene, when the bad guy's got the accountant and is holding a gun to the accountants head, Garcia is the guy who catches the carriage AND takes out the bad guy with a well placed shot to the head, leaving the accountant. It's freaking impressive. (Improbable, but impressive. Good filmmaking.)

Costner stands there and watches. Because he sucks.

MC