The Untouchables (1987) ****

Despite David Mamet's wildly historically inaccurate screenplay and despite some very odd tonal inconsistencies, I love Brian De Palma's The Untouchables (1987) and my appreciation of the film has only grown over the years. None of the actors deliver career-best performances, but these are memorable characters with quotable dialogue. Ennio Morricone's score sounds a bit dated in spots but it's a rousing and rollicking one nonetheless. De Palma deploys most of his visual trademarks (all but split-screen), there's plenty of bloody action, the cinematography is appropriately handsome, and the railway shoot-out (famously an homage to the "Odessa Steps" montage in 1925's Battleship Potemkin, which I still have yet to see) is an all-timer. Really this is just a fun genre exercise that never takes itself too seriously or attempts to make a big statement, and, well, you can't beat a great popcorn flick.

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