The Untouchables starring Kevin Costner (1987)

The story of Al Capone, and the mafia as such, is a popular story with dramatists. There have been numerous books and movies that deal with the story of gangsters, and many of them have been exceedingly popular. The story of Al Capone, his rise, the terror he inflicted on society, the way he fought his way to the top, his exploitation of Prohibition to smuggle alcohol, all these were part of his mystique. What was equally remembered about him was the St. Valentine's Day massacre that he committed on his rivals, first disarming 7 of them using his men in police uniform, and then using Tommy guns on them. Equally remembered about him were the efforts of the Government to bring him down (even when Chicago and neighboring towns were controlled by his men, with the police and officials on his payroll), and how we was brought down on a charge of tax evasion rather than for the numerous crimes he committed. The jail term on him was a stiff one, and effectively broke his empire.



Brian De Palma made 4 gangster movies, these 4 being Scarface, Wise guys, Carlito's way, and The Untouchables. The other 3 movies were all about the gangsters, while The Untouchables takes the action from the perspective of lawkeepers, the persons out on a mission to capture the gangster, even when they have to follow rules and laws, while the Gangster can use any kind of force, can subvert the authorities, and threaten whoever they want. The Untouchables is the real life story of the people who managed to break the power of a mob lord against all these factors, and the methods they used (who would have believed that you could send a gangster to prison for tax evasion rather than for the various crimes!).
The movie is based on a subject that has been created earlier as well, and is essentially based on the autobiography of Eliot Ness. Eliot Ness was the agent who was sent to bring Al Capone to justice, and to free Chicago from his destructive and criminal ways. The movie starred Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Robert De Niro and Andy Garcia. Sean Connery won a best supporting actor Oscar for his portrayal of the Irish American cop Jim Malone. The movie does not fully present this as a good vs. evil fight, also portraying the parts where Capone showed support for the poor by running soup kitchens and other similar efforts, as also the role where Ness actually throws a hood off the roof of a building rather than bring him in for justice.
The movie is well choreographed, with the scenes bringing out the drama. The scene right at the end, where the juries are switched is gripping, especially if you don't know the story. An eminently watchable movie.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Untouchables_(1987_film)

Once Upon a Time in America (1984) - Directed by Sergei Leone

Sergei Leone became famous for the spaghetti westerns that he made, and for which he was the prime creator. At the same time, some of these westerns were very acclaimed movies, ranked among the great movies. One of the great westerns he made was 'Once Upon a time in the West' made in 1968, and it was almost from that time that he read a book by a mafia insider (known by a pseudonym called Harry Grey) called 'The Hoods'. He was inspired by this book, and wanted to make a movie out of this book, but because the movie rights of the book was held by another producer, it took him a couple of decades to finally make this movie. Over this long time, a number of different actors were thought of for the key roles of Max, Noodles, and Deborah (with the number of people being thought reading like a roll call of the actors of the movie industry), in the end, the main adult roles of the characters were played by Robert De Niro, James Woods, and Elizabeth McGovern (adult female lead), Jennifer Connelly (younger female lead).



The movie itself came in for controversy because of its long length. After the shooting, the director and editor found themselves with more than 8 hours of footage. Leone, not wanting to cut down from the many scenes, initially wanted to release the movie as 2 three hour long movie parts, but had to back down after the producers insisted. He finally cut down the movie to an almost 4 hour long, 229 minute movie (which is also fairly long by most standards). This 229 minute long movie was very well received by critics; but the US release had a different story. Against Leone's wishes, the movie was cut down further, by cutting another 90 minutes from the movie, resulting in a movie that was not welcomed by the critics. However, when they saw the original 229 minute cut, they changed their opinion, and that is the version that is the popular one now, with most people pretending that the shorter version does not exist.
The movie takes 3 different timelines, with different ages for the main characters. In the early part of the movie, in the early 1910's, with the characters in their early years, struggling to survive in the ghettoised neighborhood. Noodles and Max meet up, and become the local leaders of a small gang, until they have a fight with another gang, at which Noodles kills the the other gang leader and attacks a police officer. He is now jailed for 12 years.
After Max comes out of jail in 1932, he re-joins Noodles and other gang members, and they slowly start getting involved in Mafia matters, taking part in jobs, getting involved in strikes and being on the side of the union leaders. However, Noodles is hesitant at the pace proposed by Max and tries to get them to slow down. He calls the police when the gang is at another job in order to get them to slow down, but this results in an encounter in which his gang friends, including Max, are killed. Noodles goes to get the gang money, but finds that missing. He eventually changes his identity to escape the hunt by the Syndicate for the traitor, and lives in Buffalo for decades.
In the fast forward to the future, in 1968, Noodles returns to New York City, and finds that there are some surprised. He discovers that Max had actually faked his death with help from the Syndicate, and then deceived his friends, and had stolen the money. He now wants Noodles to assassinate him, but when Noodle refuses, Max commits suicide by throwing himself into a garbage truck (an iconic scene).
However, there is a flashback, where the Noodles of 1933, in an opium den, on the run from the Syndicate is shown; he is an opium induced trance, and the supposition is that the entire future events of 1968 are actually a dream, and this is something that Sergei Leone has confirmed in an interview.

My name is Nobody (1973) - a comic Western

Spaghetti westerns were all the craze starting with the 'Man with No Name' series, starring Clint Eastwood, and directed by Sergei Leone. More directors and stars got into the act, and soon, there were a number of such movies in the market. However by, the early 1970's, the whole concept of spaghetti westerns were becoming a joke, and there were a number of movies made on the concept of creating a comedy western. There had been other comedy westerns made, such as the Trinity series (They Call Me Trinity and, Trinity Is STILL My Name!). Both of the Trinity movies also starred Terence Hill (making him the star of comedy westerns, while Henry Fonda was the star of serious westerns). The movie was mostly directed by Tonino Valerii, with Sergei Leone directing a few scenes, but since there was the involvement of Sergei, the movie came to be known as a Sergei Leone movie (something that Torino was not happy about). The music by Ennio Morricone was superb as usual.



However, 'My Name Is Nobody' is the story of a famous (and old) gunslinger Jack Beauregard (Henry Fonda); since he is famous, he is constantly hunted by the younger punks who want to challenge him, and if they win, they will be the next famous ones. Jack, after a lifetime of fighting, now just wants to hang up his boots, and is in Europe, hoping for some peace and quiet.
The movie starts out with 3 men challenging Jack, and they are dispatched in a barber's shop; and there the name of the movie is born, since, when asked who can defeat Jack, the barber replies "Faster than him? Nobody!"
And Nobody is Terence Hill, who is a big fan of Jack, and wants to setup him against a finale sequence against the Wild Bunch, a bunch of bandits. Nobody keeps after Jack, finally managing to get him into the fight against the Wild Bunch. Job and fight done, Nobody thanks Jack by setting up a fake fight with Jack, which is apparently won by Nobody, letting Jack off in retirement on a boat to Europe.

A Fistful of Dollars (1964): The original spaghetti western

In the 60's, and the early 70's, Spaghetti Westerns, shot with young or ageing US leads along with Spanish / Italian stars, and using an Italian / Spanish cast caught on, and continued till the early 70's, when people started getting tired of this line of films. Two of the people who were most closely associated with these types of movies were the director, Sergei Leone, and the young upcoming star, Clint Eastwood. Clint Eastwood came to be famous for a trilogy of movies called the "The Dollars Trilogy" or "The Man With No Name Trilogy" - primarily because Clint was not given a screen name in these movies, and this was in effect used as a promotion point for these movies. A Fistful of Dollars was the movie that started this trend, and was the first movie in the trilogy, with the others being For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). Most of these movies were shot in Spain, in regions that resembled the dry, wasteland like region of the American Southwest. Another great highlight of the movie was the music by Ennio Morricone.



The Spaghetti Western culture had a touch of irony to it, since the original role was offered to Henry Fonda and Charles Bronson, but both of them refused, and a few others, after which Clint Eastwood was signed on. With the success of the genre, both of them starred in a later movie of his, Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).
A Fistful of Dollars is the story of a man arriving at a small town on the Mexican Border called San Miguel, and how he gets involved in the huge rivalry in the town between 2 families who want to establish their dominance in the town. These 2 families are;
- The Rojo brothers, Don Miguel, Esteban, and Ramón.
- The other family is that of the sheriff John Baxter (Wolfgang Lukschy)
The Man with No Name arrives in the town, and sees a chance to make some money ('a fistful of dollars') in this rivalry between them, but gets involved in a different way, by rescuing the captive of Ramon, Ramon's mistress (Marisol).
The Rojos catch Clint Eastwood and torture him for this effrontery, but he manages to get free with the help of the coffin maker. In their search for him, the Rojos finally get up on the Baxters by burning down their home and killing them all. Now that they are the one strong family in the town, the stranger returns to a final fight, and finally kills them all, and then moves out before the authorities make their presence felt.

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Sergio Leone was the king of the Spaghetti Western brand of movies, with Clint Eastwood being the star in many of those. Henry Fonda was another famous star of the era, acting as the hero in many a film. However, in this film, Henry Fonda plays one of the villains, with Charles Bronson playing the lead role in the movie. The movie 'Once Upon a time in the West' was released in 1968 in Europe and was a fairly big success, running for a long time in many cities. However, this was not be in the United States, where it was released in 1969, and was a flop. Like some other movies that were well made but did not do well commercially, Once Upon a Time in the West is now regarded as a very well made movie, and among the greatest westerns. The movie starred, besides Henry Fonda and Charles Bronson, Jason Robards as the bandit Cheyenne and Claudia Cardinale as Jill (a lady who arrives at her new house to find herself a widow and her entire family killed).



The movie is about the fight for getting control of the rights for providing water (and a supply depot) to the railroad that will run past the town of Flagstone, with the farm being in the best position to supply water and other supplies to the railroad. The movie starts with a scene of a remote town in Arizona, where a train arrives, on which a stranger with a harmonica in his mouth (Bronson) gets down, hoping to find Frank (Fonda) there, but instead meets 3 men with whom he has a showdown and, he is the only survivor. At the same on a remote farm, where the McBains are waiting for a new wife Jill (Claudia Cardinale) for Brett McBain, a gang led by Frank come and kill all of them.
Soon after, Jill arrives at the station and starts to the farm. On the way, she meets the harmonica player and also the bandit Cheyenne (Jason Robards). When confronted by Branson about the shoot-out, Cheyenne denies that the men killed were his men. And then Jill arrives at the farm to find that her new family is all dead, but she tells the assembled crowd that she had already married McBain a month back. On the basis of some false evidence, the crowd believe that the murders were done by Cheyenne, and form a posse to hunt him down.
And then you start to discover as to why these killing happened .. this is all related to the railroad that the tycoon Morton (Gabriele Ferzetti) was building that would go upto the Pacific, and Frank works for him. The story is interesting, with the collision between these different men, all of them with their own interests, and how they all come together in the end. The movie is interesting, and with some great scenes. A must watch.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966) - A great Spaghetti Western

This is a movie that will certainly not win any major awards, and was a major constituent of what were called the 'spaghetti westerns'. It was a movie directed by Sergio Leone, and starred Clint Eastwood (and Sergio Leone was the master of the art, having made a large number of such movies). What were Spaghetti Westerns ? - These were films that started coming out in the 60's, and continued till they started becoming the butt of jokes in the 70's, after which these died out. The other specialty of these movies is that they were primarily directed and produced by Italians, with a mix of young and upcoming Hollywood actors, and many other members of the cast being a mix of Italian and Spanish actors. A large number of these movies were made with a desert, wild countryside, to resemble the American Southwest (although the shooting of many of them was done in a region of Spain that was similar).



The movie has 3 characters representing each of the 3 terms:
- The Good: Clint Eastwood as Blondie. Also famously known as 'The Man with No Name'. A bounty hunter who is the best of the 3, but who can shoot first if his morals allow it as a case of self-defense. He can also swindle as part of his bounty hunter job in order to make money. Blondie knows the name of the grave stone where confederate money is hidden, but his partner knows the name of the cemetery, and hence they need to work together.
- The Bad. Lee Van Cleef as Angel Eyes. A sociopath, a mercenary also known as 'Angel Eyes', who can kill or shoot anybody in his path. He, as a Sergeant interrogates Tuco, and discovers the name of the cemetery where the gold is hidden, but is unable to get the exact grave stone.
- The Ugly. Eli Wallach as Tuco. More of a lout, wanted by the authorities (and he uses this fact as part of his partnership with Blondie to make money). He finds the name of the cemetery (Sad Hill Cemetery) where the gold is hidden, but Blondie gets to know the name of the grave stone. He is partnering with Blondie, but at some point, they are all in for themselves.

The movie is mainly about these 3, and their quest for finding hidden confederate gold. Blondie and Tuco are on/off partners, but are forced to become good partners when one of them gets to know the name of the cemetery where the gold is hidden, and the other gets to know the name of the grave stone. And then there is the third one, Angel Eyes, who also gets to know about the gold, and will not let anything stand in his way, including making a temporary partnership with Blondie to discover the gold. The movie is about their quest, mixed with scenes of treachery, bitter battles between the Union and Confederate forces (the movie is set in the Civil War timeframe). In the end, the three are standing in the cemetery, guns drawn, in a Mexican stand-off with each other. Who will win ?

Fugitive: A tight story of being one step ahead of the law

A fast paced action movie, with a fair amount of drama, a wrong court decision, and the need to get revenge (and clear his name) were some of the parts that made The Fugitive a very famous and commercially successful movie. The movie was nominated for a clutch of Oscars, and also earned more than $500 million worldwide. It helped that it starred 2 famous actors in the person of Harrison Ford (very famous for Star Wars and Indiana Jones), and Tommy Lee Jones. The movie also got good reviews from critics, making it really successful (it is not always seen for a movie to be both commercially successful and earn praise from critics).
The movie was released in 1993, and was based on a television series that aired on ABC between 1963 and 1967. The series ran for 4 years (interestingly, the first 3 seasons were in black and white, and the fourth season was in color). The movie has the same premise, where a doctor is charged for the murder of his wife, and escapes in order to prove his innocence.



The movie has principally 2 characters - Harrison Ford as Dr. Richard Kimble, and Tommy Lee Jones as Deputy United States Marshal Samuel Gerard. Dr. Kimble has been charged for the murder of his wife, based on the fact that his wife made a call to 911 which apparently led to Dr. Kimble being blamed for the murder. In addition, there was no evidence to back the claim of Dr. Kimble that a man with an artificial hand was responsible for the murder (there were no signs of somebody breaking into the house, there were no other fingerprints on the gun). Dr. Kimble was charged for murder, and convicted by a jury, sentenced to die.
However, on the way to prison in a bus (along with other convicts), there is a disturbance inside the bus that causes the bus to fall onto the path of an oncoming train. In the disturbance. Dr. Kimble manages to run away and is now being pursued by the United States Marshal service, led by officer Samuel Gerard. Kimble manages to change out of his prison uniform, shave, and alter his appearance, but Gerard is soon on the chase, and manages to corner him inside a storm drain inside a dam. The only option for Kimble to survive is by jumping into the flow of water falling from the dam, and he does so in a fairly spectacular shot.
Now, Kimble is on a mission to find people who have received a prosthetic arm, while striving to be hidden from the police who is chasing him. In the middle of this, while hidden in a hospital, he even saves a boy by altering the diagnosis and sending him to emergency surgery. Kimble even heads to the jail to try to find the one-armed man, but is not able to find him. He eventually gets into the home of a former police office called Frederick Sykes (Katsulas). Sykes was there in Kimble's list since he had received a prosthetic arm. It is in Sykes's home that Kimble finds evidence of what could have caused the attacks at Kimble's home, as well as the involvement of somebody close to Kimble. Can Kimble save himself from the police, and expose the involvement of others ?

The Fugitive was nominated for 7 Oscars:
Won: Best Supporting Actor - Tommy Lee Jones
Best Picture (lost to Schindler's List)
Best Cinematography (lost to Schindler's List)
Best Sound Effects Editing (lost to Jurassic Park)
Best Film Editing (lost to Schindler's List)
Best Original Music Score (lost to Schindler's List)
Best Sound (lost to Jurassic Park)