, can be considered a
great film if you're not a fan of actual history. The real story of
Chicago kingpin Al Capone (Robert De Niro) and federal Prohibition agent
Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) was nowhere near as interesting as the
depiction in the movie, which instead twists the characters into all new
motives, situations, and outcomes for the purpose of entertainment. In
the film, Ness and Capone are in direct conflict, the former busting the
latter's liquor enterprise while also pursuing the charges of tax
evasion against the crime boss. Ness employs an odd but heroic group of
three other men to investigate and take down Capone, though it costs
half the team of "Untouchables" their lives. While the significant
historical inaccuracy of
has always annoyed,
it's an extremely fine execution of a fictional offshoot, with a few
brilliantly harrowing scenes and more than its fair share of panache.
Among the most highly praised and awarded aspects of the film were Sean
Connery's supporting performance and Ennio Morricone's score, the
composer earning BAFTA and Grammy awards for this foray into American
cinema. The famed Italian composer was still relatively new to the
Hollywood scene in the middle of the 1980's, and he travelled to the
United States to meet with De Palma and write the score's themes for his
consideration. The project was one of satisfaction for Morricone, whose
career was about to feature an influx of high-profile American films.
The composer had tackled a range of crime-related dramas in Europe, and
he brought many of those sensibilities to
while
also obliging De Palma's desire for some Western-themed material. The
basic tenants of Morricone's techniques in character themes and
instrumentation remains, the softer, more personable ideas in the score
highly reminiscent of the composer's standard methods. The same could be
said of the suspense and chasing portions, which reflect his jauntier
and more colorful handling of villains. The highly snazzy and heroic
music for Capone and the gang of Untouchables, however, is a combination
that makes this score quite unique, though, and these are the parts that
brought the composer the bulk of his recognition for the work.
Morricone was remarkably comfortable writing music for
particular concepts in a film and then allowing the director to choose
or rearrange those recordings arbitrarily in the films. De Palma did
that as well for
The Untouchables, though he remained loyal to
the composer's original purposes for each theme. As per usual, Morricone
recorded a few variations his themes and allowed the director to apply
them where most appropriate in the final cut, with only a handful of
scenes actually scored specifically. (Duke Ellington music is the only
major source use.) The breadth of tone and style in the themes for this
score is its strength and weakness, with many of the themes attractive
individually and all of them basically functional. But most of them have
absolutely nothing to do with one another in instrumentation or
personality, and Morricone makes no attempt to mingle their constructs
or even develop each one through a satisfactory narrative arc in most
cases. There are exceptions in the villain material, but
The
Untouchables is primarily a score of six rotating themes that are
strung together in succession without much connection from scene to
scene. Of those six themes, the main identity for the Untouchables group
is the most impactful on screen and in memory. This final theme written
by Morricone, supplied by De Palma's request after he later determined a
need for heroic music with Western flair, was offered in nine versions
by the composer, who was surprised when De Palma selected Morricone's
least favorite option among the lot. It is, admittedly, a somewhat
awkward melodic structure, its call and answer brass figures ascending
without clear lines over bubbly string and woodwind rhythms. It is
joined by flowery descending phrases by winds when most exuberant, as in
"The Untouchables," lending the theme an almost overzealous, giddy
enthusiasm. The idea does have, though, a really strong interlude
sequence on strings that overshadows the primary phrases in appeal, and
these passages are where redemption is realized for the theme. The
Untouchables theme is plucked humorously on harp in "Ness Meets
Wallace/Ness Meets Stone," the melody later revealed on flute as the
team comes together. The full form debuts at 0:22 into "Victorious,"
builds anticipation in "Waiting for What?/Montana Intro," espouses an
excessively optimistic fanfare personality in "The Untouchables," and
enjoys a brief, humorous moment early in "Payne and Bowtie."
While casual viewers might most remember the brassy
main Untouchables theme from the Montana sequence in "The Untouchables,"
the idea really earns its pay at the end of the film. A quietly noble
and affable passage in "Here Endeth the Lesson," joined on album by a
shorter variant that exists in "Here Endeth the Lesson (Alternate),"
leads into a reprise of the bloated attitude of "The Untouchables" in
"The Untouchables (End Title)" to close out the film. Morricone throws
an interesting motif at the periphery of this theme for the playfully
humorous aspect of the group, an intro sequence for tuba opening
"Victorious" and returning at 0:11 into "Waiting for What?" For the
deadly serious side of the group's endeavors, Morricone explores two
dramatic themes. Whether both were necessary is debatable, for they
provide roughly the same emotional response despite being performed by
different instrumental sets. The Ness family theme is a very pleasant
flute identity combining
The Mission lyricism with Georges
Delerue harmonics of the era. Beautifully conveyed in "Ness and His
Family - Part I," this theme is quietly sensitive on celeste in
"Goodnights," alternates between what sounds like a flugelhorn and flute
in "Send Family Away, " generates some quick anticipation in "Waiting
for What?," and switches to solo violin and plucked accompaniment in
"Ness and His Family - Part II." The composer's theme for death,
meanwhile, is a meandering saxophone identity that haunts Ness as he
loses half his team by the end. It serves dual purpose for Malone's
(Connery's) own past in "Ness Meets Malone," defines all of "A Mother's
Plea" on clarinet, and remains somber on woodwinds in "Four Friends,"
where it achieves its most melodramatic depth on strings in the middle.
That sound is reprised in "Malone's Death," with another, deeper string
finish. Morricone provides a concert arrangement of the idea in "Death
Theme," and Randy Edelman recorded a vocalized demo of a romanticized
version of this theme, ironically renamed to "Love Theme From The
Untouchables." On the other side of the score, Capone is treated to a
flashy parody of high crime brass music of the era, and it's massively
fun compared to the rest of score. A short but dramatic interlude
sequence for strings quiets the attitude, but the rest of it is a
combination of suave percussion and Italian instrumentation. This theme
occupies all of "Al Capone - Part II (Vers. 2)" in high style but is
more subdued in "Payne and Bowtie/Ness Study/Al Capone - Part I" with
light honky tonk tact. A sleazier, more stereotypically Italian
rendition exists in "Al Capone - Part II (Vers. 1)."
Morricone's material for the henchman, Nitti, and the
chasing associated with Capone's goons is better integrated in
The
Untouchables, even if it is somewhat insufferable. The chase motif
consists of skittish and unpleasant, staccato rhythmic figures for
piano, strings, and drums, with burping woodwinds under drum pads that
are highly annoying. Sometimes, as in "Murderous," the rhythm resorts to
simple pounding. This motif debuts throughout "The Strength of the
Righteous" to open the film, emerges briefly late in "Nitti Harasses
Ness," is hinted early in "The Man with the Matches/Kill Bowtie" and
explicitly returns late in the cue, and is dominant in bursts at the
start of "Courthouse Chase" and continued obnoxious use is "On the
Rooftops/Nitti's Fall." Nitti himself has the score's most intriguing
theme, a ten-note descending harmonica motif often truncated to the
first two or three notes. It slowly reveals itself in "The Strength of
the Righteous," building from two notes to four, then seven to all ten.
It's elusive on harmonica in "Nitti Harasses Ness," creepy to open "In
the Elevator" before building again to the full melody, and suspenseful
early in "The Man with the Matches." It matures in a rendition presented
at the outset of "Courthouse Chase" over the chase rhythm and finally
expanding away from just the harmonica early in "On the Rooftops."
Outside of the themes, Morricone's unique moments in
The
Untouchables include the shrill string dissonance in
"Warehouse/False Alarm" and "Nitti Shoots Malone," a rhythmic electric
bass, drum, and piano figure in "Waiting at the Border," a generic
suspense crescendo in "Surprise Attack/Dead Man's Bluff," and the
memorable celeste lullaby in "Machine Gun Lullaby/Kill Bowtie" overtaken
by generic fright in the famous Union Station stairway scene. That long
cue is highly irritating (and an odd way to end original album), though
it makes intellectual sense given the involvement of an endangered baby
in the scene. Morricone recorded an alternate version of the cue without
the celeste. The whole of
The Untouchables is highly disjointed
despite some enjoyable individual themes. Its personality changes from
cue to cue, with minimal instrumental or structural cohesion to keep it
all tethered. The long-available 1987 A&M Records album was horrifically
out of order to suit the LP release, and La-La Land Records provided a
limited expansion in 2012 that serves as the definitive presentation.
The film arrangement sounds much superior to the album mix, which was
left intact on that set due to respect for its award-winning past. The
bonus cues, including Edelman's singing, are all worthy. The now
out-of-print product commands high prices that are not justified by the
enjoyable highlights but poor overall flow of the score.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For Ennio Morricone reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.18
(in 11 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.29
(in 10,063 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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