Dream Wired
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop
No Result
View All Result
Dream Wired
No Result
View All Result
Home Movie

The Gangster Movie That Changed Sean Connery’s Career Forever

rmtsa by rmtsa
December 7, 2023
in Movie
0
The Gangster Movie That Changed Sean Connery’s Career Forever
74
SHARES
1.2k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


You might also like

I Ate Everything on Burger King’s ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ Menu

First Steps Star Says Galactus Isn’t ‘Evil’

See Exclusive Pictures of the Stars

The Big Picture

Sean Connery’s performance in The Untouchables showcased a new dimension of his acting, displaying vulnerability and frailty. Connery’s portrayal of Jim Malone earned him critical acclaim and his first and only Academy Award. The Untouchables marked a significant turning point in Connery’s career, leading to a series of films that showcased his sensitive side.

It would be a great disservice to confine the image of Sir Sean Connery to merely being the star of seven James Bond films. While portraying the iconic British Secret Service agent solidified his name as one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, there is more to his acting prowess than having to repeatedly ask his drink to be shaken, not stirred. Connery needed to move on from the part that made him a star, and Brian De Palma’s Chicago-as-Chicago-can The Untouchables was the pinnacle of his career resurgence.

One can make the distinction that there are two halves to Sean Connery’s acting career. The first half established his immortal screen presence, the kind of which made everyone swoon. His machismo was off the charts, and his suave persona captivated audiences and critics alike. Connery’s performance as Bond catapulted him into the stratosphere, but it was the very same thing that drove him to seek fulfillment in other cinematic ventures. Truth be told, the actor was already tired of playing the agent, and his disastrous experience in his last 007 flick, Never Say Never Again, was an entire “Mickey Mouse Operation” according to the actor himself. It was a sign of the times. There was a need to reinvent himself, and the opportunity came in the form of playing Jim Malone, an incorruptible cop with sometimes questionable methods.

The Untouchables movie poster

The Untouchables

During Prohibition, Treasury agent Eliot Ness sets out to stop ruthless Chicago gangster Al Capone, and assembles a small, incorruptible team to help him.

Release Date June 3, 1987

Director Brian De Palma

Cast Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Charles Martin Smith, Andy Garcia, Robert De Niro, Richard Bradford

Rating R

Runtime 119

Main Genre Crime

Writers Oscar Fraley, Eliot Ness, David Mamet

What Is ‘The Untouchables’ About?

The Untouchables was a perfect avenue for Sean Connery to explore a new dimension to his acting. The film weaves through the story of Elliot Ness (Kevin Costner) and his valiant efforts to subdue Al Capone (Robert De Niro) and his control of Chicago during the era of prohibition. Ness chances upon Jim Malone on a bridge, to which the latter offers his help to stop Capone’s movements. Suggesting that they go to the police academy to find people who haven’t been corrupted yet, Malone and Ness recruit George Stone (Andy Garcia) to the cause. They are subsequently joined by Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith), and the four of them successfully raid a liquor warehouse to the acclaim of the city. The press then brands them “The Untouchables.”

The group finds out that Capone has not been able to file an income tax return for over four years and decides that it is within these bounds that they can mount a case against him. Unfortunately, the moniker the press has given them soon becomes just a label, as they start to fall one by one. Oscar Wallace is assassinated by Frank Nitti (Billy Drago) in the Police department elevator as he attempts to escort one of Capone’s bookkeepers whom they have forced to testify. Next on the hit list? Jim Malone.

Why Is Sean Connery’s Performance in ‘The Untouchables’ Brilliant?

When Malone fends off an intruder who he arrogantly berates for attempting to kill him with a knife, he is surprised by Nitti wielding a Thompson submachine gun. Malone is riddled with bullets, and it is in the subsequent developments where Connery displays perhaps the finest acting he has ever put on screen. Moving at a glacial pace, the wounded Malone desperately crawls back into his home. Each of his desperate pulls on the ground reflects to the audience the excruciating pain his character is enduring. Ness and Stone eventually arrive, and the two are greeted by the horrific sight of their partner, bloodied and barely breathing. More than the bigger picture, it is the little things in the scene that transform it from a rudimentary death sequence to a full-on masterclass.

When Ness turns him around, Connery pushes his body off of the ground for a brief second, just a brief second, as if he is suddenly given an electric shock only to fall back down in weakness. It’s subtle, but so effective in relaying how near-death Jim Malone was. In his perpetual chase for justice, he struggles to reach for an object on his left. He is mistakenly given a key by Ness, but he throws it away in desperation. He once again musters up what little strength he has to reach for another object. It was a train schedule, indicating where another bookkeeper of Capone would be at a specific point in time. With all the gusto in his remaining moments of life, he asks Ness “What are you prepared to do”, while he takes his last breath of air before finally dying in his partner’s arms. It is gruesome, emotional, and greatly disturbing. It is also the moment when the cinematic world acknowledged that Sean Connery wasn’t just the actor known for being James Bond. He was now Sean Connery the actor, and he was ready to show everyone his reinvigorated theatrical spirit.

Every-Bond-Movie,-Ranked-by-Rewatchability-

Related Every James Bond Movie, Ranked By Rewatchability The Bond franchise has been going strong for six decades.

There was great acclaim from critics regarding Connery’s performance. Roger Ebert mentions in his review of the movie that Connery delivered the best performance of the ensemble cast, noting how his portrayal brings a factor of humanization in the narrative, perhaps even possessing an interesting existence outside of the legend of “The Untouchables.” He adds that whenever he was on screen, the audience believed that the prohibition era was filled with real people, rather than plain old caricatures. It wasn’t without its criticism though. Empire Magazine voted Connery’s performance as having the worst accent put into a film, claiming how he was barely able to hide his remarkable Scottish tilt as a Chicago native in the picture. Nonetheless, his first and only Academy Award was for The Untouchables, speaking volumes about his abilities, the atrocious accent notwithstanding.

‘The Untouchables’ Sparked the Second Half of Sean Connery’s Acting Career

There is great significance in Sean Connery’s portrayal of Jim Malone. Audiences, at least back then, were so used to the image of Connery standing tall, whichever character he plays. Malone gave them a glimpse of how vulnerable and frail he can be. It made people appreciate and love him in a different way and shone a light on previously unexplored territory for him. While he was given a stepping stone in this direction when he was cast against type as a Franciscan friar in The Name of the Rose, it was in The Untouchables that he fully adhered to this newfound image.

This second wind gave us a great number of films that showcase a more sensitive side to the mythos of Sean Connery, which includes Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Hunt for Red October, The Rock, and notably, Finding Forrester. It was his willingness to come up with something new, to be touchable as the film espouses, that revitalized his career, and audiences couldn’t be more thankful for it.

The Untouchables is available for rent on Prime Video in the U.S.

Watch on Amazon Prime



Source link

Tags: CareerChangedConnerysGangsterMovieSean
Share30Tweet19
rmtsa

rmtsa

Recommended For You

I Ate Everything on Burger King’s ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ Menu

by rmtsa
May 30, 2025
0
I Ate Everything on Burger King’s ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ Menu

Today I will discover the hidden world ... inside my large intestines.That’s because I’m about to venture forth on an epic culinary quest. It will take me all the way to a mystic land...

Read more

First Steps Star Says Galactus Isn’t ‘Evil’

by rmtsa
May 30, 2025
0
First Steps Star Says Galactus Isn’t ‘Evil’

The Fantastic Four: First Steps star Ralph Ineson recently opened up about what fans can expect from Galactus in the highly anticipated upcoming movie. What did Ralph Ineson...

Read more

See Exclusive Pictures of the Stars

by rmtsa
May 29, 2025
0
See Exclusive Pictures of the Stars

“Cinema is magic.” So said veteran filmmaker Richard Linklater when the lights came up inside the Grand Lumiére Theatre and he was handed a microphone following an electric...

Read more

What is the best singing scene in a non-musical movie?

by rmtsa
May 29, 2025
0
What is the best singing scene in a non-musical movie?

The first one that comes to mind for me is Tiny Dancer from Almost Famous Honorable mentions to Twist and Shout from Ferris Bullers Day off and my...

Read more

Embracer Transforms Into Fellowship Entertainment, Goes All-In on THE LORD OF THE RINGS — GeekTyrant

by rmtsa
May 29, 2025
0
Embracer Transforms Into Fellowship Entertainment, Goes All-In on THE LORD OF THE RINGS — GeekTyrant

After years of buying up everything in sight, Embracer Group finally hit its breaking point last year. The once-expanding megacorp had grown too fast, too wide, and inevitably...

Read more
Next Post
Norman Lear, Legendary Sitcom Producer and All in the Family Creator, Dead at 101

Norman Lear, Legendary Sitcom Producer and All in the Family Creator, Dead at 101

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Browse by Category

  • Celebrity
  • Comics
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • Music
  • TV
  • Uncategorized

CATEGORIES

  • Celebrity
  • Comics
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • Music
  • TV
  • Uncategorized
No Result
View All Result

Recent News

  • Beginning Of The End Results Rarities
  • Mariah Carey Celebrates 20 Years of ‘The Emancipation of Mimi’: Listen
  • Miley Cyrus ‘Something Beautiful’ Album Review

Copyright © 2023 DramaWired.
DramaWired is a content aggregator and not responsible for the content of external sites.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop

Copyright © 2023 DramaWired.
DramaWired is a content aggregator and not responsible for the content of external sites.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In