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The Untouchables

Directed by Brian De Palma with a screenplay by David Mamet, The Untouchables (1987) is a stylised, operatic account of Treasury agent Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) and his small team of incorruptible agents — the "Untouchables" — who bring down Al Capone (Robert De Niro) during Prohibition-era Chicago. Sean Connery won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as the veteran Irish beat cop Jim Malone. The film's climactic Union Station staircase sequence, a homage to the Odessa Steps scene in Battleship Potemkin, is one of De Palma's most celebrated set pieces.

Filmed largely on location in Chicago, the film uses the city's grand Beaux-Arts civic architecture and its legendary physical spaces to create a vision of 1930s urban America that is simultaneously authentic and mythic.

Location(s)

The Untouchables was filmed primarily on location in Chicago, Illinois, with the city's real buildings and landmarks standing in for their 1930s predecessors.

The Rookery, 209 South LaSalle Street, Chicago

The exterior of the Untouchables' operational office is the landmark Rookery Building at 209 South LaSalle Street — one of Chicago's great 19th-century commercial buildings, with its spectacular light court redesigned by Frank Lloyd Wright. Map Location

Blackstone Hotel, 636 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago

Al Capone's infamous baseball bat scene — the dinner table execution of a disloyal lieutenant — was filmed at the Blackstone Hotel on South Michigan Avenue, now the Autograph Collection's Blackstone Chicago. Map Location

Chicago Cultural Center, 78 East Washington Street, Chicago

The Cultural Center plays several roles: its Preston Bradley Hall serves as the opera house interior where Capone is seen watching a performance, and its Grand Army of the Republic Rotunda provides the rooftop setting for Ness's confrontation with Frank Nitti. Map Location

Union Station, Chicago

The film's most celebrated set piece — the slow-motion baby carriage tumbling down the grand staircase amid a shootout — was filmed at Chicago Union Station, the stunning 1925 Beaux-Arts terminus on South Canal Street. Map Location

Director

Brian De Palma

Cast

Kevin Costner

Sean Connery

Robert De Niro

Andy García

Full Cast

IMDB

View the official IMDB page

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