‘The Untouchables’: Masculinity and the Mob

This installment of ‘Movies for Young Adults’ meditates on the might of moral courage.

Chicago’s Untouchables: (L–R) George Stone (Andy Garcia), Jim Malone (Sean Connery), Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner), and Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith), in “The Untouchables.” Paramount Pictures/MovieStillsDB

“The Untouchables” (1987), a fictionalized portrayal of 1930s Prohibition-era Chicago, is far from perfect. But it’s one of the most entertaining examples of the power of masculine incorruptibility.

Ruthless bootlegging mob boss Al Capone (Robert De Niro) circumvents Prohibition by corrupting and co-opting the Chicago Police Department (CPD). So, the federal government empowers federal agent Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) to stop Capone.