Some movies don’t get much respect during their initial runs but they gain favor as the years pass. Into this category falls Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables.

As I recall, the movie received pretty mixed reviews when it hit theaters in 1987. Since that time, however, it seems to have become regarded as a minor classic of the crime/gangster genre.

I won’t quibble with that interpretation. Although The Untouchables falters at times, mainly due to a rather slow start, the movie provides a mostly provocative and exciting experience. It’s not quite a great film, but it usually works very well.

Based on the factual efforts of federal agent Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner), the story focuses on his efforts to nab infamous crime boss Al Capone (Robert De Niro). In extremely corrupt Prohibition-era Chicago, Ness builds a team of “Untouchables”: fellow agents who resist the temptations of bribes and who can’t be bought.

Ness adds three teammates: grizzled cop Jim Malone (Sean Connery), nerdy accountant Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith), and hotheaded sharpshooter George Stone (Andy Garcia). With this group in tow, Ness starts to clean up the town, with Capone as the main target.

For the most part, Untouchables offers a fairly standard gangster flick, but it’s made special due to the talents of its actors. Actually, that should be made more specific: I like the film largely because of the supporting cast.

Costner seems fine as Ness, and he adds a genuine quality to the role that works, but he doesn’t provide much spark in this rather straight-laced role. De Niro is also good as Capone, but he doesn’t have to reach too far into his bag of tricks for the part.

Connery won his first - and only - Oscar for his work here. While I think this award was essentially a cumulative prize for his terrific career, I can’t deny that Connery provides solid work in Untouchables, and the film returns the favor.

After a fairly long series of mostly-forgettable films, Untouchables sparked a career renaissance for Connery. Frankly, the movie seems somewhat dull and drab until Connery enters.

From that point on, however, the movie becomes much more exciting and compelling; Connery’s presence really helps bring the picture to life, and the fine talents of Smith and Garcia also maintain this more spry and involving atmosphere.

Not that they work in a vacuum, of course, as Untouchables marks one of De Palma’s better efforts. I’ve occasionally cracked on De Palma because of his extremely spotty track record. As with John Carpenter, De Palma maintains a positive reputation even though many of his films have been dogs, and flea-bitten ones at that.

However, I will give credit where due, and De Palma manages to maintain a good pace throughout Untouchables. He especially excels during some of the action scenes.

One of the film’s most famous segments takes place in a train station and it’s a truly memorable and tense piece. I also really like the shoot-out on the Canadian border, as De Palma takes some fairly standard material and makes it crisp and exciting.

Actually, one of my favorite aspects of Untouchables stems from its attitude toward violence. I like the fact that we find a protagonist in Ness who understands the implications of physical attacks and who tries hard to avoid the use of weapons.

Too many movies treat the subject in a cavalier manner, and Untouchables has some of those moments as well. However, it largely uses violence in a powerful manner that makes its repercussions more clearly felt. When a main character dies, the impact seems much stronger than usual.

The Untouchables has its flaws, but as a whole, I find the film to offer a dramatic and compelling experience. Inconsistent director Brian De Palma manages to provide strong guidance on this occasion, and the terrific cast lets the movie reach a higher level. For an action/gangster flick, you can’t do too much better than this.

Sharpness appeared positive most of the time, though some exceptions could occur, and that resulted in the occasional soft shot. Still, most of the film appeared pretty accurate and concise.

No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects appeared, and I saw no edge haloes Grain felt natural and print flaws remained absent.

Colors looked fairly rich and natural. Untouchables favored a warm and glowing palette, and the disc reproduced these hues well, as HDR added range and impact to the tones.

Black levels were deep and dark, and contrast seemed strong. Shadows lacked any problems related to excessive heaviness or murkiness, and HDR brought oomph to whites. The nature of the source meant this never became a showcase, but the 4K represented the movie pretty well.

The 4K UHD offered a remixed Dolby Atmos soundtrack. Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, this became a fairly active affair.

The soundfield emphasized the forward channels but also made frequent use of the surrounds. This meant the various channels gave us a reasonable amount of information throughout the film,

Music spread around the spectrum, and effects followed suit. The occasional gunfight worked best, but general atmosphere also satisfied. The sound blended together nicely and also panned well.

Audio quality seemed dated but relatively good. Dialogue had the most variation.

Most of the speech came across as clear and acceptably natural, but some lines could be flat and dull. For some reason, that tendency was most prevalent during Connery’s scenes.

Effects appeared reasonably crisp and realistic, though some distortion could crop up at times. Not surprising, gunfights and explosions presented the biggest problems in this domain, though those issues remained minor.

Easily the best aspect of the soundtrack stemmed from the reproduction of Ennio Morricone’s excellent score. The music always sounded clean and full, with some nice low-end and clear highs. Despite some inevitable flaws, the track worked well for a film of its vintage.

How did the 4K UHD compare with the Blu-ray version? The Atmos mix offered similar sound quality – ie, the same kinds of ups/downs – but it expanded the prior disc’s 5.1 soundfield.

The 4K’s Dolby Vision image provided a more natural look than the “scrubbed” Blu-ray, so it came with superior delineation. It also boasted stronger colors and blacks as it became a good step up, even with the limitations of the source.

The 4K UHD replicates the Blu-ray’s extras. Other than the film’s trailer, all of the supplements come from featurettes.

The Script, The Cast runs for 18 minutes, 31 seconds and includes notes from director Brian De Palma, producer Art Linson, and actors Kevin Costner, Charles Martin Smith, Andy Garcia, and Sean Connery.

They discuss how De Palma ended up on the project, some general notes about its development, casting and the characters, and the interaction on the set.

It comes as a disappointment that none of the actors appear in modern interviews; all of their clips came from the set and frankly, they don’t tell us much. However, the new comments from De Palma and Linson prove valuable, especially when they chat about the struggle to land De Niro. It’s an inconsistent featurette but it includes more than a few good tidbits.

Next we find 17 minutes, 18 seconds of Production Stories. It provides notes from De Palma, Connery, Smith, Costner, director of photography Stephen H. Burum, and visual consultant Patrizia Von Brandenstein.

We learn about decisions related to the movie’s visual style, locations, production design and vintage elements, clothes, character issues, and some scene specifics. Another mix of old and new interviews, this one seems more satisfying than “Script”. It jumps from one topic to another without great logic, but it gets into many useful subjects and explores them moderately well.

In Reinventing the Genre, we get a 14-minute, 24-second piece. It offers statements from De Palma, Smith, Costner, Burnum, and Linson. They get into ways they attempted to expand the gangster genre such as the horseback scene, some character death sequences, the train station, the score, Billy Drago’s turn as Frank Nitti, and an alternate ending concept.

We hear some notes about the actors’ issues for the various pieces, changes that popped up along the way, and technical concerns like Steadicam shots. As with “Stories”, it doesn’t flow terribly well, but a lot of good information pops up to make this an entertaining and intriguing piece.

For the next featurette, we discover The Classic. It goes for five minutes, 39 seconds and presents remarks from De Palma, Burnum, Smith, and Linson.

They cover their initial reactions to the completed movie, its score, and public success. It doesn’t tell us much other than that people liked the flick, so don’t expect much from this piece.

Lastly, we locate an Original Featurette subtitled “The Men”. From the period of the movie’s initial release, it takes five minutes, 26 seconds and presents notes from Costner, Connery, Garcia, and Smith. The Untouchables does not always fire on all cylinders. However, it provides a generally exciting and well-executed affair. The 4K UHD provides generally good picture, audio and bonus materials. Expect a solid release for an engaging movie.

To rate this film, visit the DVD review of UNTOUCHABLES