The Untouchables
(1987)ORIGINAL TV FORMULA Good versus bad was the name of the game, and unprecedented TV violence was part of the appeal, in this fictionalized 1959-63 drama about Treasury Department operative Eliot Ness' efforts to take down the powerful crime bosses of the 1930s.
BIG-SCREEN MAKEOVER While Ness had already put away Al Capone at the start of ABC's four-season series, the famed mobster (played here by Robert De Niro) is the main target of Kevin Costner's movie hero.
HIGH POINTS De Niro's charming, then menacing speech about baseball and the importance of teamwork makes his Capone one of the best screen mob villains ever, but it's the scene with the baby stroller in midst of a bloody shootout that elevates Brian De Palma's film to classic status.
LESSON LEARNED Watching principled cops take on the baddies never goes out of style.
WHAT EW SAID ''The Prohibition-era sets are epic, the actors are outfitted in Armani, and the action (Al Capone's firing technique makes Donald Trump look like a cream puff) is just as riveting 17 years later.'' A-
