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FILM 1361: THE UNTOUCHABLES

TRIVIA: Robert De Niro tracked down Al Capone's original tailors and had them make him some identical clothing for the movie.

Brian De Palma met Bob Hoskins over a drink in Los Angeles to discuss playing Al Capone if De Palma's first choice Robert De Niro were to pass on the role. Since De Niro had not yet said yes, Hoskins told De Palma he would do it if he were available. When De Niro finally took the role, De Palma sent Hoskins a thank you note, and the studio paid Hoskins, who had a "pay or play" deal, $200,000. Hoskins called De Palma and asked if there were any more movies the director did not want him to be in.

An envelope is dropped on the desk of Eliot Ness in one scene. It is assumed to be a bribe but the amount inside is never revealed. In real life, Al Capone promised Eliot Ness that two $1,000 notes would be on his desk every Monday morning if he turned a blind eye to his bootlegging activities (an enormous amount of money then). Ness refused the bribe and in later years struggled with money. He died almost broke at the age of 54.

In real life, Al Capone, knowing that killing a Prohibition agent would only lead to more trouble than he or his outfit could handle, actually had a non-violence order to his men, concerning the Untouchables. While Capone did repeatedly attempt to buy them off, he never once attempted to kill Ness or any of his men.

The scene where Al Capone (Robert De Niro) pulls out a baseball bat at a dinner party and suddenly beats to death one of his men is based on a true incident which happened on May 7, 1929. Two of Capone's most feared hit men, Albert Anselmi and John Scalise, had hatched a plot to kill Capone and take over his gang. Capone got wind of it and invited all his associates to a dinner party, including Anselmi and Scalise. In the middle of the party, Capone pulled out a baseball bat and battered both men to death, then shot them both in the head. A conflicting version of the story has Tony "Joe Batters" Accardo, one of Capone's hit men, as the man who bludgeoned the traitors to death.

Despite the final courtroom scene in this movie, the real Al Capone and Eliot Ness never came face to face during their battles.

Michael Douglas, Don Johnson and Mel Gibson were considered for the role of Eliot Ness and rejected. Harrison Ford was offered but turned down the role before Kevin Costner was signed.

When Agent George Stone is introduced, Malone finds out that his real name is Giuseppe Petri and he was born in Italy. In Italian, Giuseppe Petri can be literally translated as "Joseph Stone".

Sean Connery turned up to the shoot in his golf clothes they did a close open and Sean was dismissed for the day. He came back after a full day of golf, acted for five minutes then went to go home. Andy Garcia and Charles Martin Smith grabbed him after the scene and said that was very clever of you, you just got back from golf turn up for five minutes and do your scene and that's it. Connery turned to them and said, "this is not my first BBQ."

Patricia Clarkson's film debut.