OVP: The Untouchables (1987)

Film: The Untouchables (1987)

Stars: Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Charles Martin Smith, Andy Garcia, Robert de Niro

Director: Brian de Palma

Oscar History: 4 nominations/1 win (Best Supporting Actor-Sean Connery*, Art Direction, Costume Design, Original Score)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

Each month, as part of our 2026 Saturdays with the Stars series, we are looking at the men & women who created the Boom!-Pow!-Bang! action films that would come to dominate the Blockbuster Era of cinema.  This month, our focus is on Sean Connery: click here to learn more about Mr. Connery (and why I picked him), and click here for other Saturdays with the Stars articles.

We're going to cover two Connery films today as I missed last week, but didn't want to short-change him, so we'll talk through both his time in the 1980's and, this evening, the 1990's.  Connery was, by the early 1980's, a movie star but not a consistent box office presence.  While he had made hits (Time Bandits dwarfed its production costs in 1981), nothing he had done had, quite frankly, approached what he had achieved with James Bond, and as a result Connery was talked into making his final installment in the franchise in 1983 with Never Say Never Again.  This was something he did without Eon Productions (traditionally the production house for Bond films), and he did so in a head-to-head competition with Roger Moore, who had Octopussy out that year.  Both films were huge successes at the box office, though Moore's film ended up on top.  Connery hated the experience, and stuck to his commitment to "never again" after this one (he would never appear in a Bond film again), and indeed wouldn't even make a movie for two years after this.

(Spoilers Ahead) Connery probably could've played his types of middling, increasingly aging rogues & fictional knights forever for the rest of his career, the memory of Bond so appealing to nostalgic movie producers who grew up idolizing him, but it was today's film that truly changed the course of his career & legacy.  The Untouchables is a film where Connery gets second billing to Kevin Costner, not remotely as famous as him at the time, but it was a smart move to choose a supporting part.  The Untouchables is a highly-fictionalized look at Eliot Ness (Costner), the federal agent who led the efforts to take down Al Capone (de Niro), and features Connery in a role as a rogue cop, one who is brought in as part of Ness's operation, which is ultimately successful in beating Capone (or at least sending him to jail), but (because this is a Brian de Palma film) not without a lot of very bloody corpses along the way.  Like most of de Palma's films, I struggled with this.  Costner's one of the blandest leading men of his era, gorgeous but blank-faced and rarely a compelling figure in the lead (and if we're judging solely on looks, Andy Garcia is even prettier than him at this point), and Robert de Niro is actively terrible in this movie, a hint of the many cash-grabs the acting icon would have in the decades to come.  The best part of the movie, for me, was Ennio Morricone's score (and that flawless Giorgio Armani tailoring).

Connery is solid, though, not nearly as good as he is in, say, The Man Who Would Be King, but he's winning and very good at embracing the role of "aging sexy guy who mentors a younger star," something that he'd started with Christopher Lambert in 1986's Highlander, and which would become the bulk of the remainder of his career.  For much of the catty press he took back in 1983 for Never Say Never Again, about how he and Moore were far too old to be believable as aging action stars bedding women young enough to be their daughters, it did feel like Connery's place as an action star would soon fade.  But here, he showed how well he could fit in-he was a tough guy, someone who was grizzled but had "one last go in him" and this would be something he'd ride for the next 15 years or so, but also would carve out for others like him.  Action stars, because of Connery's work in this and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade a few years later, had a path for a second act, one with a lot of box office (The Untouchables was a massive hit, the sixth highest-grossing film at the domestic box office in 1987, and made 3x as much as de Palma's now much-obsessed Scarface), so the paydays (and movie stardom) could continue even as the stunt work became less intense.

It also would define Connery's career because it made him one of the only action stars to date to win an Academy Award.  In the 1980's, with a lot of Golden Age actors aging to the point where they were near death, we saw a lot of the leading actors of that era winning "sentimental" Oscars.  Henry Fonda, Katharine Hepburn, Geraldine Page, Don Ameche, Paul Newman, & Jessica Tandy would all take home Oscars at the time, and with this movie, Connery would as well.  Connery's win is one that it's hard to fault the Oscars (it's cool that he won a sstatue, even if I don't know that I'm going to agree with them in the 1987 OVP), and certainly they did worse in the era, but it gave him a nobility that would become a trademark the remainder of his life, and gave him a further distinction over future James Bond actors none of whom (to date) have ever gotten so much as a nomination.

OVP: Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

Film: Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

Stars: Paul Williams, William Finley, Jessica Harper, George Memmoli, Gerrit Graham

Director: Brian de Palma

Oscar History: 1 nomination (Original Song Score)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

All October long, The Many Rantings of John is running a marathon dedicated to the Horror classics of the 1960's-00's that I'm seeing for the first time this month.  If you want to take a look at past titles from previous horror marathons (both this and other seasons) check out the links at the bottom of this article.

We're going to start our month of horror in the mid-1970's, and with a filmmaker not necessarily known for horror so much as for making thrillers: Brian de Palma.  De Palma, of all of the hero-worshipped 1970's auteurs, is not a director that I love.  I get why he's special-there's clearly something happening in his movies that is interesting, and he's definitely got a distinctive style...but it's not for me.  I honestly didn't know when I picked Phantom of the Paradise for our premiere film that this was directed by de Palma.  Why I picked it was because, keeping with our theme, it's Oscar-nominated (though not true for all of them, there will be a number of Oscar-cited films this month as a parting blog nod to the Oscar Viewing Project).  The film, along with The Rocky Horror Picture Show, may stand apart as the only two rock horror musicals in film history, a combination that could only happen in the mid-1970's.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie is a send-up of both The Phantom of the Opera and The Picture of Dorian Gray set in a nightclub.  Winslow Leach (Finley) is a talented songwriter, but his works are stolen by Swan (Williams), the diabolical owner of the nightclub called the Paradise who spends most of his time bedding the women who audition for him.  Winslow is framed for drug possession, and is sent to jail where he has his teeth removed, and upon escaping disfigures himself further when he gets stuck in a record press.  Now deformed, he wears a mask (like the Phantom of the Opera), and begins to haunt the Paradise, trying to get revenge for his stolen music.  He eventually strikes a deal with Swan, that will allow the girl he met & wanted to sing his songs, Phoenix (Harper) to be the headliner, but he also realizes he has a devil's pact with Swan.  Swan has sold his soul to the devil so he can remain youthful forever, and Winslow can't die until Swan does, so they're trapped forever...until of course Swan is exposed as the monster he is (aka the Dorian Gray angle), and they both perish on the stage of the Paradise.

Here's the deal-even for a horror movie in the 1970's, this movie makes no sense.  It's preposterous, it frequently changes its plot with expositional dialogue each scene, and every scene feels like it's sort of telegraphing what comes next.  De Palma is not a subtle director, and this is not a subtle script.  It also isn't a particularly well-acted one.  Paul Williams is a fascinating choice for the bad guy, and is the best part of the movie, but it's more curious than actually good when you think about his performance itself.

But for what it is, it's not bad.  It's certainly a movie you won't stop watching, and it's brief & moves along given how thick with plot it is.  The film's song score was Oscar-nominated in part because this was a weak year for the category, but it's not an embarrassing moment for the Academy.  The best song is "Old Souls" sung by Harper, whose voice sounds shockingly like adult contemporary crooner Anne Murray (seriously, listen to it and tell me I'm wrong).  This becomes something of a theme for the film, and had every song handled with this kind of care, this would be a rocking soundtrack to a weird movie.  As it is it's just a fine soundtrack to a weird movie.

Past Horror Month Reviews

1920's: The Golem, The Phantom of the Opera

1930's: The Black Cat, The Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula, Dracula's Daughter, Frankenstein, Freaks, The Invisible Man, Mad Love, The Mummy, The Old Dark House, The Raven, Son of Frankenstein, Werewolf of London

1940's: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Cat People, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, House of Dracula, The House of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man Returns, The Invisible Man's Revenge, The Invisible Woman, The Ghost of Frankenstein, Invisible Agent, The Mummy's Curse, The Mummy's Ghost, The Mummy's Hand, The Mummy's Tomb, Phantom of the Opera, She-Wolf of London, Son of Dracula, The Uninvited, The Wolf Man

1950's: Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man, Abbott & Costello Meet the Mummy, Attack of the 50-Foot Woman, The Blob, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Creature Walks Among Us, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, It Came from Outer Space, Revenge of the Creature

1960's: The Devil Rides Out, The Innocents, The Masque of the Red Death, Night of the Living Dead,Village of the Damned

1970's: The Amityville Horror, Black Christmas, Carrie, Dawn of the Dead, Don't Look Now, Halloween, The Hills Have Eyes, The Omen, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, When a Stranger Calls, The Wicker Man

1980's: Child's Play, The Evil Dead, The Fly, Friday the 13th, Gremlins, Hellraiser, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Poltergeist, The Thing

1990's-Present: Arachnophobia, The Blair Witch Project, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Candyman, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Paranormal Activity, Scary Movie, Scream

OVP: Carrie (1976)

Film: Carrie (1976)

Stars: Sissy Spacek, Amy Irving, Betty Buckley, Nancy Allen, William Katt, John Travolta, PJ Soles, Piper Laurie

Director: Brian De Palma

Oscar History: 2 nominations (Best Actress-Sissy Spacek, Supporting Actress-Piper Laurie)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

All October long, The Many Rantings of John is running a marathon dedicated to the Horror classics of the 1960's-90's that I'm seeing for the first time this month.  If you want to take a look at past titles from previous horror marathons (both this and other seasons) check out the links at the bottom of this article.

One of the things that you're not seeing a lot of this month as we profile horror classics from this era is Oscar nominees.  In the long history of the Academy Awards, only six horror films have been cited for Best Picture: The Exorcist, Jaws, The Silence of the Lambs, The Sixth Sense, Black Swan, & Get Out, all of which I have seen (in some cases, many times) so they wouldn't qualify for our "new to me" theme.  Despite making boatloads of cash at the box office & occasionally getting major hosannas from critics, horror films rarely get into Oscar categories, even in tech fields like Makeup or Visual Effects where horror has been on the cutting edge for decades.  Today, though, we're going to get into the rare horror film that did get some major Oscar nominations, though perhaps they got them in part because the film, for much of its run, isn't really a horror film at all.

(Spoiers Ahead) Carrie is definitely a film that eventually becomes a horror picture, but for much of its run it is less a traditional "monster" movie and more a film about a young woman named Carrie (Spacek) who is put in an impossible situation in life.  Her religious zealot mother (Laurie) is vicious to her, basically scolding her for existing, and beating her for getting her period (which she says is a mark of shame, something that she gleans from her own pregnancy).  Carrie is treated viciously by most of the girls at school, including cruel Chris (Allen), who works with her boyfriend Billy (a young John Travolta) to ensure Carrie is elected the Prom Queen at the prom (she's been taken by her crush Tommy Ross, who looks exactly like you'd expect a 1970's heartthrob to look), and then is doused in pig's blood.  The film's ending turns into a proper horror movie, with Carrie's telekinetic powers turning her into a blood-soaked villain, enacting revenge on everyone who has been cruel to her all movie, though in the process a number of the people who were kind to her, like her crush Tommy & gym teacher Miss Collins (Buckley), also die.

The movie is an adaptation of Stephen King's first published novel, and is generally considered to be one of his best adaptations.  I have not read the original book, not because I'm not curious after this movie and more because I struggle with King as a novelist (he's a very good writer who frequently is in desperate need of an editor).  Unlike something like The Shining or Misery, the bulk of the horror here is more psychological & relegated to the final twenty minutes, which works well.  You get to see the world that Carrie inhabits, that she's not so much a villain of intention but one who cannot handle the world around her.  The scene where she has feminine care products hurled at her while she's bleeding in the shower, unaware of what is happening to her, is scarier than anything else.  I don't know if you could make a film like this today with this much sensitivity (particularly considering how much violence has emerged in the past 25 years in public schools), but it does make Carrie one of the rare iconic "villains" of this era to be more in the vein of Frankenstein or the Wolf Man, a misunderstood monster, as opposed to a killing machine like Leatherface or Jason Voorhees.

The performances are very good by the three lead women, two of which won Oscar nominations.  Spacek is extraordinary as the damaged Carrie.  I liked that the film plays with our expectations along with Carrie.  For example, you spend much of the picture wondering whether or not Tommy & Amy Irving's Sue are part of the prank or are actually good to Carrie, which lends some caution to Spacek's performance that I thought was really smart.  Piper Laurie, who hadn't been in a film since 1961's The Hustler (meaning that she got back-to-back Oscar nominations for these two movies despite a 15-year gap), has a part that could've been just a bananas, crazy-to-the-rafters performance (and sometimes, let's face it, it is), but it largely works as a religious zealot who gone mad both with overzealous readings of scripture and with using it as an excuse to abuse her daughter.  Rounding out the trio is Betty Buckley, totally underrated as a kind, if occasionally immature gym teacher (look at the glee she gets tormenting Carrie's bullies-that's some good, layered acting even if Oscar wasn't paying attention).  There are moments in Carrie that don't work (the score is too derivative of Psycho, some of the side plots involving Chris & Billy are so cruel to as be unbelievable), but overall this is a controlled horror film featuring fine work from Spacek, Laurie, & Buckley.

Past Horror Month Reviews (Listed Chronologically): The Golem, The Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, Frankenstein, Freaks, The Mummy, The Old Dark House, The Invisible Man, The Black Cat, The Bride of Frankenstein, Mad Love, The Raven, Werewolf of London, Dracula's Daughter, Son of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man Returns, The Mummy's Hand, The Invisible Woman, The Wolf Man, Cat People, The Ghost of Frankenstein, Invisible Agent, The Mummy's Curse, The Mummy's Tomb, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, Phantom of the Opera, Son of Dracula, The House of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man's Revenge, The Mummy's Ghost, The Uninvited, House of Dracula, She-Wolf of London, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man, It Came from Outer Space, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Abbott & Costello Meet the Mummy, Revenge of the Creature, The Creature Walks Among Us, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Attack of the 50-Foot Woman, The Blob, Village of the Damned, The Innocents, The Masque of the Red Death, Night of the Living Dead, The Wicker Man, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

OVP: Obsession (1976)

Film: Obsession (1976)

Stars: Cliff Robertson, Genevieve Bujold, John Lithgow

Director: Brian de Palma

Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Score)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

Every year or so, the Oscars change the definition of what they consider to be "Academy-worthy" when it comes to "auteur"-style filmmakers.  People like David Fincher, David O. Russell, Kathryn Bigelow, & Wes Anderson graduated from being "critically-acclaimed but ignored" by AMPAS to being darlings, or even perennials with the awards circuit.  This is not a new feature, and it stretches back as far as the 1970's, when filmmakers like Steven Spielberg & Martin Scorsese made this transition.  One of the bigger names, though, that never really translated with Oscar is Brian de Palma.  While de Palma has had some success with Oscar (both Carrie and The Untouchables were nominated for high-profile acting trophies), de Palma himself has never been cited for an Oscar, making him arguably the most celebrated living American director to never be nominated for an Academy Award.  We're going to go with one of the few films he made that did tangentially flirt with Oscar, but of course, didn't get de Palma that glory.

(Spoilers Ahead) Obsession is not a perfectly linear story, but I'll try to suss out the plot for you here.  Essentially we have Michael Courtland (Robertson), who is a wealthy real estate developer, whose life is torn asunder when his wife (Bujold) & daughter are kidnapped, and in a botched ransom drop-off, are killed.  Years later, Michael is still mourning his spouse when he is visiting Florence, and he meets a woman there named Elizabeth (Bujold) who looks exactly like his dead wife.  Despite the misgivings of many, including his business partner Robert (Lithgow, in his first major film role), he marries Elizabeth...and then she is promptly kidnapped in a fashion similar to his dead wife.  It turns out that Elizabeth is in fact Michael's daughter (who is not dead), and it was Robert who staged the original kidnapping to try & gain control of Michael's company.  Michael then kills Robert, and nearly kills Elizabeth in a maddened state, but in the end they reunite happily rather than in a homicidal confrontation.

The film's incestuous plot was apparently slightly toned down (screenwriter Paul Schrader, not surprisingly, wanted to amp up this angle as it's by-far the film's most provocative element).  The bigger problem, though, isn't this jaw-dropping reveal in the third act, but that the film itself is such a mess.  This is a hallmark of de Palma's films-the need for excess in every fashion (particularly in terms of plot), but it's not my jam.  I thought the film didn't really make much sense, and the climax with Robertson killing Lithgow, and then the tearful hug was...cheap.  I thought it was a bit of a letdown given the gonzo directions the movie was going (if you're going to go for it, go all out).

The film received one Academy Award nomination, and a bit of a sad one.  Bernard Herrmann was hired for the film, and while this wasn't the only movie that de Palma would work with Herrmann on (he'd also write the score to Carrie), it does feel like a nod in the direction that Obsession was criticized for at the time-it's way too similar to Vertigo.  The movie seems to copy exact passages (like when Robertson is instructing Bujold how to walk), trying to recreate Hitchcock's film verbatim.  This reads as cheap homage to me, bordering on student film laziness it so closely relates to Hitchcock's original, and while the score is decent (Herrmann doesn't do bad work), it also feels like the kind of situation where he's underlining some of the worst parts of the movie through his music being so similar to Vertigo.