The Untouchables Review

The Untouchables – A Textual Analysis

Mini Review

The Untouchables extract shows a classic crime/thriller film; set in the 1920s, a small group of men are trying to defeat the American gangster, Al Capone. The fight scene illustrates the thoughts of main character, Eliot Ness, as he has to make a quick decision during the shoot out: should he save the baby or shoot the bad guys?

The scene is set in an old fashioned train station with a set of large marble stairs (which is the focal point of most of the action). The purpose of this scene is to build as much tension as possible before the climax: a shoot out between the two sides. Many techniques are used in this scene to increase the tension and to establish the genre, some of which I am going to talk about in my essay.

This shoot out scene is enhanced particularly by the way the editing and sound is used. In this scene the editing is key: it has to build up tension and make the scene as exciting as possible. It definitely manages this; the scene increases in tension by showing the clock ticking and the image of the baby - which Ness has to make sure is safe. This accumulates to frequent flashes of these two images which makes you anxious of what’s going to happen. Another aspect that adds to this is the slow motion used in the shoot out to drag out the tension and anticipation of which side will prevail. This editing certainly establishes the thriller genre because it is steadily building up tension until a big climax; which is very typical in thriller films. The editing is also a main component in controlling the atmosphere, in this extract it makes it edgy and exciting as well as tense.

This is developed by the sounds and music in the scene. I believe that the sound adds even more than the editing to building up tension, for example, the scene starts with passengers rushing around - you hear the dialogue between them and loud footsteps of them hurrying. Next non-digetic music is played, which starts...