The Untouchables

This 1990s version of "The Untouchables" was actually pretty good, and was one of the better programs on FOX when it aired. The stories were engaging although, as in previous versions of "The Untouchables", they perhaps took their creative license at bit too far at times(Al Capone and Elliot Ness in a boxing match?!!). However, the real strength of the show was the performances. Tom Amandes and Paul Regina work well as Elliot Ness and Frank Nitty, and John Rhys-Davies does an even better job as Malone. But the greatest performance is without doubt that of William Forsythe as Al Capone, who really steals the show, and makes it quite worth watching. I think he did a better job in the role than Robert De Niro did in the 1987 movie. Indeed most of performances were better than those in the movie, which was itself not a bad piece of work.

I liked the series very much. the acting was top notch, particularly by William Forsythe. the series format definitely allowed the principle characters to be much more elaborately portrayed than the limited two hours available in a movie. I have been hoping that this series would become available in DVD format. I think it would be a must buy item for any serious videophile.

"The Untouchables" had many great elements:

1. An excellent cast, including several familiar faces from TV and films: Tom Amandes ("Everwood"), William Forsythe ("John Doe," "UC: Undercover," "Out for Justice"), John Rhys-Davies ("The Lord of the Rings," "Raiders of the Lost Ark"), and David James Elliott ("JAG").

2. Some entertaining -- if historically unrealistic -- stories, combining gangster action stories with looks into the personal lives of the characters, especially the relationships with Al Capone (Forsythe) and Eliot Ness (Amandes) and their respective wives and children.

3. Fantastic theme music by Joel Goldsmith (I'm still humming it, and I haven't seen the show in 10 years). I wish they had released a soundtrack album for the series.

Though the show was on for only a year and a half, "The Untouchables" was able to tell a complete story, fleshing out both the heroes and the villains into complex characters, and it wrapped up most of the plot lines by the final episode.

This series would make an ideal DVD box set. Are you paying attention, Paramount?

One of my favorite movies of the 80s was "The Untouchables," and when I saw that a show was coming out on the same subject, I thought it would be another crummy TV spinoff like "Uncle Buck."

But, despite the fact that the TV show didn't have the big names of the movie version, I found the show to be much more believable and suspenseful, without the glaring anachronisms that the movie had (e.g. Frank Nitti being killed at the Capone trial in the movie).

William Forsythe (Capone) does an INCREDIBLE job...he AT LEAST equals the great Robert DeNiro's performance of the same character. Also, John Rhys-Davies and Tom Amandes give great performances and the show's writing was excellent. It's a shame it had such a crummy time slot and was canned so soon.

I saw this show early on in its first few episodes and was very favorable impressed by the great performances of Tom Amandes as Elliott Ness( by the way, Mr Amandes looks enough like Jimmy Stewart to almost be his twin brother, I could,'t believe the very close resemblence), and Robert Forsythe, who played Al Capone. Mr Forsythe brought a measure of depth to the usual Capone gangster portrayal. I hope that this show will still be viewable even as reruns. It was canned way too soon.I would even like to see it on vhs. It would be well worth the buying price.