Script review - "The Untouchables" by David Mamet

Art Linson's done a lot of great things as producer, but few better than hiring David Mamet to adapt the classic TV show for the big screen. Most film fans know the classic monologues - there's plenty of them and they're all great.

There's a couple of decent characters - Capone of course, but also Ness (honorable but made interesting by loquaciousness) and Malone. The other two Untouchables and other characters weren't as good (Stone, the account) and the wife is just a wife.

Structurally it's also very solid - act one Ness tries to bust crime, act two forms untouchables, act three loses accountant and things get tough, act four Malone dies, act five the trial.

It's interesting to read this to see what didn't make the final film - there's a sequence involving a chase at a race track that feels kind of pointless (doesn't change anything). And the shootout on the steps in the film took place on a train.

But a remarkably large amount of this made it to screen, which made me really wish Mamet and Brian de Palma had worked together more often.