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What are you prepared to do?
The Untouchables was on AMC last night. I hadn't seen it since it first came out--that movie holds up very well. DePalma is really a great director with action sequences--gotta love the Odessa steps sequence (complete with sailors). Apparently some reviewers didn't like DeNiro's Capone, thought he was too cartoonish. Man, I thought he was great. Shit, bludgeoning someone with a baseball bat at dinner? And that awesome shot of him at the opera, crying, hearing that the Malone hit went down, and that face turning into a hideous smile? Perfect shot--even better when you know that the opera is Pagliacci, the clown who cries.
I also like that in this gangster movie, the gangsters aren't sentimentalized or made to seem cool or anything but the murderers they are. I kind of disapprove of this whole trend in domesticizing gangsters, what with The Godfather, Goodfellas and The Sopranos. They're murderers, not role models.
And more shallowly--Andy Garcia is WHITEhot in this film. I've been YouTubing the Odessa steps train sequence over and over, so I can watch him slide just in time to stop the baby carriage and lying in that incredibly awkward position, sight the bookkeeper's bodyguard with that look of absolute focus, coolly reply "yeah, I got him" to Ness, and then take him out. Through the mouth. *fans face rapidly* He is just. So. Hot. Andy! Call me!
Malone: You said you wanted to get Capone. Do you really wanna get him? You see what I'm saying is, what are you prepared to do?
Ness: Anything and everything in my power.
Malone: And *then* what are you prepared to do? If you open the can on these worms you must be prepared to go all the way because they're not gonna give up the fight until one of you is dead.
Ness: How do you do it then?
Malone: You wanna know how you do it? Here's how, they pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way, and that's how you get Capone! Now do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that?
What are you prepared to do? This is kind of a secondary philosophy for me. Shut up and do it. Act. Don't make excuses, don't blame--act. Do it. Get the job done. When I'm in these moods, I think of C.S. Lewis in The Magician's Nephew, writing about Jadis, saying "Most witches...are terribly practical." You do what has to be done.
I also like that in this gangster movie, the gangsters aren't sentimentalized or made to seem cool or anything but the murderers they are. I kind of disapprove of this whole trend in domesticizing gangsters, what with The Godfather, Goodfellas and The Sopranos. They're murderers, not role models.
And more shallowly--Andy Garcia is WHITEhot in this film. I've been YouTubing the Odessa steps train sequence over and over, so I can watch him slide just in time to stop the baby carriage and lying in that incredibly awkward position, sight the bookkeeper's bodyguard with that look of absolute focus, coolly reply "yeah, I got him" to Ness, and then take him out. Through the mouth. *fans face rapidly* He is just. So. Hot. Andy! Call me!
Malone: You said you wanted to get Capone. Do you really wanna get him? You see what I'm saying is, what are you prepared to do?
Ness: Anything and everything in my power.
Malone: And *then* what are you prepared to do? If you open the can on these worms you must be prepared to go all the way because they're not gonna give up the fight until one of you is dead.
Ness: How do you do it then?
Malone: You wanna know how you do it? Here's how, they pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way, and that's how you get Capone! Now do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that?
What are you prepared to do? This is kind of a secondary philosophy for me. Shut up and do it. Act. Don't make excuses, don't blame--act. Do it. Get the job done. When I'm in these moods, I think of C.S. Lewis in The Magician's Nephew, writing about Jadis, saying "Most witches...are terribly practical." You do what has to be done.