Can’t Leave Well Enough Alone

Director Brian De Palma (late of the almost unwatchable The Black Dahlia) is making a prequel to his 1987 film, The Untouchables? Oh, crap! The Kevin Coster/Sean Connery flick was a stylish, suspenseful classic. Why risk sullying its reputation by trying to drain a few more dollars out of the movie-going public with a prequel that’s destined to pale beside the original? Will people (read: authors, TV execs, and movie makers) never learn to leave a good thing alone?

Apparently not. Cinematical reports that production on The Untouchables: Capone Rising will begin next June. “[The] story,” writes Erik Davis, “will revolve around Al Capone’s early days on the mob scene [in Chicago], and how his rise to power was due, in part, to the seedy, corrupt side of law enforcement. [The] pic will also focus on Capone’s relationship with detective Jimmy Malone (played by Sean Connery in De Palma’s 1987 film), a dirty cop who vows to turn his life around after exposing himself to Capone’s violent, illegal and dangerous behavior.”

Davis adds that the film will be “based off a script written by Brian Koppelman and David Levien, the same duo who brought us films like Rounders, Knockaround Guys, and the upcoming Ocean’s Thirteen.”