Rewatchables Reference

• Bill: The opening Capone scene – the overhead shot, the barbershop shaving, De Niro getting nicked.
• Bill: 'You want to get Capone? Here's how you get him.' – Ness meets Malone in the police station and they go to church.
• Bill: The Capone baseball bat scene – became the second most famous scene from the movie.
• Bill: Malone does the fake murder to get the witness to talk in Canada – shoots the dead guy.
• Bill and Chris: The baby carriage / train station gunfight scene (the Battleship Potemkin / Odessa Steps homage).
• Bill: Ness throwing Nitti off the roof.
• Chris: The courthouse stuff at the end – switching the juries, the final confrontation.

• Bill: Prohibition as a story setting – 'great times for content.'
• Chris: De Niro is just doing Trump – holding court in opulent apartment buildings. 'He's at Mar-a-Lago.'
• Bill: The comedy of Connery's bad accent – 'spectacular how not Irish it is.'
• Bill: Young Costner – 'most handsome, most charismatic.'
• Chris: Ennio Morricone's score – 'one of my favorite Morricone scores.'
• Chris: Mamet's dialogue – 'I need your help, I am asking you for help.'

Bill: The Ennio Morricone opening theme over the credits.

Chris: The split diopter shot in the church – Costner fully in focus and Connery fully in focus at the same time.

Bill: Patricia Clarkson as Ness's wife – 'there's no reason for her to be in this movie.' The wife scenes are underwritten.

• Bill: Connery's accent – voted one of the worst accents in movie history.
• Bill: Being shocked that Connery dies – in 1987 it was shocking, now you know it's coming.
• Chris: The second scene (the kid getting blown up) – takes 15 minutes for the movie to get going.

• Chris: Ness basically sentenced Oscar to death by putting the accountant on witness duty instead of Stone, who's a great shot.
• Bill: 1987 was Costner's greatest movie year – 'The Untouchables' and 'No Way Out'.

• Don Johnson was De Palma's first choice for Ness (recommended by Armani) but couldn't get out of 'Miami Vice'.
• Mickey Rourke turned down the role of Ness.
• Bob Hoskins was cast as Capone, then De Niro decided he wanted the part. De Palma mailed Hoskins $200,000 with a 'sorry' note.
• Jeff Bridges and Tommy Lee Jones were seriously considered for Ness.

• Chris: The bowtie gangster who holds the bookkeeper hostage in the train station.
• Bill: De Niro in the 'You got nothing' courtroom scene – 'He dials it up in an unusual De Niro way.'

• Bill's winner: Billy Drago as Nitti – 'great face, I really hated him.'
• Bill: Jack Kehoe (his personal pick – 'moron number two' from 'Midnight Run').
• Chris: Chelcie Ross (Ed in 'Major League') and Brad Sullivan (the 'tell me what you want to know' guy in Canada).

• Bill and Chris: The baby in the train station scene – 'Great job by the baby. Looks at the ceiling, seems like it does what it's asked.' The baby was the stuntman's son.
• Bill: De Niro as Capone – eligible, in only about five scenes.
• Bill: Billy Drago as Nitti – eligible.

• De Niro wanted one extra scene and time to finish his Broadway commitment, plus he wanted to gain 30 pounds.
• De Niro was 'very concerned about the shape of his face' for the part.
• Costner met with former FBI agent/untouchable Al Wolff to prepare.
• The railway station shootout was parodied in Naked Gun 33 1/3.
• The Canadian border scene, Ness killing Nitti – never happened in real life. Nitti died by suicide.

• Costner: No – great year but bigger things to come.
• De Palma: No – if going big budget, it's 'Mission: Impossible'; if going peak career, it's 'Blow Out'.
• De Niro: No.
• Older Connery: No – it's The Rock.
• Al Capone: Yes – this is it.
• Mid-80s Chicago movies: Both say Ferris Bueller.

• Bill: Why would Ness let a photographer take a picture of his new crew when he's suspicious of everybody?
• Chris: The baby carriage bouncing down the steps – 'that's a lot of bouncing in a 1930s carriage.'
• Chris: A lot of sailors get killed trying to help in the train station – 'if I'm a sailor and my first buddy gets mowed down, I'm out.'
• Bill: How was it this hard to take down Al Capone?

• Bill: Acknowledges it could work, though Boardwalk Empire stepped on it a bit.
• Chris: Mentions the unmade Fincher project 'Torso' about Elliot Ness hunting the first serial killer – Fincher basically did Mindhunter instead.

• Bill: Steve Buscemi – 'right before Oscar gets his throat sliced.'
• Bill: Wayne Jenkins (from We Own This City) – would have been incredible paired with Stone.

• Connery won Best Supporting Actor, beating Albert Brooks ('Broadcast News'), Morgan Freeman (Street Smart), and Denzel Washington (Cry Freedom).
• Bill: Would give it to Albert Brooks if he could redo it – 'I can't get over the accent' for Connery.

• Bill: The baseball bat from the Capone scene.
• Chris: The St. Jude charm that Connery has – patron saint of lost causes.

• Bill: Trust nobody.
• Bill: 'If you're afraid of getting a rotten apple, don't go to the barrel – get it off the tree.'

• Chris: Scarface – two incredible De Palma crime epics.
• Bill: 'No Way Out' – a Costner 1987 doubleheader.

• Bill: Costner – had to prove he could be the leading man, and once he did, the next ten years fell into place.
• Chris and Craig: Connery – 'just so magnetic' in a supporting slot. Winner 2-1.

• Craig: First time seeing the movie. Liked it a lot – 'four just awesome scenes that really capture you.'
• Craig: Never really bought that Ness goes so quickly from family-man to 'I'll kill anyone' just because someone threatened his family.