MovieChat Forums > The Untouchables (1987) Discussion > Why is this story based in Prohibition e...

Why is this story based in Prohibition era?

posted 10 years ago by kevinchengxin
11 replies | jump to latest

Considering the contents of the story, what would be different if the crime in question was drug or anything else?

Is it part of the character development? Cause the way I see it, our hero is doing the justice simply because the law says it's justice. When alcohol is prohibited, he considers the business of supplying alcohol "destroying the city". When it's to be lifted, he intends to have a drink. He admitted forefront that he has no grudge against the thing itself, except that it's against the law, never stopping to wonder if there's anything wrong with the law itself. Is there sarcasm in this? Or am I overeading it?

[–] Marmadukebagelhole 10 years ago

It highlights the authentic irony of being a dutiful civil servant committed to protecting the public from the violence resulting from legislation which was intended to protect the public. This is what happened, historically. It's not an invention of the film.

It also highlights the ambivalence in the notion that things which are made illegal are inherently immoral and vice-versa.

You are quite right to ask the question though becuse it begs another question, why do we still have prohibition in other areas which requires police intervention to uphold and which results in violence?

Glasgow's FOREMOST authority Italics = irony. Infer the opposite please.

[–] Zuider_Zee 10 years ago

It was set in the era of Prohibition because that was the setting of the TV series that is the basis for this film.

[–] HowYaLikeDemApplesWill 9 years ago

Strange, I thought it was in the Prohibition era, because it was based on the real-life story of Al Capone, who lived and reigned in that era.

Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?

[–] Robbmonster 9 years ago

If you were making a film about Julius Caesar, would you set it in modern times?

Never defend crap with 'It's just a movie'
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[–] GreenGoblinsOckVenom86 9 years ago

You know we see Malone drinking alcohol just before he gets shot to death. Why doesn't he get flack for that?

Green Goblin is great! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1L4ZuaVvaw

[–] kentor404 8 years ago

"Why doesn't he get any flack for that?" Several reasons. Because consumption and/or possession of alcoholic beverages was not illegal under the Volstead Act. Only the making, transporting, or selling of those beverages defined in the law was considered illegal, so what the completely fictional Malone character did would not have been illegal even during prohibition. Also, his action was a subtle plot device known as "foreshadowing".

[–] jgroub 9 years ago

It's that the criminal organization - Capone's - that arose to subvert that law did it in a way that resulted in an incredible amount of violence directed at civilians. Members of the public were getting killed because Capone was pushing his product on people, as we saw in the beginning of the movie with the bombing.

It would be one thing if Capone was "satisfying" a "need" that people had by supplying them with liquor in speakeasies and such. But he went a lot further than that because of the very nature of a criminal enterprise, which is to protect the illegal actions it undertakes.

I want the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.

[–] fanaticita 9 years ago

The film The Untouchables was actually based on the memoir book Eliot Ness co-wrote with Oscar Fraley about Ness' experiences during the Prohibition era. It was published in 1957.

[–] kramsey20 9 years ago

If you noticed, liquor serves the same purpose in this movie that oranges served in The Godfather. They're a death omen, any character who takes a drink dies. Wallace sneaks a bit of whiskey from the raid at the border, he gets killed. Malone hides a bit in his oven, he gets killed.

[–] siltom1962 9 years ago

Dumbest question yet.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (9347176) 9 years ago

Well, they tried basing it in the year 2130 in space, but Connery's toupee kept floating away, so they decided to go with the 1930's on Earth instead.

-Rod