Is The Untouchables (1987) (1987) woke?

TRADITIONAL -- The Untouchables (1987) scores +24 TRAD on the VirtueVigil VVWS scale. Brian De Palma's The Untouchables is one of the great crime films of the 1980s, a Prohibition-era gangster drama that...

What is the VirtueVigil score for The Untouchables (1987)?

VirtueVigil scores The Untouchables (1987) as TRADITIONAL with a margin of +24 TRAD. Traditional score: 24.12, Woke score: 0.

What woke content appears in The Untouchables (1987)?

No significant woke content identified in The Untouchables (1987) by VirtueVigil's trope audit.

Would conservatives enjoy The Untouchables (1987)?

Yes -- conservatives will thoroughly enjoy The Untouchables (1987). Strongly affirms traditional values.

TRADITIONAL

The Untouchables (1987)

Name: The Untouchables (1987)
Item: The Untouchables (1987)
Rating: 97
Author: VirtueVigil Editorial Team

Full analysis below

Film · Multiple (Streaming / Digital Rental) September 21, 2026 Analyzed by Debra Ducane 7 min read

Woke Score

Traditional Score

24.12

Authenticity Index

97%

Score Margin

+24 TRAD

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✅ NOT A WOKE TRAP

The Untouchables is a straightforward cops-and-gangsters drama from its opening credits. The moral stakes (good lawmen vs. evil criminals) are clear from the first scene and never shift. There is no late-reveal messaging or hidden ideological content.

Creative Team

DirectorBrian De Palma

WriterDavid Mamet

Lead ProducerArt Linson

ComposerEnnio Morricone

Top Cast

Kevin Costner as Eliot NessSean Connery as Jim MaloneRobert De Niro as Al Capone

Our Verdict on The Untouchables (1987)

Brian De Palma's The Untouchables is one of the great crime films of the 1980s, a Prohibition-era gangster drama that pits Treasury agent Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) against Chicago bootlegging kingpin Al Capone (Robert De Niro) in a battle for the soul of a city. Written by David Mamet and produced by Art Linson, the film takes substantial liberties with the historical record but captures a deeper truth about the necessity of law, the cost of integrity, and the kind of men willing to pay it. Costner's Ness arrives in Chicago as a straight-arrow family man who believes the system will work if you work the system. He learns quickly that Capone owns the system: the cops, the judges, the witnesses. Enter Jim Malone (Sean Connery, in the role that won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor), a veteran Irish beat cop who knows every inch of the corruption and agrees to help Ness build a tiny team of men who cannot be bought. With police academy sharpshooter George Stone (Andy Garcia) and Treasury accountant Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith), the four become the Untouchables. The film grossed $187 million worldwide on a $25 million budget and features one of cinema's most famous set pieces: the Odessa Steps shootout.

Woke Tropes & Content Analysis

Trope Audit – VVWS Weighted Scoring

Formula: Weighted Score = Severity × Authenticity Multiplier × Centrality Multiplier

🟢 Traditional Tropes

Trope	Severity	Authenticity	Centrality	Score
The Just Lawman	4	High	High	5.04
Objective Good vs. Evil	4	High	High	5.04
Justice Restored	4	High	High	5.04
The Self-Sacrificing Hero	4	High	Moderate	2.8
The Wise Elder	3	High	Moderate	2.1
Defense of the Innocent	3	High	Moderate	2.1
The Rugged Individualist	2	Moderate	Low	1
The Principled Patriarch	2	Moderate	Low	1
TOTAL TRADITIONAL				24.1

Score Margin: +24 TRAD

Creative Team Deep Dive

Producers

Full Cast

Kevin Costner as Eliot Ness

Sean Connery as Jim Malone

Robert De Niro as Al Capone

Andy Garcia as George Stone / Giuseppe Petri

Charles Martin Smith as Oscar Wallace

Patricia Clarkson as Catherine Ness

Billy Drago as Frank Nitti

Richard Bradford as Police Chief Mike Dorsett

Content Breakdown

Adult Viewer Insight

The Untouchables works because it believes in something. Mamet's screenplay draws a line down the middle of the screen and says: on this side, decency; on that side, evil. There is no hand-wringing about whether Capone had a rough childhood or whether the Untouchables' methods were ethically complicated. The film knows that when a gangster murders a child to send a message, the only adequate response is to find that gangster and end him. This moral clarity is what separates The Untouchables from the morally ambiguous crime dramas that followed it. De Palma directs with operatic conviction. The Odessa Steps sequence, a homage to Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin, remains one of the most famous set pieces in cinema: a slow-motion gun battle on a train station staircase with a baby carriage bouncing down the steps, cross-cut with Ness racing to save it. De Niro's Capone is a preening monster who delivers a monologue about teamwork while circling a dinner table with a baseball bat. Costner has the less showy role, but he brings a sincerity that holds the film together. And Connery's Malone is one of the great mentor figures in American film: weary, wise, and willing to die for the idea that the law matters.

Parental Guidance

Rated R for violence and language. The film contains intense and sometimes graphic gun violence, including the shooting of a child (offscreen but emotionally devastating), a brutal baseball-bat murder, and multiple bloody shootouts. The Odessa Steps sequence is extremely tense. Strong language throughout. Not for young children, but mature teenagers and adults will find a morally serious drama that treats violence as a genuine cost of defending civilization.