Total cheese fest, how did this film win awards

You forgot the writing. People were smart and savvy when the plot required it, and suddenly turned stupid when the plot didn't. They made Ness out to be a fool who left because the only reason he was in Chicago was to get Al Capone. He left because he got results, and Hoover didn't like him getting all the press. So he sabotaged his career. He died young of a heart attack, broke and so forgotten the papers didn't even run an obituary. But he was not stupid, he did not need a keeper. This movie is outrageous fiction, and not very believable fiction at that.

By the time goodie-goodie Ness was concerned about the baby in the stroller, I was actively mocking the character: "Oh DO spend more time looking at the baby instead of attending to business!" This was a hot mess of a movie, and I hope it's remembered as such. The only one who could act was Sean Connery, and they even had him doing stupid things. 🤦🏼‍♀️

Terrible music? The score is a masterclass from Ennio Morricone.

It's a period action film done right, they basically gave an auteur carte blanche to make his own action film, all the characters are fleshed out enough compared to 1 or 2 characters in most modern films with a far longer running time.

The action scenes are better thought out and executed than the majority of modern CGI heavy, 100 cuts per minutes action films of today.

The train station sequence is a master class of building up suspense and pay off.

You kidding? I love this film and the music by Morricone fits the film's theme, the opulence of druglords during prohibition and feels like a 1930s film brought to color!

Requisite troll post. How "original."