MovieChat Forums > The Untouchables (1987) Discussion > That last line made me hate Ness

That last line made me hate Ness

posted 15 years ago by SaulGoodman
86 replies | jump to latest

Reporter: Word is they're going to repeal Prohibition. What'll you do then?
Ness: I think I'll have a drink.

So you broke every law in the book, killed dozens of people, endagered the lives of countless innocents, risked the lives of your family, saw two of your friends die, all to enforce a law you didn't care about?

That glib remark made me hate that character. You might say he upholds the law without questioning it, it's not his place to decide which laws to uphold, he's a faithful government servant. Except that he isn't and he does choose which laws to uphold and which to break (including some fairly important ones about murder).

You might say he was justified because he took down Capone, but that is *beep* Capone was only as powerful as he was because of prohibition. That final line makes Ness look like a power mad, unthinking, murderering, contemptable *beep*

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] Bruce_Willys 15 years ago

In the |first draft of the script he said "Im gonna meet my matey George Michael in the bogs and 'ave some puff (weed) and then 'ave some puff (George), its great now we can do what we like, See Ya Later Big Boy".... I dunno I rather liked the drink line, like Ness has the last laugh. If he said a truth he would have gone back to his drippy wife, pretty boring ending.

[–] ajason91356 15 years ago

I loved the last line because it made you see his human side. In an earlier scene while addressing police officers, Eliot Ness said, "I know some of you drink, but that stops today. Drinking is against the law and I cannot have any of my officers upholding the law and breaking it themselves". He never said drinking is bad, he said it is against the law. If you read any history of Eliot Ness, after prohibition ended, he drank quite a bit. Capone did not make his money soley on bootlegging liquor. He was into prostitution (yea, Capone was a Pimp), real estate, loan sharking and the protection racket.

[–] SaulGoodman 15 years ago

The fact that Capone had other sources of revenue makes that last line even worse. He has even less reason to go around shooting people.

"He never said drinking was bad, he said it was against the law"
This is why I hate that last line. He pursues enforcing prohibition with an almost vitriolic fervor but disregards other laws with abandon. What kind of hypocrite enforces one law simply because it is the law, but breaks dozens of others?

He breaks laws to enforce a law he doesn't like and endangers human lives.

I'm going on the film here, I don't know much about the real Ness. But if, as you say, he too liked a drink perhaps this last remark was an accurate depiction.

[–] gothicform 15 years ago

Ness famously became an alcoholic. The suddenly adds a whole different context to the remark beyond one of humour.

[–] ougee 15 years ago

You're funny. The law is the law whether you like it or not. And because he serves the law he will do anything to protect it. Even if he doesn't like. That's the whole point of the phrase. We can only respect Ness for that.

[–] SaulGoodman 15 years ago

I can see Gothicform's point. The line has a poignancy if you are aware of Ness's life story (which I wasn't), and I thank you for enlightening me.

But Ougee:

"The law is the law whether you like it or not"
Let's say this is true.

Then why does Ness go around killing people and breaking other laws?

It's a double standard that makes him unlikeable (at best)

[–] Harvestmoonman13 15 years ago

I like this movie...but I hated Kevin costner's character. All the other guys in his crew like the guy with glasses, andy garcia, connery, and hell even that evil bastard.

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[–] DoctorRageous 15 years ago

The Unlikeables? :P

[–] dingerdavid 14 years ago

I don't hate Ness at all. He killed people but they were mobsters. It wasn't like he was running around drowning babies or shooting innocents. He did all the wrong things but for all the right reasons and it could be argued that the people he killed deserved it.

Ask yourself one simple question: If you turn on the news & hear about one gang shooting up a rival gang do you feel sad? I don't. I simply feel sad that there are people out there like that & frankly I hope they finish each other off. A few less criminals in the world.

[–] Balcones 13 years ago

"It wasn't like he was running around drowning babies or shooting innocents."

Yes, another drowned baby! Now that, that urge is sated I can focus for another 2-3 days on getting Capone. At least until I start to feel the urge again.
Lol, j/k!!

I can't remember exactly, but I think everyone that Ness killed in the movie was in self-defense while enforcing the law. The only exception being the character of Frank Nitti. I am not a lawyer but that could probably be argued as a crime of passion. He had the opportunity to kill Nitti and didn't. Nitti then had to run his mouth and incite Ness. If I was on a jury, I would vote to acquit.

[–] flgirl4 15 years ago

Actually, from a sociological standpoint, this is untrue because no act in itself is universally "bad" or "evil." Now, this is sociological theory, here, so bear with me. Killing we call "bad" most of the time, but in times of war or cops getting the bad guy, they are considered "heroic." (I'm not saying this is true, mind you, but that it is usually accepted as such ... think of the Wayne's World line "why is it that you kill a man in a time of war ...").

Now, Ness was not so much fighting the drinking law as he was Capone, who murdered people, innocents. The Untouchables were trying to pin him for anything, absolutely anything they could make stick because of who he was. It's not the alcohol, it's the actions that Capone takes to keep his alcohol in circulation.

[–] SaulGoodman 15 years ago

I'm not saying this is true, mind you, but that it is usually accepted as such

You're probably right on that, a lot of people have come on here in defense of that line saying that Ness did nothing wrong because he was doing the right thing, for example arson83.

Personally, I think allowing one individual a great deal of leeway with the law while actively searching for another's infractions of the law is wrong. It's all based on a notion of right and wrong which has no authority and is open to abuse. But I have a background in law, which may be why I find it quite so annoying that someone is apparently given carte blanche to break every rule in the book then can glibly joke about it. Though, it's just a film of course.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] Picnic10 9 years ago

Killing someone in an excessively sadistic or cruel way is universally bad, war or not. A soldier may shoot but to slowly crush someone to death using an industrial machine? Universally bad - always.

[–] dashab 14 years ago

He's a Feeb, bro, and back in the day the law had a lot more license to do whatever they thought they had to to get whatever they thought was justice. That's why so many police departments were so corrupt and the Chicago cops were probably the worst.

[–] Ironman54 14 years ago

And I think it was tossed in there to be prophetic/ironic seeing that the real life Ness turned into an alcoholic in later years. You might say you saw the scene that started his downward spiral into alcoholism. BTW, we didn't see Ness drink but Jimmy had a bottle stashed at home in the oven, the be-speckled IRS guy took a quick nip from the bullet riddled keg during the Canadian bridge scene and I'd bet a younger bachelor Ness liked an occasional beer himself. He was now a responsible family man and a roll model at work. It doesn't make him evil in my eyes. The thing is that he helped bring an era to an end - one which if it had worked the way the law makers had hoped, may have spared Ness the misery of alcoholism in later years.Cigarettes are currently legal but there is a black market for un taxed cigarettes which small organized crime groups use to turn a tidy profit. Even some enterprising individuals partake in running smokes, sans tax stamp, across state borders. This is why the FBI gets involved - interstate law breaking. If an FBI agent happens to smoke a cigarette after a seizure, does this make him/her evil ?? Even if Ness took a drink or two during 'prohibition, I wouldn't denounce the guy - I'd be a little disappointed but, in the big picture, he helped take down the guy that was responsible for blowing up that bar and killing that little girl. THAT was important. As Jimmy pointed out to the Chief - the city was no longer safe to even walk down the street. Capone tore apart not only the community but our entire system of government - anti American/Republic as many of these officials were elected by the people. Capone undermined each and every tax paying, voting citizen of Chicago as he owned the Mayor, Chief of Police, Judges etc. You have a right to your opinion but I can't help but think you have a bit of a chip on your shoulder when it comes to law enforcement officers or authority figures in general. And, he didn't say he was going to get drunk - he just said "think I'll have a drink..." (not that you said otherwise, just a minor point).

[–] marktayloruk (2384) 3 years ago

Capone fed the poor out of his own pocket. He was a businessman responding to a demand.

[–] marktayloruk (2384) a year ago

Drinking wasn't against the law - selling and manufacturing booze was

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] eqfan592 14 years ago

Oh for *beep* sake, it wasn't about the booze, it was about bringing down a mob of dangerous and extremely violent people who were hurting a LOT of innocent folks in the city of Chicago. If the mob's primary business had been smuggling illegal beanie babies in from china, then that's what they would have targeted, even if Ness liked beanie babies himself.

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[–] twofacetoo 10 years ago

Exactly. He was only doing his job.

[–] Dr_Julius_Strangepork 9 years ago

However, drinking was NOT against the law during Prohibition. It was illegal to manufacture, transport, or sell liquor.

[–] marktayloruk (2384) 2 years ago

Drinking wasn't against the law- only manufacturing or selling alcohol.

[–] arson83 15 years ago

It didn't matter whether or not he believed in the law, it was his duty to uphold it. I know, he killed people, "broke laws," etc, but the point was he did it all to uphold the laws of America and to make the streets safer.

[–] joaaquiiin 15 years ago

I think it's not so weird that he liked alcohol, who didn't?

But because of his devotion he would stand against anything illegal, even if he thought that being illegal was nonsense.

I also hated the line, anyway, but not for what he said but for how he said it. Damn, it sounds so unrealistic to be in good mood after all that happened

[–] maliklockett 15 years ago

If all Capone was doing was illegally selling alcohol then you would have a point

Capone was a murderer, he not only sold liquor, he killed people who interfered with his business. He killed cops who investigated him and/or refused to accept bribes to look the other way. He even killed dealers who refused to purchase his lousy green beer.

Ness's worst failing was that he descended to a level where he almost matched Capone, but a point of the movie was that this was necessary to beat him. You could not get Capone by hamstringing yourself because he was too well entrenched. You had to fight him at his level if you needed to beat him.

Can't we all just get along?

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[–] SaulGoodman 14 years ago

Ha!

Was finally getting around to replying to SnoozeAlarm and found you'd done a perfect job already.

Cheers!

[–] shn248 14 years ago

I hated the whole movie, was terrible propaganda.

[–] noneedofaname 14 years ago

I think you all are reading a litle too much into it. I think the line was nothing more than a variation on "I'm going to Disneyland"

A bad joke.

You are making the mistake of thinking you are more important than you actually are.

[–] stoolfam 14 years ago

I thought that the last line reinforced the character the character. He stands for honesty and legality. The movie helps change his mind that to sometimes get the bad guys that really deserve "you have to take the fight to them". He wants justice and many other things that are glorified and celebrated in America. He is not necessarily against drinking alcohol - he is against breaking the law in order to do so.

[–] RParmly-3 14 years ago

Go back to the opening of the movie. It starts with Capone making his little speech to the press and concluding with "Sure there's violence in Chicago, but not by me, and not by anyone I control, because it's not good business." Cue the scene where Capone's delivery boy blows up a bar full of innocent people, including a little girl.

That was supposed to set the tone for the entire movie. You're not supposed to hate Capone because he bootlegged, you're supposed to hate him because he runs an organization that routinely murders innocent citizens. And he'd corrupted enough people that breaking the law was the only way Elliot Ness and company were going to get to him.

(Is this all an accurate representation of what Capone and his people did in real life - how the hell should I know. But within the movie, it made perfect sense to me).

Keep flying, son. And watch that potty mouth!

[–] marktayloruk (2384) 2 years ago

I'm sure Capone only killed fellow- gangsters.