The train station shootout scene in Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables is a masterful sequence borrowing from Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin, maximizing tension and establishing itself as a pivotal scene in the film.
There are films that leave an indelible impression after just one viewing. I first saw this movie when I was very young, yet it remains vividly etched in my memory. Perhaps it was too shocking at the time, but the film made a profound impact on me. The scene that particularly stands out is the gunfight at the train station. While the film’s overall plot has faded over time, the tension I felt during that scene remains vividly etched in my memory. This scene later became a crucial benchmark for me when evaluating other films. I always wondered, “Where did that intense tension come from?” This blog post prompted me to revisit the film to analyze its source.
Brian De Palma’s 1987 film The Untouchables is set in Chicago and tells the story of four detectives risking their lives to take down Al Capone, the absolute power of evil. Al Capone orders his henchmen to eliminate them. The film realistically depicts the era, featuring outstanding performances by the leads, particularly Robert De Niro’s portrayal of Al Capone, which is highly impressive. The meticulous effort to authentically recreate the streets and atmosphere of Prohibition-era Chicago shines through in every detail – the streets, flags, costumes, cars, and more.
When protagonist Elliot Ness first meets the elderly police officer Jim Mallon, he is deeply impressed by Jim’s integrity and his unyielding commitment to enforcing the law without bowing to power. For the still inexperienced Elliot, this encounter was likely a great stroke of luck. And so, the four detectives known as the ‘Untouchables,’ each with their own distinct personalities, took their first steps toward capturing Al Capone. Robert De Niro’s portrayal of Al Capone, though based on a real person he never met, left such a powerful impression that it felt utterly authentic.
One of the film’s most shocking moments is the appearance of the first victim created by Al Capone. The word ‘Touchable’—meaning ‘untouchable’—was written in blood on the elevator wall, a scene that maintained intense tension throughout the film. The scene of Jim crawling in blood and Al Capone weeping while listening to opera created a strange contrast, heightening the film’s immersion.
The particularly memorable shootout scene at the train station is famously borrowed from the massacre scene on the Odessa Steps in Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 silent film Battleship Potemkin. The tension reaches its peak as the film masterfully intercuts the gunfight unfolding across the staircase with detectives desperately trying to save a baby in a stroller. After capturing Al Capone, Elliot retires, carrying the pain of losing his colleagues, captured in that photograph, for the rest of his life.
The film unfolds through Kevin Costner’s gaze. His anxious expression begins to build tension, his eyes shifting toward some point off-screen. The dramatic tension between the space within the frame and the unseen areas created by the gaze or actions of characters not directly shown is powerfully expressed in this scene. Kevin Costner looks at his watch, and in the following shot, the watch is shown in close-up. Then, his gaze shifts to a woman pushing a stroller up the stairs. The unstable woman pushing the stroller and the baby inside are shown in alternating shots, creating extreme tension. This suggests something is about to happen to the stroller. The constant shifting of gaze and editing provokes the audience’s curiosity about what is happening in the off-screen area.
A key point here is the directionality emanating from the characters’ gazes. The direction of their gazes is also a crucial element expressing the tension and conflict between them. Kevin Costner’s gaze initially aligns with the gangsters’, but as their gazes shift, a collision of gazes ultimately occurs. As this gaze collision happens, slow motion begins, and the moment the gangsters draw their guns is shown in close-up. This scene is handled as a long shot, simultaneously showing a series of events unfolding around the protagonist. The tension of the shootout reaches its peak as the baby carriage begins tumbling down the stairs. Kevin Costner’s expression, the attacking gangsters, the baby’s expression as it falls, and the overall long shot view continuously overlap, heightening the tension further.
Ultimately, Andy Garcia appears, catches the stroller, and the scene ends as the shootout concludes. The tension built from two directions resolves, and the film reaches its climax.
Technically speaking, this shootout scene could be considered somewhat cheesy. The clumsy gunfire, paint-like blood, and awkwardly dying gangsters could have disrupted focus. Yet, despite this, the tension remained palpable. The fact that it borrows from a famous scene in a well-known film was something I only discovered while researching for this blog post. While it was fun to recall and compare it to the older film while watching, I believe this scene itself holds great significance because it perfectly achieves its single purpose: tension. Every element is solidly constructed: the tension created through close-ups and high angles achieved by adjusting distance and angle within the frame, the tension with off-screen space generated by the protagonist’s gaze, and the directionality of the frame itself dictated by that gaze. This film will remain a work that retains its vitality even as time passes.
