Untouchables, The: Jim Malone (Sean Connery)
Posted by Mr Mouseburger
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Re: Untouchables, The: Jim Malone (Sean Connery) March 30, 2012 10:55PM |
Hmm... I think this one is actually deeply affecting (although I wonder how much that has to do with Morricone's pitch-perfect score).
There's no doubt that dramatic emphasis has been employed over realism here, but there's a few things I have to take issue with. Firstly, Malone probably circled the train timetable before he was shot - he had been warned by Mike, the corrupt police chief (and Malone's source of information), that he could no longer protect him from Capone ("This is a dead man talkin' to me, Jimmy"
and in all probability was aware that he didn't have long as Mike would have had to tell Capone in order to save his own skin. Secondly, while there was a blood trail on the floor, it wasn't deep and exsanguination would have been slow. Those old Tommy guns could fire a lot of lead real quick for their size, but penetration was lousy - remember Nitti was the backup in case Bow Tie failed to stab Malone, which means Capone intended him to die slow and hard in any case - otherwise Nitti would simply have walked in with a .38 and capped Malone in a second, which was the usual Mob approach to hits back in the day. Thirdly, this was shot about 2 years before Moonwalker, so it's more likely that MJ (being a movie buff) copped Billy Drago's look than the other way around.
Interesting bit of trivia - this was the first time that Sean Connery had to strap on squibs to be shot on screen, and the first time they tried it he was actually injured and ended up in hospital. There's a good chance that the shocked intake of breath before he collapses and the grunts of pain as he crosses the floor are to some degree painfully real.
There's no doubt that dramatic emphasis has been employed over realism here, but there's a few things I have to take issue with. Firstly, Malone probably circled the train timetable before he was shot - he had been warned by Mike, the corrupt police chief (and Malone's source of information), that he could no longer protect him from Capone ("This is a dead man talkin' to me, Jimmy"
and in all probability was aware that he didn't have long as Mike would have had to tell Capone in order to save his own skin. Secondly, while there was a blood trail on the floor, it wasn't deep and exsanguination would have been slow. Those old Tommy guns could fire a lot of lead real quick for their size, but penetration was lousy - remember Nitti was the backup in case Bow Tie failed to stab Malone, which means Capone intended him to die slow and hard in any case - otherwise Nitti would simply have walked in with a .38 and capped Malone in a second, which was the usual Mob approach to hits back in the day. Thirdly, this was shot about 2 years before Moonwalker, so it's more likely that MJ (being a movie buff) copped Billy Drago's look than the other way around.Interesting bit of trivia - this was the first time that Sean Connery had to strap on squibs to be shot on screen, and the first time they tried it he was actually injured and ended up in hospital. There's a good chance that the shocked intake of breath before he collapses and the grunts of pain as he crosses the floor are to some degree painfully real.
