In the 1987 Brian De Palma film The Untouchables, Al Capone, played convincingly by Robert De Niro, is walking around a large table of his lieutenants delivering a speech while holding baseball bat. Like Chekov’s proverbial gun in the first act, you know somehow that bat will come into play before the end of the scene. As Capone speaks, his lieutenants, sitting around the table smoking cigars, smilingly mouth their agreement to what he is saying. From cuts to Capone’s face, you can see his expression is becoming increasingly menacing as he goes along.
Capone’s words, from the excellent David Mamet script, follow below:
A man becomes preeminent, he's expected to have enthusiasms. … What are mine? What draws my admiration? What is that which gives me joy? … Baseball! A man stands alone at the plate. This is the time for what? For individual achievement. There he stands alone. But in the field, what? Part of a team. Teamwork. ... Looks, throws, catches, hustles.Part of one big team. Bats himself the live-long day, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and so on. If his team don't field ... what is he? You follow me? No one. Sunny day, the stands are full of fans. What does he have to say? I'm goin' out there for myself. But … I get nowhere unless the team wins.
- Team!
- Team.
After the second lieutenant repeats, “team,” Capone, who has come up behind him with the baseball bat, starts whacking him repeatedly on the head, killing him, presumably for some sort of disloyalty. The scene ends with the lieutenant lying on the table, as blood from his head spreads out across the white table cloth.
While I could do without the shot of the blood, the dramatic tension of the scene leading up to it would be difficult to beat.
