Andy Garcia in The Untouchables
Andy Garcia as George Stone in The Untouchables (1987)
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Andy Garcia as Giuseppe Petri, aka “George Stone”, honest Chicago police recruit and expert marksman
Chicago, September 1930
Film: The Untouchables
Release Date: June 3, 1987
Director: Brian De Palma
Costume Designer: Marilyn Vance
Background
A contemporary interview from People magazine at the time of The Untouchables‘ release was very flattering to Garcia:
Andy Garcia really doesn’t have much of a part in The Untouchables. His big moments come at the beginning, when he angrily jams a gun barrel into Sean Connery’s neck, and at the end, when he coolly kills one of Al Capone’s henchmen from a prone position. Of quiet demeanor, Garcia’s minor character has no love scenes and little to say. Yet Garcia’s rich portrayal of Treasury agent George Stone, the Italian-American T-man with a chip of ice on his shoulder, adds up to much more than the sum of his minutes onscreen. He’s The Untouchables‘ quicksilver gunslinger, the deadly rookie who’s a natural pistolero.
Garcia’s character, particularly his background, are a nod to the political correctness of the original 1950s TV series’ inclusion of Nick Georgiade as Agent Rico Rossi, who served primarily to show the audience that not all Italian-Americans are mafioso.
What’d He Wear?
Stone has a very unique off-duty look that contrasts well with the other characters and could translate well throughout the decades. Both he and Malone, the two Chicago PD officers, prefer more casual everyday attire than feds Ness and Wallace in their dark three-piece suits. It isn’t until the final scene, when Capone is put away and Prohibition is on the verge of repeal, that we finally see Stone wearing a suit.
The newly-formed “Untouchables” squad prepares for their fisrt raid.
Stone’s suede blouson is copper brown. It has a zip front, which is slightly anachronistic as the zipper was not truly considered proper for garments for another decade. A more era-correct choice would have been a button front. The cuffs each close with a single button.
The blouson has shirt-style collars and large patch pockets on the chest with flaps.
Stone’s jacket.
Stone wears a pair of gray wool trousers with a generous fit that slightly flares toward the bottoms, which have cuffs (or turn-ups). The high-rise trousers are flat front with belt loops, but Stone prefers to wear suspenders. His suspenders (or braces, if you will) are brown leather with belt-like gold square clasps in lieu of the standard sliding adjusters.
Stone takes aim.
The trousers have slightly slanted side pockets and a right rear pocket that closes with a button on a pointed flap.
Underneath his jacket, Stone wears a very distinctive rust-brown waistcoat (vest) constructed of a smoother, finer suede than the jacket. It has a single-breasted 4-button front with a very small notched bottom and swelled edges. There are two very shallow hip pockets, mostly useful for carrying a book of matches or similarly-sized item. The back of the vest is also unique; it is softly knitted beige wool—possibly cashmere?—with a widely-ribbed waist.
Stone’s vest.
When Stone first reports to duty with the squad, he wears a yellow intricately-striped shirt with a soft point collar, patch pockets on both sides of the chest, and button cuffs – rolled up. His tie has a black ground with small yellow oval capsules (encapsulating some small red design), tied into a tight knot. The wider bottom of the tie is held into place by a gold “squiggle”-shaped tie clip.
Stone and the fellas.
Following that, he wears a similar shirt in light blue with all of the same features – the stripes, the point collar, the button cuffs, and patch pockets. He also introduces a new tie with this shirt, featuring a diamond-shaped interlocking pattern of red, green, orange, and black. He also wears a fancier gold tie clip with a diamond.
Andy Garcia talking directly into the camera was the 1987 version of Justus D. Barnes firing into the camera at the end of The Great Train Robbery. Audiences believed that Garcia was truly in the theater with them.
Stone sports a pair of well-worn dark brown split toe bluchers on his feet with a pair of black socks.
Stone in action.
Like Ness, Stone wears a fedora throughout with a slim grosgrain ribbon. Stone’s hat is light brown felt with a matching band.
Stone chats up a potential witness.
Stone carries his service revolver in a black leather shoulder holster under his left armpit. Various grooves are cut into the leather to adjust the fit of the black straps.
Stone would never be allowed in a Chipotle these days.
Stone’s watch is never clearly seen, but it has a small stainless case, a square black dial, and it is worn on a black leather strap on his left wrist.
Not an unfamiliar image to fans of The Untouchables TV show.
The Guns
As the squad’s top marksman, Stone gets his hands on plenty of firearms over the course of one week. His police issue revolver is a Smith & Wesson Model 10 (known as the “Military & Police” model before the numbering system began in the 1950s). The Smith & Wesson .38 is one of the most venerable handguns in existence, still in production 115 years after its inception with more than 6,000,000 examples having been produced.
Stone aims his Smith & Wesson.
Unfortunately for the filmmakers, the Chicago Police Department actually issued a competing revolver, the Colt Police Positive Special, to its officers from the 1910s through the 1940s. The Police Positive was developed in 1907 as Colt’s response to Smith & Wesson’s quickly growing popularity in the police firearms market. It replaced Colt’s earlier New Police, a .32-caliber model that had been selected by Teddy Roosevelt to be carried as the first official NYPD revolver. The Police Positive Special, chambered in the same .38 Special cartridge as the Smith & Wesson, was rolled out the next year. Although production of the lower-caliber Police Positive ended after World War II, the Police Positive Special continued in production until 1995. With 750,000 revolvers built, the Police Positive Special remains Colt’s most widely produced revolver.
Although the Smith & Wesson is Stone’s issued sidearm, he does use a few Colt revolvers on the side. When we first meet him, he is training with a Colt Official Police, the upgraded version of the Police Positive. He also keeps his personal backup, a nickel-plated first generation Colt Detective Special with white pearl grips, in the small of his back. He notably draws his backup when confronting Malone during his initial recruitment and during the train station shootout, when he tosses it to Ness.
Two-Gun Andy.
Stone is shown to be an expert with both sidearms and long arms. He is given a shotgun during the first raid, a hammerless Winchester Model 1912 pump-action 12-gauge. In Canada, Stone also proves himself to be proficient with the Thompson M1928 submachine gun, the ubiquitous symbol of the era.
Stone, well-armed for other operations.
Interestingly, the only LEOs shown handling Tommy guns are the police officers Stone and Malone; G-men Ness and Wallace stick to shotguns. This is perhaps a reflection of the era police officer’s firearm training vs. that of a federal agent.
How to Get the Look
Stone’s look differentiates him from the rest of the characters in the film and includes many elements that would still be fashionable today.
- Copper brown suede zip-front blouson jacket with flapped patch chest pockets and 1-button cuffs
- Chocolate brown suede vest with 4-button front, shallow hip pockets, and tan cashmere rear
- Gray wool flat front trousers with belt loops, slightly slanted side pockets, button-flapped right rear pocket, and flared cuffed bottoms
- Light-colored striped shirt with soft point collars, chest patch pockets, and button cuffs
- Black and red ornately-patterned necktie with a tight knot and wide bottom
- Gold diamond-studded tie clip
- Dark brown leather split-toe derby shoes
- Black dress socks
- Brown leather belt-style suspenders with gold square clasps
- Light brown felt fedora with thin grosgrain ribbon
- Black leather RHD shoulder holster for 4″-barreled Smith & Wesson .38-caliber revolver
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie.
Whilst I’m not entirely convinced by the suede waistcoat, this overall a good look and – unlike the three piece suits – one you could still easily pull off today for fairly casual everyday wear, although most of us would now omit the necktie.
The zip fronted jacket would indeed have been unusual but perhaps not unknown in 1930. Certainly, this sort of zippered golfing jacket was used in the early 1930s. Their use outside of a purely sporting activities was quickly noted and commented upon too. Given how handy and ubiquitous this sort of jacket has become, that’s hardly surprising. Given how useful a zip front was it is surprising how slow they were to catch on generally, as you point out.
Thanks for writing, Hal! Armani (I assume it was their input also) was smart to design something so cross-functional for both the 1930s and 1980s (and, by extension, any era) for its more casually-dressed character. I also would hesitate before wearing a suede waistcoat, but I think it’s an element that would require a certain confidence… and dry weather, of course.
The history of the zipper has always confused me a little. Some have said that it didn’t exist at all before WWII (very untrue!) while some say it was popular on garments as early as the Edwardian era. I tend to think the truth is somewhere in between there with the zipper growing in popularity on casualwear – as you state – during the ’20s and finally winning the “Battle of the Fly” just before WWII.
The first picture showing the first raid, they are all carrying winchester 1897 riot shotgun as you can see they all have visible hammer and the particular stock design.
Great attire , all characters wore tailored fine apparel in quality clothes at this movie. A delight every time I watch it and a good inspiration to decide what to wear.