I remembered this as one of the excellent, classic mob movies, but I found that it really didn't age well. Even though the plot makes precious little sense in so many places, it still somehow manages to often feel predictable. It sure produced some unforgettable scenes – who wouldn't remember the judge's gavelling? – but because they're so often surrounded by mediocre writing, they feel weirdly isolated.

The pacing is all off, the movie is two hours long but feels rushed. The melodramatic music is telling me that the death of this or that character is supposed to affect me, but they weren't established well enough to make me care much. There's also entirely too much clumsy, expository dialogue.

For such a respectable cast, I was also disappointed that there's a lot of bad acting, including and especially from the lead stars. De Niro and Garcia are the only ones who do a passable job throughout. The rest are overacted and not believable, Connery being the worst offender ([spoiler]silliest death scene ever?[/spoiler]), closely followed by Costner.

It's still an entertaining two hours and not a waste of time. The sets and wardrobes are nice to look at and there's some decent photography. But considering that the title and its reputation, the people involved, and somehow also my personal memory of having seen it decades ago made me expect a true classic, it was just a big letdown.