Brian De Palma, the De Pollma

Here's how I'd rank him:

Top 13

the first half hour of Scarface (1983), and maybe the rest while I do dishes
Blow Out (1981)
Carrie (1976)
The Fury (1978)
the pool hall scene in Carlito's Way (1993)
"Dancing in the Dark" (1984)
Mission: Impossible (1996)
the last scene in Dressed to Kill (1980)
what I remember of Mission to Mars (2000)
The Untouchables (1987) while folding clothes
the "love" scenes in Body Double (1984), which are hilarious
Snake Eyes (1998) if nothing else is on
what I remember of Raising Cain (1992)

Bottom 4:

The asylum scene and the basic conceit of Dressed to Kill
the telescope scene and mall-chase scenes in Body Double (1984)
The Black Dahlia (2006)
Casualties of War (1989)

I think "Carrie" is probably the best all around movie in this batch, but I have a serious soft spot for "Body Double" (which I voted for), which is one of the most batshit crazy movies of all time (and is packed with things I am obsessed with, like: L.A. in the 80s, Behind-the-Scenes of the porn biz, The Chemosphere (which is the amazing house Craig Wasson lives in in the movie, owned now in real life by the owner of Taschen Books!), power drills, etc.).

I love Brian DePalma's movies, but I think the fact that anyone treats them as anything by whacked-out B-movies is just insane. The Pauline Kael gushing apologist stuff is utterly preposterous, the Hitchcock stuff is all surface (and embarrassing, usually). Referring to him as a legitimate peer of Scorsese, Coppolla, etc. is nuts. He's a glorified Grindhouse director! (I mean that as a compliment, btw - seriously, I think his movies are a blast).

Also:
- Antonio Banderas' turn in "Femme Fatale" is a goddamned comedic masterstroke
- "The Black Dahlia" is one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my life (HOW do you fuck up that story?!)
- "Sisters" is genuinely pretty scary
- God help you if you saw "Redacted."

And finally, Holly Body's words to live by: I do not do animal acts. I do not do S&M, or any variations of that particular bent. No watersports either. I will not shave my pussy, no fistfucking, and absolutely no coming in my face. I get $2000 a day, and I do not work without a contract.

Go pet a puppy, deeznuts.

Referring to him as a legitimate peer of Scorsese, Coppolla, etc. is nuts.

No shit. Those two suck compared to De Palma.

I think he's more then a glorified grindhouse director...I think as a craftsman he's as good as anybody, regardless of originality or script or any of that stuff.

the telescope scene and mall-chase scenes in Body Double (1984)

that's the best!

http://acuterecords.com/BodyDouble.mp3

the day after i watched body double this summer i spent like 6 hours trying to track down a copy of the soundtrack

body double is really crazy.

carlito's way still rules.

so many incredible movies on this list.

so many terrible ones too but who cares.

Where is the love for Phantom of the Paradise?

BEEF

xp: The incredible ones ARE the terrible ones, or at least the ridiculous ones.

Eric, that is weird re Rosenbaum and Obsession (which I like) -- he didn't write exactly what I said about FF, but look...

I'd always been annoyed by De Palma's intricate borrowings from Alfred Hitchcock, which I've tended to see more as mangled tributes than as perceptive appreciations. My misgivings were only reinforced when his biggest fans, especially Pauline Kael and her most literal followers, implied that Hitchcock was a bit of a hack next to the genius De Palma -- suggesting that Hitchcock churned out dross, which his disciple somehow turned into the pure gold of sublime trash... Say what you will about Hitchcock's calculation, his work displays an almost limitless curiosity about human behavior, whereas De Palma's shows an interest in people (as opposed to types and figures) that approaches zero.

http://www.chicagoreader.com/movies/archives/2002/1102/021108.html

How does that square w/ putting one of those "mangled tributes" on an all-time 100 list?

when did kael and her most literal followers imply that?

(genuine interest not passive-aggressive zing attempt)

xp: The incredible ones ARE the terrible ones, or at least the ridiculous ones.

like wise guys and raising cain?

i agree that de palma is colder, perhaps less "interested in people" than hitchcock... or a lot of other director's. he's no renoir. but i don't really care. i like him for different reasons. not everyone has to be a great expansive humanist.

Haven't read Kael/Kaelites on BdP recently enough to know where JR's coming from...

I find the ridiculousness in The Fury to be about 40% entertaining and 60% annoyingly empty tech moves.

I think movies like Dressed to Kill are more "meta Hitchcock" rather than just "borrowing from Hitchcock".

I didn't like The Fury.

I think movies like Dressed to Kill are more "meta Hitchcock" rather than just "borrowing from Hitchcock".

-- latebloomer, Thursday, May 15, 2008 4:36 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

ya, this. they go beyond homage or allusion into their own weird category.

Phantom of the Paradise by leaps and bounds.

Blow Out! One of my favorite films. Alfred's right about Craig Sheffer (feh) in Body Double. And The Black Dahlia is the worst, not just of DePalma, but of everything ever.

like wise guys and raising cain?

It would be really hard to choose between these two for a worst poll.

Craig Sheffer

Craig Wasson! Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors!

Redacted is pretty safely in the lead as De Palma's worst.

What's that thing Orson Welles said, something about how being a director is like a child having a huge Erector set at its disposal? More than any Hollywood film this decade, Femme Fatale comes closest to conveying the excitement in that statement. So that one.

What an odd but cool career this guy has had. I saw the Fury for the first time a few months ago, and it was pretty wacked-out.

I haven't seen Sisters since I was, like, 13 years old or something, but I remember it being super-creepy.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Didn't expect a Hi Mom! vote.

haha, less voters = better results

Got my copy of the Criterion version of Blow Out yesterday: will watch again tonight. Beautiful packaging.

ha yeah i picked that up yesterday too, can't wait to watch it!

i bought a vhs of obsession at a book sale for $.50 today

Not a huge fan of it, myself.

I'm trying to come up with a parallel for calling Bri underrated. Derek Jeter, maybe.

got this on Blu-Ray and am very much looking forward to see how it looks. i did watch the Baumbach/De Palma interview and it had its moments. funny for revealing bits like "what was that movie we watched the other day? how they did that thing, TERRIBLE!". guess they're pals.

this has been pretty solidly my favorite De Palma film, but it's been a while. looking forward to a re-watch.

Really, this movie is political? Uh-uh.

btw, aside from Obsession on TV, probably the first film of his I saw, on initial release.

there's a Criterion of Blow Out?! man i've gotta get that. how is it?

i think Blow Out is one of the saddest fictional films ever made by anyone; so sad and so amazing.

It's political like JFK is political...

i.e. entertaining

and with no politics besides "They're out to get me."

no, c'mon, it's nowhere as dumbass as JFK.

The Untouchables: Capone Rising (2008) (in production)

um I'm guessing this didn't happen?

and with no politics besides "They're out to get me."

You really don't want to watch the Baumbach-De Palma interview, in which DP shows that he stopped paying attention to politics in Nov. 1963.

that's unsurprising, I'm sure Dario Argento has been neglecting Italian politics too.

After weeks of Shoah and Satantango and Week End and Sans Soleil, I just wanted to turn off my mind, relax, and float downstream the other night, so I finally took Femme Fatale off the shelf. Not that I don't think De Palma's made some very smart films: Carrie, Blow Out, and Casualties of War are three all-time favourites. Anyway, I thought he'd scraped bottom with Raising Cain--where at least Lithgow was comically bizarre--but Femme Fatale is much, much worse.

I remember liking it. It's way better than Black Dahlia certainly.

All I remember is the scene in which the subtitles get big, bigger, BIGGEST.

I bought that a while back too...Not singling you out or anything, Alex--it got two votes above, and does pretty well on the IMDB rating--but what did you like about it? I found it was one big overblown set-piece after another; De Palma has always had those, but in the three films I mentioned above, he was also careful to develop the story between those sequences. And the script...there was a certain epithet that kept getting hurled at Rebecca Romijn; it was like whenever he was stuck for the next line, he'd just pencil in the same two words.

Thanks--missed the date at the bottom. She stuck with De Palma much longer than with Altman/Scorsese/Coppola/Spielberg; she had good things to say (post-retirement, in an interview) about Mission to Mars.

THIS IS SO FUCKING FUNNY IT LOOKS LIKE A ROMCOM 😭

Pls share posters that TRULY do not match the actual tone/vibe of the movie, it’s my favorite. pic.twitter.com/mNcP2VSLzu

— 𝕯𝖎𝖑𝖉𝖔 𝕭𝖆𝖌𝖌𝖎𝖓𝖘 (𝘚𝘩𝘰̄𝘨𝘶𝘯 𝘦𝘳𝘢) (@EmmaTolkin) April 12, 2024