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to her son , to her seeing a therapist ( Michael Caine ) who admits he would make love to her . Then , very abruptly like Janet Leigh ’ s Marion Crane , she is taken from us and slashed to death . It ain ’ t pretty but by then , we love Angie , we feel for her and her revelation that she contracted a venereal disease . We care for her , unlike most of the slasher flicks of the 1980 ’ s that could ’ ve been charged with misogyny more so than De Palma .
A new documentary called “ De Palma ” deals with some of these charges by film critics who always seem to sharpen their knives when a new film of his came along . The director himself calls into question what Hollywood wanted from him and what they expected . I still don ’ t know if they knew what a talented , stylish director they had whose best films were like extended mood pieces that put you into a quixotic trance . Those long takes in an art museum (“ Dressed to Kill ”), a spacious , high-end mall (“ Body Double ” which features “ the longest walk in film history ” as De Palma claims ) or the slow-motion , rhapsodic sense of movement and violence in a train station (“ The Untouchables ”) made me quiver with anticipation – they were dreams with a hypnotic charge of excitement . No other director before De Palma ever took the Steadicam shots and slow-motion to such a degree . They make standard issue mainstream entertainments seems positively underimagined by comparison .
Ultimately , as De Palma conveys through a personal story from his own youth , his best films are about obsessions . They are voyeuristic obsessions , usually with a woman as its focus . “ Body Double ” is one of the most pleasurably voyeuristic films of all time , taking a page from “ Rear Window ” and having its central protagonist getting excited over a woman seen through a telescope in ways that not even James Stewart ever had or would be permitted to . It is sexual excitement , not just some passing romantic notions . Same with “ Dressed to Kill ” as its main killer in a blonde wig and a black trenchcoat often appears looking through a window or a reflective surface before attacking or maiming a female victim . Yet there is another voyeuristic side to that film – Dickinson ’ s son ( Keith Gordon ) sets up a film camera outside of a psychiatrist ’ s house , hoping to catch the killer . De Palma
Craig Wasson in De Palma ’ s ‘ Body Double ’ ( 1984 )
himself tells the story of how he photographed his own father , outside of a residence , having an adulterous affair and confronting him with it . I would never have suspected that De Palma ’ s visual style and camera placement in “ Dressed to Kill ” was inspired by some troubling daddy issues .
De Palma speaks honestly about his cinematic triumphs and failures . He acknowledges that the vanity production “ The Bonfire of the Vanities ” works if you have not read the book ( though I think the film fails whether you have read the book or not ). He also acknowledges he was only the replacement director for the insidiously boring “ Mission to Mars .” I also love his comments about making the most accessible film of his career , certainly the most popular , “ Mission : Impossible ,” and how he would ’ ve been dumb to turn down the opportunity to direct Tom Cruise in a feature film remake of the 60 ’ s TV show . There is also the disaster of one of his earliest films and
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