Steel Notes Magazine
January 2017
least known , “ Get to Know Your Rabbit ” with Tom Smothers that was heavily recut by the studio and had Orson Welles in the cast who didn ’ t memorize his lines . Oh , and how about Cliff Robertson ’ s tan coloring that didn ’ t mesh with a protagonist who was supposed to be pale-faced in the aptly-titled “ Obsession .”
For myself , “ Body Double ,” “ Femme Fatale ” and “ Dressed to Kill ” are terrific voyeuristic classics – they are like peeks behind a curtain of sexual tension and women who are sexually knowing . “ Scarface ” and “ Mission to Mars ” are his worst films ( Sorry Scarface fans but I still cannot get behind Al Pacino ’ s Cuban drug lord and how his story later connected with the hip-hop community ). “ The Untouchables ” is a nostalgic entertainment with a great score and great performances that somehow ended a little too soon . “ Mission : Impossible ” is thin on plot but it has some captivating thrill-happy scenes . “ Carrie ” is atypical De Palma but it does show he had a gift for geeky horror with a sensitive performance by Sissy Spacek ( and that final shot still gives me the chills ).
If there is anything missing in this otherwise captivating documentary , it is that De Palma ( unlike some of his contemporaries like Martin Scorsese ) never quite explains what drove him to make certain films . His most personal works (“ Body Double ,” “ Dressed to Kill ,” “ Femme Fatale ,” “ Blow Out ”) seems to evolve from the feeling that life itself is often seen through a lens , a refracted lens perhaps , but one where all sorts of possible outcomes exist . That would be true of “ Greetings ” ( his silliest film with hints of truth about the infamous Zapruder film ) and its semi-sequel “ Hi , Mom !” where Robert De Niro is the classic De Palma protagonist – a Vietnam vet who likes to photograph his neighbors . The most telling aspect of De Palma ’ s work is that many of the characters are more attuned to their cameras and binoculars than they are to actual communication with their photographed subjects . When the male protagonists finally come around to having a conversation , it can work and result in some unexpected connection (“ Femme Fatale ” is one example , as is “ Dressed to Kill ”). When it doesn ’ t , tragedy and chaos result in an explosion of violence (“ Carrie ” being the most notable example , certainly “ Blow Out ”). Either way , here ’ s hoping that this stunning documentary ( directed by Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow ) results in Brian De Palma getting closer to being recognized as to what he always was – the artist obsessed with the voyeur in all of us .
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