What do you think is Brian De Palma's best film and how does he view women?

[Mike 03]

This is a guy who has made many fascinating films, but he has also made many ridiculous statements about what he believes his own best films are about. He thinks soldiers rape females because they "are horny." But on the other hand, he can make films that are as passionate, insightful and almost painfully emotional about females as CARRIE and THE FURY.

Without getting into too many details, I spent a few years (almost ten) writing to defend this director's artistic vision and view of women, but it simply became impossible. But today I watched both CARRIE and THE FURY for the first time in perhaps four to six years, and I remember why I respect this director.

But he is a puzzle. What is the deal with De Palma? Does he revere women? Hate them? Misunderstand them? Thinks he understands them but deep down couldn't care less?

[mitchum]

1. I would have to say Scarface...

it falls far short of being a great film, but it is a powerful film.

[OmahaBlueDog]

2. His best film is Body Double, but my favorite is Scarface

Say hello to my little friend

http://www.popartuk.com/g/l/lgpp30041+say-hello-to-my-little-friend-al-pacino-scarface-poster.jpg

[mitchum]

3. I also like "Body Double", but sometimes I think the lead (Craig Wasson?)...

is Bill Maher

[jobycom]

4. I was thinking about that the other night, for no reason at all.

I think he treats women as plot devices, like most of Hollywood. Sometimes the plot devices are there to die so the man can get pissed. Sometimes they are background props to heighten tensions (the wife in "The Untouchables," for instance). They are just ways to manipulate the audience, and really not real characters to him. Even in Carrie she was a plot device, though he got into her perspective enough to make her complex.

I'm not a fan of his, in general. I appreciate his attention to detail on a set, and he does string the story together well in a consistent narrative, but I never feel like he has anything to say, like his films are just scenes to manipulate the audience. Now and then I like him. Mission:Impossible was good, and I didn't really hate "The Untouchables," but I felt it didn't live up to the hype. He's also derivative--I almost always feel like I've seen whatever he's doing before.

So it isn't just women that he treats as empty props. He treats all characters and all storylines as devices, rather than as sources for artistic expression. Even so, he has a lower opinion of women than men. He kills them without hesitation because the character was only created to manipulate emotions in the first place. His female characters almost never have anything to say or mean. They just look pretty.

Most Hollywood films do this to some degree, but it really stands out to me with DePalma. I'm almost always disappointed after watching his films, not because they are badly done, but because they don't do anything.

[peekaloo]

5. Where's 'Dressed to Kill' or 'Blow Out'?

too early to analyze the misogynist angle but he did keep his wife employed during his heyday.

[old mark]

6. Just reviewed a list of his films, found I don't really like any of them...

I have seen many of them, would not bother to see them again. Just not very interesting to me...

"Blow Out" was just a cheap rip off of the earlier "Blow Up", which was a far superior film.

Most of the rest of his catalog was cheap shit.


mark

[peekaloo]

8. Half- cocked Hitchcock.

less wit more sleaze.

my above offerings were tongue-in-cheek.

[Paladin]

7. "The Untouchables," By A Mile.

And "Scarface" is just an embarrassment; I'm dismayed about the support it's getting on this thread.....

[edbermac]

9. Untouchables, Blow Out, Carrie were good.

Scarface and Wise Guys are guilty pleasures.

He really has not made a good pic since Untouchables.