What's your favourite Brian De Palma movie?

[Bartwald]

Why De Palma poll so late in the day? Cause, quite simply, I couldn't for the hell of it decide which seven titles should be chosen for the poll. I like a lot all his movies and about one third of them is, like, sacred to me. So I had to exclude many favourites of mine (Obsession and Femme Fatale, for instance) and it's still damn difficult for me choose now: should I go with a movie that finally gave edge to Mike J. Fox - The Casualties Of War - or a movie that proved John Travolta is a wonderful actor - Blow Out? Difficult! I went with Carrie - best King adaptation ever - but, y'know, the other ones shine, too!

[Phoenix]

I went with Carrie too, because I think it's a real horror classic!

[Bartwald]

Whoa! We've got another Carrie fan here! Gooood!

[Termination]

Thats not easy singling out one film from that list, well maybe sinse I havn't seen Dressed to Kill or Blow Out, but if need be I have to go with Scarface. I like & own these other Brian De Palma flicks;

Carrie
The Untouchables
Casualties Of War
Carlito's Way

[Bartwald]

Both Blow Out (one of Quentin Tarantino's favourite movies! ) and Dressed To Kill are, in my opinion, wonderful pieces of cinema. Try to catch them somewhere, Termination!

And Scarface, of course, is one of De Palma's best films, no doubt about it.

[Heineken Skywalker]

I like many titles in this poll, but it's THE UNTOUCHABLES for me.
One of Kevin Costner's best movies. His "Aw shucks!" personality really serves him well here. Sean Connery's best performance and a hell of a comeback for him at the time, with a well deserved Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Another great villain by De Niro. That scene where Capone beats one of his henchmen with a baseball bat is still chilling.
And wonderful supporting performances by Andy Garcia & Charles Martin Smith. To me, this one's a winner all around and I can watch it over and over again.

[LivingDeadGirl]

Man, I can't decide between Scarface or the Untouchables...so I'll have to ponder it & get back to ya.

[Bartwald]

Hey! So there's a good chance Hilary Swank is going to be sexy again; or, knowing De Palma's skill at photographing women, perhaps sexier than ever before!



According to Variety, Oscar winner Hilary Swank "will play a femme fatale in The Black Dahlia, the Brian De Palma-directed adaptation of the James Ellroy novel." Swank has been getting a lot of buzz for her role in Clint Eastwood's upcoming Million Dollar Baby, and was nominated for two Golden Globe awards yesterday (Dahlia co-star Scarlett Johansson was nominated for a Golden Globe, as well, after being nominated for two of them last year). Swank will play Madeleine Sprague, who the Variety article (by Michael Fleming) describes as "a dead ringer for the victim who became known as the Black Dahlia and proves a dangerous seductress to the cops." One of those cops, Bucky, will be played by Josh Hartnett, while Johansson will play Kay. Fleming writes, "While Swank came to prominence playing boyish roles in Boys Don't Cry and the upcoming Million Dollar Baby, De Palma wants her to lead with her looks this time." Producer Art Linson, who De Palma worked with on The Untouchables and Casualties Of War, was quoted as saying, "This has shaped up to be a strong young cast with material and themes that play to Brian's strengths." With a budget "north of $30 million," the film will begin shooting April 4 in Bulgaria. Linson, Moshe Diamant, Rudy Cohen and Avi Lerner are the producers. The film is being financed by Lerner's Millennium Films and Diamant's Signature Pictures International.

(From De Palma A La Mod)

[DrLenera]

O this is hard. I also love De Palma's films, well except for Bonfire Of The Vanities which I remenber as being, well, just average. Some great films not on the list, like the wonderfully cheesy Body Double, the haunting Obsession and the just plain mad Phantom Of The Paradise. I'll have to go for Carlito's Way, partially because it''s got one of those endings that just makes me cry......But there are all great.

[Bartwald]

DrLenera said:

Some great films not on the list, like the wonderfully cheesy Body Double, the haunting Obsession and the just plain mad Phantom Of The Paradise.

Agree with all of the above! Great to have another De Palma fan here! ;D

[Quorthon]

I went with Scarface--cuz it's so extremely over-the-top--especially for the time it was released.

I liked Raising Cain, also. And Carrie.

[Bartwald]

Quorthon said:

I liked Raising Cain, also.

A great little thriller, ain't it? I hardly ever hear people praising it, though, so I'm glad to hear it from you, Quorth!

[Quorthon]

Bartwald said:

A great little thriller, ain't it? I hardly ever hear people praising it, though, so I'm glad to hear it from you, Quorth!

I was shocked to see it in Wal-Mart's $5 bin! Grabbed it the second I saw it.

I think the fact that the film pays some obvious homage to Psycho is why it's so often overlooked. Maybe people just aren't impressed by that. I was, though.

[Heineken Skywalker]

I think the problem is that DePalma has done so many obvious homages to Hitchcock, ie: BODY DOUBLE, DRESSED TO KILL, etc. Maybe that's the reason people were unimpressed by it. "There goes DePalma again, doing his Hitch impression."
I know I didn't care for it at all. And I usually like John Lithgow in almost everything.

[Heineken Skywalker]

From IMDB:
Movie mogul Brian De Palma is revisiting his epic gangster film The Untouchables almost 20 years after it became a huge hit. The filmmaker is keen to make prequel The Untouchables: Capone Rising in time for the 20th anniversary of the 1987 original. The story will focus upon the young Al Capone as he rises to become a Chicago, Illinois criminal kingpin. The original film centered upon lawmaker Eliot Ness' efforts to arrest the infamous gangster, played by Robert De Niro.