Brian De Palma- And so it began
1988- I was watching the Academy Awards ceremony on TV. The nominees for the Best Supporting Actor were being announced, and one of them was an actor, who to date still happens to be my favorite Bond, Sean Connery. Slightly older, with a salt and pepper beard, but still looking dashing enough. And then they showed the clipping, where he utters that dialogue
You wanna get Capone? Here’s how you get him. He pulls a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue! That’s the Chicago way, and that’s how you get Capone!
The way Connery recites the dialogue, his expressions, his movements, were just totally seeti maar. I was not surprised when Connery won the Best Supporting Actor award. Normally i would give Oscar nominated flicks a big miss, till then most of my Hollywood movies viewing was restricted to the big budget blockbusters and the slam bang stuff. But this one clip just whetted my appetite, i had to see this movie. And when some of the movie magazines then, praised this as one of the best English movies then, i was much more eager to see it. In the days before the DVD, online movies, You Tube and much earlier before HBO, Star Movies, the only way one could see a new English flick, was to get hold of a video casette. So we scoured the video shops, me and my cousin, but drew a blank, that only increased our longing for this movie.
1989- Sangeet theater, Secunderabad, the watering hole for all the English movie lovers of the twin cities. Our long wait had come to an end. I stepped into the theater along with my cousin, another movie fanatic like me. The screen went dark, and first came the Paramount logo, then a movie by Brian De Palma, and then the cast names. As the cast names appeared on the screen, the background was totally dark for most part, and we just saw shadows in the background. The shadows lengthen, the letters come into focus, and then on the screen, The Untouchables, in huge letters, a dark and yellow background, and the shadows sprawling across. Simple, minimal and yet so effective. One of the best opening credits ever, and add to it Ennio Morricone’s memorable opening theme. Yes we were totally hooked. And then the movie unfolded. Robert De Niro’s introduction with the camera zooming in from the top, as he lies on the bed, having a shave, speaking to the media, Sean Connery and Kevin Costner meeting on the bridge, the encounter between Sean Connery and Andy Garcia, and of course the by now legendary “Odessa Steps” inspired shootout scene in the Chicago Union Station, and then the final ending, we were totally hooked. I was now totally hooked on to the movie, and i saw it again and again, borrowing money, sometimes sitting even in the lowest class, which then cost a princely sum of Rs 5. I was not just hooked, i was mesmerized, even for a die hard English movie fan like me, The Untouchables was a totally different experience altogether. It was not just the “Odessa Steps” inspired shootout scene, but so many, the dialogues, the tense confrontations, the way Prohibition Era Chicago was recreated, Ennio Morricone’s memorable OST, the performances everything.
And that started my fascination with Brian De Palma, and in Scarface followed . Honestly i was not too impressed by the movie when i saw it the first time. The staccato bursts of dialogue, the jerky camera movements, the not too likeable characters just put me off. And add to it a cartoonish climax, better suited to a Mithun Da or Rajnikanth movie, where the hero goes single handedly against a group of baddies. However subsequent viewings have just made me fall in love with it, and to date it remains one of my favorite movies. And then followed a host of other flicks Carlito’s Way, Mission Impossible, Body Double, Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Blow Out, Snake Eyes that just deepened my fascination for him. What i discovered was a world of violence, gory, crazy twisted characters, people who are not what they seem to be, camera angles that made me dizzy at times. It was not a feel good world, nor were any of his characters particularly likeable, but there was something fascinating about that. For me, Brian De Palma’s movies were generally the inverse of Tim Burton’s dark, gothic tales. Burton would create a crazy gothic atmosphere, populate it with strange characters, and then drive home the point that beyond that creepy looking weirdo, was actually a nice, ordinary person. Brian De Palma would take seemingly normal characters, in totally mundane places, and then take us inside the person to show that inside him/her lies a dangerous secret. Burton would take the Beast and try to explore the human being in him, De Palma explores the Beast within a human being.
It is quite ironical that my first Brian De Palma movie, was quite different from most of the other De Palma movies i had seen. Sure, The Untouchables had a lot of gore, but nothing remotely close to the ”chain saw murder” in Scarface or the ”power drill murder” scene in Body Double. But what really strikes me about The Untouchables, was the characterization. In sharp contrast to most of the other De Palma movies, where characters are either cranked out, or inhabit a grey world between the black and white, the Untouchables had a clear cut division between black and white. In fact the Untouchables was more a throwback to Hollywood’s classic era movies, right from its black and white characters, to the epic style of movie making, to Morricone’s thunderous OST, to the panoramic shots. Elliot Ness( Kevin Costner) was the whitest of the lot, nothing seemed to be wrong about him. He was an arrow straight, honest cop, a loving husband, a doting Dad, a total family man, in total the noble, idealistic hero. On the other extreme is Al Capone( Robert De Niro), the bad guy, the gangster who literally owns Chicago city, who has no qualms about breaking people’s heads with a baseball bat, totally ruthless and powerful. And in between there is Jimmy Malone( Sean Connery), an Irish cop, who believes that going by the book, is not going to help in the fight against Capone. Someone who becomes Ness’s friend, philosopher, guide and mentor, who teaches him how to fight crime ”Chicago style”. Add to it a rookie sharpshooter George Stone ( Andy Garcia), a nerdy book keeper Oscar Wallace( Charles Smith), and a whole host of other stereotypes, the corrupt cops, the inquisitive journalist, the vicious hit man, Frank Nitti.
But trust De Palma to make a classic out of a movie that is totally black and white in terms of characterization, and which is
Al Capone's introduction
predictable more often than not. Honestly even now i really don’t care if Connery’s accent is really Scottish or Irish, i just love watching him deliver that ”crime fighting Chicago style” dialogue, or that kick ass movement, when he pretends to interrogate a dead gangster and gets the other gangster to speak up. The brilliance of De Palma’s shot taking for me, begins right with the opening introduction shot of Al Capone itself. The camera zooming in to Capone, lying on his couch, taking a shave, as the media persons surround him, shooting questions at him. And as Capone is speaking to the press persons, the barber accidentally nicks him. He is terrified, afraid of facing the wrath of Chicago’s ”most powerful” person, and begins to cower. For a minute the tension level rises up, and Capone just smirks, the barber is relieved. That one bit spoke a whole lot for the way Capone was able to wield power over so many people.
Another brilliant moment was the encounter between Malone and George Stone. The fact that Stone was really an Italian, Guiseppe Petri, and had to change his name to avoid discrimination, highlighted, the anti Italian bias , as well as the traditional Italian-Irish animosity. In fact here again loved the way Andy Garcia was introduced, people at the shooting range, Andy Garcia’s back to the camera, suddenly he whirls around, bang, bang, bang, totally filmi style. And then the face off.
Malone: Why do you want to join the force?
George Stone: To protect the property and citizenry of…
Malone: Ah, don’t waste my time with that bullshit. Where you from, Stone?
George Stone: I’m from the south-side.
Malone: Stone. George Stone. That’s your name? What’s your real name?
George Stone: That is my real name.
Malone: Nah. What was it before you changed it?
George Stone: Giuseppe Petri.
Malone: Ah, I knew it. That’s all you need, one thieving wop on the team.
George Stone: Hey, what’s that you say?
Malone: I said that you’re a lying member of a no good race.
George Stone: Much better than you, you stinking Irish pig.
Malone: Oh, I like him.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Can’t say about other movies but The Untouchables and The Scarface are great films and wonderfully entertaining films.. Loved the way you have described the Untouchables intro.. Reminded me my own experience of the film..
Once Brian De Palma said.. if you find one never seen thing in the movie then its a great film because you will remember it forever.. In Untouchables, its more than ten – De Niro’s intro, Di Niro’s baseball bat violence, Union Station and kids stroller, Canadian Border fight, Court’s terrace chase, Connery’s death.. All I can remember even after watching them years ago.. If this doesn’t make it great movie then what else????
Nik ironically Untouchables is totally different from most of De Palma’s earlier works, but that to me was the beauty of it. Taking a standard cops and robbers story, and then creating a masterpiece out of it, with not 1 or 2, but a series of brilliant moments. Apart from the Union Station shootout, the fight at the Canadian border is another brilliantly shot scene, especially the part where Connery pretends to interrogate a dead gangster. And then the parting dialogues in the end.
If you remember, Untouchables used to do many rounds on that late night Friday slot on AXN…
@ Ratnakar.
brilliant post. its been a while since i have read your articles on here. I love de Palma, easily one of the all-time directors for me and “the untouchables” along with “scarface” , are amongst the top 2 this guy has come up with. loved his Mission Impossible too, which I think is the best among all the 3 which came out.
I remember watching it in Sangeet theater as well, I was tagging along an older cousin of mine, but was I too young to completely grasp it. I remember watching the movie and distinctly walking out recalling the “steps” scene and some other action scenes. (I didnt really get anything else….) That scene stayed with me for a long time and I revisited that movie after a few years on VHS and I just completely loved it. I understood all the other cinematic moments and appreciate it truly.
parting with a quote from
Tony Montana: You know what capitalism is? Getting fucked!
LOL. cheers.
LOL, Bipin, but then Scarface had a lot of those bad ass quotes. Also both Untouchables and Scarface, had excellent script writers. David Mamet, made sure that the action scenes and the gunfights, dont overshadow the drama quotient in Untouchables. Oliver Stone, created a killer script for Scarface, drawing on his cocaine addiction experiences, no wonder the drug addiction scenes, are so haunting.
Regarding MI, for me De Palma’s version was the best, John Woo’s was total Bollywood masala.
@ Nik and Bipin
While The Untouchables, Scarface and MI, have become Brian De Palma’s most well known movies, there is a whole lot of other movies, equally brilliant.
Check out for Blow Out, its a brilliant homage to the European style avant garde thrillers of the 60’s. As also Carrie to date one of the best in the Horror genre.
Body Double is another excellent movie of his, a more violent,gory version of Rear Window. Also Carlito’s Way, which to me is sometimes overshadowed by Scarface, but a much better gangster flick, IMO.
@ ratnakar,
yes, I watched BLOW OUT, BODY DOUBLE, CARRIE.
Also, I found ” Bonfire of the vanities and Dressed to Kill pretty good too.
His more recent work in the form of “femme fatale” was not upto the mark, although it had its moments and paris was shot beatifully. ( I am not really complaining much , cuz of rebecca romjin in it ..LOL)
however, Black Dahlia, was very unimpressive and I cant stand the very “wooden” actor – Josh Harnett.
Also, about BLOW OUT, did you know that there’s a movie called BLOWUP http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060176/
which I happened to watch recently. The plots are quite similar, except that in this one, the lead actor is a fashion photographer, who happens to capture a murder and keeps blowing up his negatives and unravels the plot ( quite similar to de palma’s version of a sound guy), – I dont know if its inspired by that movie or credited to the original. take a look if you get a chance.
Bipin, ur right Blow Up is one of the inspirations for Blow Out. The other inspiration was FFC’s Conversation, the thing about using sound recording to solve a mystery. Blow Out actually was one of De Palma’s more political movies, taking off on the Chappaquidick incident.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chappaquiddick_incident
And a lot of references to Watergate, JFK’s assassination.
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Also i believe Blow Up was the first movie to feature full female frontal nudity on screen.
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Did not see “Bonfire of Vanities”, but did not find “Mission to Mars” as bad as the critics had made it out to be.
BLOW UP is a separate talk altogether.
hey ratnakar, thanks for letting me know of the chappaquidick incident. I had heard abuot this since Ted Kennedy was involved and he is a prominent polictian in Massachusetts. I am actually going to Martha’s vineyard, where this incident happened in a few weeks time. will look out for some historical pointers when i get there.
On another note, FFC’s Conversation sure was a gr8 watch.
Hey Bipin, excuse my ignorance as I haven’t seen Blowup…but was this also an inspiration for Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro in terms of the basic plot line of capturing a murder and blowin up the photo to find the culprit
hey sudip,
I never related it that way, but probably that part of the movie was an inspiration for it.
-bipin
Yes, it was. There is also a homage to ‘Antonioni’(Blow Up’s director) in the movie. The park in JDBY is called the ‘Antonioni’ Park.
Was De Mello, a pseudonym of Antonioni?? I am honestly feeling bhery bhery confused now.
Typo. I meant JBDY (I love earning points like this!).
JBDY, JDBY, ki farak painda, Sab maaya hai.
and also I forgot to mention, I watched his Snake Eyes and of course, Carlito’s way. I totally agree with your views on this one. a gr8 gangster flick. Sean Penn is an absolute delight to watch in this one.
his upcoming projects are listed and they are
1. Boston Stranglers ( I wonder what that is and being living in boston for almost 8 years now, I definitely am salivating on that one)….
and HOLD ON – I just stumbled upon this one ….
I see , THE UNTOUCHABLES – CAPONE RISING – I wonder what that is? Depalma is planning a prequel and Gerard Butler has been signed on.
IMDB does not have any more dope on it….http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425602/
heres one more link http://www.countingdown.com/movies/3619736
Also liked Snake Eyes, as Oz has said, the way BDP makes the camera weave in and out of the stadium, covering the events unfolding is something to be seen.
Bipin, Boston Strangler is a notorious real life serial killer, real name Albert De Salvo. Check here for more details, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_strangler. Not sure if the movie is on that/
nice write up man… makes me feel like wathcing it again
Great post Ratnakar! Oddly, enough I was excited about the mention of “Sangeet theatre”. I cant remember how many times we’d bunk lectures and go there.
@ Neeraj, hmm so u too did ur education in Hyderabad? Yeah Sangeet was the place for folks like us, who wanted to watch the latest Holly flick in town.
Awesome! You stick to all your promises. Will come to this post soon…
Come soon, awaiting ur comments.
Connery’s role though very appreciated had a few skeptics too. Primarily because of his Irish accent that hardcore skeptics went ballistic on. Even to this day when I read a blog on Untouchables… there are a few which do mention that having a Scottish (Connery) speak in Irish just didn’t gell well with them.
Regarding DeNiro, it is said that he poured himself so deeply into Capone’s role, that he even ordered and wore silk underwear just like Capone, in the movie.I think it was potato salad that went on for 4 months at a stretch to build the fat around his waist so he could even weight and measure in size exactly like Capone.
My favorite scene besides the all others have mentioned above… was Connery after being shot lying on the floor and desperately asking Costner to pass him the object lying a bit far from him… Costner picking one thing then the other trying to find what exactly Connery wants… the desperation in that atmosphere – very few scenes in movie history make that reach the viewer sitting on the other side of the screen. this one scene, always gets to me everytime. Then when he gets the timetable in his hand with his christ chain he mutters out a few sounds in his dying state slapping the railway timetable trying to relay to Costner the info… Superb!
Hmm, well the same accent thing was also raised for Scarface, with many complaining about Italian origin actors( Al Pacino, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Robert Loggia) playing Cuban characters. I had an American friend, who hated Scarface for the same reason, though she is a big time Pacino fan. She could never accept Pacino playing a Cuban with a Italian new Yorker accent.
Considering De Niro’s method acting obsession, his preparation for part of Capone has become something of a movie folklore. Well RDN actually wanted to do what he did for Raging Bull, but with the producers running short of time, he wore pads to produce Capone’s bulky build. There is also this urban legend about RDN, getting his clothes stitched by Capone’s original tailor, which however many say is not true.
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BTW i believe that the Union Station in Chicago, has become something of a tourist attraction after the shootout scene in Untouchables.
Even if critics are not considered and he is analyzed solely on the basis of general audience’s views, it will be very difficult to bring him into the category of FFC and MS. IMHO.
He can be respected separately without comparing him with great directors of wolrd cinema. Films of great directors present something extra also than the fiction on the screen and that can be the difference between a BDP and MS or FFC.
Repeat value of FILMs and FILMs can be due to different reasons but these DIFFERENT REASONS act as FILTERS to allow the entry only of quite a few out of many good directors into the club of great directors.
Film making is a technical thing also and he knows how to make and present his kind of films.
But it is also clear from most of his films that He incorporates elements in his films which he likes to add (and not on the basis of if those elements were really required by the subject at first place). So stress is there on the presentation. For example over dose of eroticism rather sex in most of his films. It has been a must factor in most of his films. Femme Fatale even starts with the over dose of it while a heist is being operated. Over dose of sex definitely affects over all quality of his films and that too in a negative manner.
So many of his films are quite successful as they are able to keep audience’s attention and interest intact during the first watch but after effect may not be that deep which comes after watching great films made by great directors.
Blow out, Snake Eyes, FF, etc, can not be watched again immediately after first watching. (Few audience may be exceptions here).
Later one can watch these and such films but maybe due to the interest in technical things, as such competency is always there in his films.
For example the sequence in The Black Dahlia where, after a shoot out infront of a building, camera goes up in to the sky covering the roof of that tall building and shows the ground in the back side of the building and goes down and shows an elderly lady witnessing the disrupted naked dead body of the woman. But dead body is not shown there via close up and close up of it is used in the very end and that too via imagination or memory.
He is not in the club of great directors, can be due to the subjects of his films and genre in which he makes his films because Hitchcock has made much better films than him many years ago. He has not surpassed the master of suspence thrillers.
So if one is discussing AH then perhaps he can not put BDP at same pedestal.
As said before, we can respect him for what he has made till now and without comparing him with the master directors of cinema.
Comparison kills something and if it has to be done and there is no other way then man should be compared with the directors existing in his own league.
Snake Eyes is something that is so forgotten when DePalm’s films are discussed over coffee. Somehow to many (not the hard core DePalma fan) it just doesn’t exist. Likewise for the last few films. But Snake Eyes being on the forgotten list is surprising. It is movie that I love not because of actors but the way the story just drives in and out through the stadium, from one room to another, from one floor to another, with some pulse pounding background score and the way the camera behaves as a watcher of the entire night unfolding before its eyes. One of my favorites.
One of my favourites as well. It is unbeleivable the way the subject is treated. Also unmatched style is packed by Nicholas Cage. I think it has got one of the longest continuous scenes I have ever seen, (with I dont know how many characters) right in the beginning. I think it is 10-12 minute long shot or atleast the editor makes you feel so !
RK, i guess critics often ended up making the inevitable comparison to Hitchcock, due to movies like Body Double( Vertigo, Rear Window), Sisters( Pyscho).But again for me BDP seemed more like a director, who took the basic theme of Hitch’s movies and gave them his own adaptation. It is not putting on the same pedestal, but the fact is Hitch’s movies have been an influence in BDP’s early works.
You are right about comparison killing something. Too often people try to do a comparison between A and B, not realizing both of them have their own different identity. It makes no sense for me to compare BDP with MS or FFC or SS, except for the fact that they all were regarded as the 70’s brat pack, nothing much else common there.
Carrie was an extraordinary film…the best thing about de palma is that he doesnt have a signature style which most directors do.
Sourav, i would rate Carrie as one of the best horror flicks IMO, and also one of the best adaptations of a Stephen King novel on screen.
@RS it definitely was one of the best adaptations of Stephen king.
on that note, I think Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Stephen Kings “THE SHINING” was the best. Even though king didnt like how much kubrick changed in his version !!
Shining was brilliant for sure. Other favorite Stephen King adaptations
Misery, The Shawshank Redemption( classic), The green Mile.
The man has wide range in terms of subject material and thats evident from his movies.to imagine the kind of talent Brian has worked with is mind boggling.Even I didnt find Mission to Mars all that bad.Brian’s Mission Impossible is also my favorite in the franchise.Should watch Blowout sometime soon & even re-visit Carrie- thanks to the post.and yes I guess we’ll never tire discussing about Sangeet Cinema,Secunderabad
The sequence in Gulaal where the protagonist dies is clearly inspired by De Palma’s Untouchables scene where Sean Connery dies. How many of you here felt so ?
Have not seen Gulaal, but this sounds interesting. Couple of days back, some one mentioned a Batman or Batman Returns inspiration too in the Tim Burton blog festival, and now this.
I don’t remember the Gulal scene, as for many things about the film. But comparing it to Untouchables would be nothing but a little crime.
Brian De Palma is a director who hates repeating himself and his filmography is one of the most diverse ranging from political action thrillers (clear and present danger) to spy movies (Mission Impossible) to mafiaso movies (Untouchables, Scarface, Carlito’s way) to Femme fatale movies. However my favourite Brian De Palma movie would have to be Blow Out – shaped like an action movie, it was a very touching tale of a lone man and a woman trapped by circumstances. Even among his gangster movies, he was able to move from one end of the spectrum to the other end in terms of POVs effortlessly without using cliches. Awesome director and a well written post on him!!
Brian De Palma directed Clear and Present Danger??? When ???
To me the closest BDP came to a political thriller, was Blow Out, with its references to the Chappaquidick incident, as also issues like JFK’s assassination and Watergate.
BTW Clear And Present Danger was directed by Philip Noyce.
my bad. sorry for the mistake. it is philip noyce indeed.
@ Ratnakar,
The Pram going down the staircase in ‘The Untouchables’ is a DIRECT COPY from Battleship Potemkin(1925). Copying is what Hollywood Directors like Brian De Palma do.
However you could say that N. Chandra was ‘inspired’ by it & was gracious enough to include the scene in the classic TEZAAB bank robbery scene with Anil Kapoor. Words have meaning. The word ‘inspiration’ is reserved for Indian directors. Mind it.
yeah i mind it, “Inspiration” after all is a matter of “Copying”.
Great write-up. One of the most comprehensive analysis of a filmmaker’s opus in recent times. I have never read anything on BDP much. First heard his name during MI times. I didn’t see the film in whole but knew it carried some class. Saw Untouchables as it was recommended in TOP 10 essential films to see, in some MBA course. Liked it like anything when I saw it. I stared at the those stairs in the Union Station for hours. Expected Public Enemies to revive that mood but it didn’t. Though it did many other things very well.
Glad that you revived all those classic cinema moments through all its scenes, and the historical film-study chapters, like shot taking, take on crime, the actors, the trivia.
Haven’t seen his other films of course except the Pacino ones. Saw a bad print of Black Dahlia once.
Saw REDACTED, and was shocked to no measure. It is probably one of the best skewed takes on WAR FILM, apart from Godard.
Few weeks back, I bought all BURTON films, and am loving the exploration. I guess it is time I buy BDP and join you in this festival too.
Awesome connect to Burton…human in a beast, beast in a human…
Tushar, thanks for the praise, im flattered. I do envy u dude, having seen the steps in Union Station for real. Scarface and Carilto’s Way are great movies in the gangster genre, IMO.
Did hear of Redacted, missed it out. Do check out his Vietnam War movie Casualties of War, one of the most hard hitting ones, dunno why it never really got that much attention.
Well if ur planning to go on a BDP trip, my reccos would be Carrie, Blow Out, Body Double( slightly easy viewing). For more twisted stuff try Dressed to Kill and Raising Cain.
Thanks for the recco. I will check with Totenkopf if he has any of these titles. I suspect he must be having Carrie and the twisted stuff, as you call it.
Some of the connections and inspirations here are making me feel so dumb.
This post has been published recently at http://www.cinemaviewfinder.com/2009/09/de-palma-blog-thon-and-so-it-began.html
Hello Mr. Sandasyula,
I just got back from Cinema Viewfinder, where this review was published, and I would like to congratulate you on a job well done. Even though “The Untouchables” might not be De Palma’s masterpiece, it is most definately- as I put it over at Cinema Viewfinder- his “flawed great film”, since there are plenty of stunning sequences to make up for its missteps.
By the way, “Redacted” is even better. I’ll be submitting a review of it to Cinema Viewfinder soon, in case anyone would like to hear more about it.