De Palma's Most Underrated Flick Goes Special Edition
Filed under: Thrillers, Mystery & Suspense, Home Entertainment
Back when I was but a young and sponge-like movie nerdlet, I chanced upon Brian De Palma's Body Double on HBO one night. Aside from being dazzled by the movie's, ahem, erotic nature, I found myself absolutely fascinated by the non-sexy bits, too. After seeing it a second time, I was convinced (well, as convinced as a 15-year-old geek could be) that Body Double was easily as good as De Palma's Carrie, Dressed to Kill and/or Blow Out. (OK, maybe not Blow Out.) But "the critics" didn't seem to dig the flick, generally dismissing it as a thinly-veiled rip-off of Alfred Hitchock, particularly the master's Vertigo and Rear Window.These criticisms inspired me to seek out those "old-fashioned black & white" movies, and (obviously) I became a huge Hitchcock fan overnight. So while some critics chose to see De Palma's affectionate homage as De Palma's shameless rip-off, I was just grateful that Body Double introduced me to the wonderful world of Hitchcock. And yeah, I still think Body Double is one of De Palma's best, and I've been following the guy's career since before I could drive.
So for the price of one aimless anecdote you now get the news: Sony Home Video will be releasing a Special Edition of Body Double on October 3rd. Extra goodies include four featurettes, some new cast & crew interviews and a sparkly new anamorphic transfer. No commentary, unfortunately, because guys like De Palma (and Steven Spielberg and Woody Allen and Clint Eastwood) don't like doing audio commentaries.
For those with hazy memories, Body Double is the one with the porn stars, the massive power drill, and the Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-29-2006 @ 1:57PM
Bilge Ebiri said...
I absolutely agree. BODY DOUBLE was the film that turned me from a De Palma-hater to a fan. How anyone can think it was a "ripoff" of Hitchcock is beyond me. That film is probably the greatest tribute to Hitchcock I've ever seen.
And, I daresay, it's much, much better than BLOW OUT, which I've never really cared for.
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7-29-2006 @ 3:54PM
eb said...
I saw it, and enjoyed it, on HBO as well. Roger Ebert was one critic who appreciated the film:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Body Double" is an exhilarating exercise in pure filmmaking, a thriller in the Hitchcock tradition in which there's no particular point except that the hero is flawed, weak, and in terrible danger -- and we identify with him completely. The movie is so cleverly constructed, with the emphasis on visual storytelling rather than dialogue, that we are neither faster nor slower than the hero as he gradually figures out the scheme that has entrapped him. And the casting of a Hitchcockian average guy also helps."
http://tinyurl.com/zkgrs
Good ol' Roger.
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7-29-2006 @ 3:57PM
Andy said...
And Patrick Bateman in American Psycho rents Body Double thirty-seven times. He likes "the part where the woman gets drilled by the power-driller and the blood starts pouring out of the ceiling". Is it too late for Sony to get Christian Bale as Patrick to do the commentary?
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7-29-2006 @ 4:26PM
Richard von Busack said...
Pauline Kael fell for it, too--damned if I can tell why. I think Body Double is rated just about right. Couldn't he have come up with a better porn-star name than "Holly Body"?
There is such a thing as underrated DePalma: Obsession is a better HItch-rip (of Vertigo) and it's a movie that everyone hates, yet it's just about the lushest New Orleans movie ever made. Silly as it is, the finale of Raising Cain is a triumph of DePalma's mechanical ingenuity. (I guess we'll have to wait for the two of them together at a Lithgow film fest.) But Body Double is a real stinker, almost as bad as his last one, that incoherent jewel thief movie.
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7-30-2006 @ 6:05AM
Richard Brunton said...
Oh I love Body Double. Echo the sentiments here and say that this film made me look at Brian De Palma in a big way. I still have a huge appreciation for this film.
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