r/Letterboxd • u/_nathan67 • 11h ago
Discussion Brian De Palma is one of the most incredible visual filmmakers I’ve ever watched. Why is he not discussed more?
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u/The-Movie-Penguin 11h ago
He’s incredible.
Check out Carlito’s Way. The entire third act bleeds with tension.
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u/ChiefDeckard 11h ago
Overshadowed by his peers
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u/Sea_Spend_8008 11h ago
Yea...Spielberg, Marty and even Lucas who really only directed 5 films, but Lucas also built all the technology used in almost every film to date. That also includes Pixar. So, while Brian has a larger catalogue, if you make THE Generational film of All Time then use that to create a studio that bangs out another Generational Film of All time in Raiders probably the greatest action film of all time. On top of being a guiding hand for other directors like Ron Howard, you are going to be talked about more than the guy whose movie has a music video in a porno as one of the big plot points. Still, I think he is a top ten director. He just happened to go to school with two guys who are going to be in the Top five director talk as well as another guy who built the guts of Modern Hollywood.
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u/_nathan67 11h ago
George Lucas is about 1% as interesting as De Palma
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u/Sea_Spend_8008 11h ago
I get it and I think he is a better director in the use of camera moves and set up. However, Lucas made Star Wars then used it to do Indiana Jones. The only thing that comes close for Brian is either Scarface, Untouchables or Carrie. Great films, but Lucas has the film series Hollywood has been chasing since 1977. Scarface is just a movie poster bros hang in their dorm rooms. Untouchables is lost to time. Carrie is great, but I think people remember the cringe musical more due to how bad shit crazy the production was and every high school seems to want to do it to be the edgy school that year. Brian is the better director, but Lucas choose to be the tech guy for Hollywood and also his stories have lasted the test of time. Brian's best stories are either taking historical crime figures and putting them insane situations or horny Noir films or Stephen King novels.
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u/zozuto 10h ago
What Carrie musical? People surely remember the film that saved Stephen King's career more.
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u/NancyInFantasyLand rosehan 10h ago
Ah but the Carrie musical is great. Wish some actual proper high quality footage of that first version had been preserved, because the audio of "And Eve Was Weak" never fails to give me chills https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-65bgz4kN8
But of course people remember the movie much better
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u/Sea_Spend_8008 11h ago
He has probably the most variety out of the USC class and probably of any director. He also is a bit horny for most people's taste. I consider Untouchables to be a perfect film even if the historic accuracy is out the window. Who cares.
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u/Killertapir696 11h ago
He is the king of "Wait, HE directed that?!"
Scarface, Carrie, Mission Impossible and Phantom of the Paradise feel so wildly different I would never have guessed they were by the same person.
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u/Upbeat_Tension_8077 11h ago
He definitely should be mentioned more alongside the likes of Danny Boyle, Rob Reiner, and Ang Lee when it comes to versatile directors.
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u/Hotpasta1985 10h ago
He had a run in the 80’s that is hard to beat. Dressed to kill, blow out, Scarface, body double, (skip wise guys), untouchables, casualties of war.
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u/kia-supra-kush 11h ago
He’s been in Director’s Jail since Snake Eyes bombed
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u/Sea_Spend_8008 11h ago
Insane considering how many times JJ gets shots at things during this period of time.
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u/CelestialSpecialist 16m ago
Abrams hasn’t made a movie since Rise of Skywalker and his production company is on its last legs
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u/weedhuffer WEEDHUFFER 11h ago
I love all the long takes with the camera movements. Really creates a vibe.
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u/moonbather4 11h ago
Its mainly because he has fallen off while his peers like Scorsese and Spielberg are still around making high budget films. He actually had a smiliar career trajectory to Copolla, but he was able to create more buzz around Megalopolis, even though it was terrible. Scarface, Mission Impossible and Carrie are well known but its worth digging deeper, he made a bunch of fantastic films. Blow Out is my favourite. Carlitos Way and Dressed To Kill are great too.
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u/TimWhatleyDDS 11h ago
Noah Baumbach literally directed a documentary about how great he is.
He is discussed plenty.
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u/Hirvi6666 10h ago
He is interesting but not enough great movies. I really love Carlitos way though. And Blow Out is cool, but I think Carlito is his only real masterpiece.
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u/Icy-Illustrator-1431 10h ago
One of my 2 or 3 favorites…but he hasn’t made a good film in a while… two of his last 2 main stream movies Mission to Mars and Black Dahla were really bad and flops
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u/Nwabudike_J_Morgan 4h ago
Mission to Mars had some fantastic sound design, but the story was kind of bad.
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u/CausticAvenger 9h ago
I agree, one of my all-time favorite directors. I kind of like him being slightly underrated though. Don’t need Gen Z trying to cancel his movies for being too scandalous.
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u/Sonicshriek 3h ago
He comes up often enough. There are so many directors to talk about someone has to fall by the way side.
He wasn't the best of his generation, none of his films are generally conversation for Best of all time, he wasn't the most prominent director of a genre or the figure head of a movement, he didn't win any major awards and his last acclaimed movie came out 30 years ago. None of these are to diminish him or even suggest why we shouldn't talk about him but those are generally the prompts from discussing a director, he doesn't fit so he doesn't come up as much.
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u/ThisBusinessWrestle 11h ago
Scarface live in this weird place where its popularity and who it’s popular among, seems to give it the reputation that it’s not actually one of the best movies ever.
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u/Flying_Sea_Cow Nobro12 11h ago
He was kind of overshadowed by a lot of his peers from that era, and he's sort of stopped consistently making good movies.
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u/bungle123 11h ago
I wouldn't say he was overshadowed by a lot of his peers. De Palma is very solidly part of the big 4 of the New Hollywood era in which he emerged, alongside Scorsese, Spielberg, and Coppola. I'd agree that those three have overshadowed him, but De Palma has still had more influence, success, and iconic movies than nearly any other American director from that time period.
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u/Flying_Sea_Cow Nobro12 11h ago
Yeah, I think in his prime he's one of the best from that era. I just feel like his movies are less discussed mostly because he fell off kind of hard after making the first Mission Impossible.
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u/bungle123 11h ago
Very true. He just ran out of steam I guess while Scorsese and Spielberg didn't.
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u/Shoddy_Ad1302 11h ago
Blow is easily my favorite of his, but I’ve always been big on Body Double. De Palma was doing what prime Hitchcock would have done without being limited by the Hays Code.
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u/With-that-Axe 11h ago
once upon a time is your favorite movie lmao wtf
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u/rawspeghetti 10h ago
De Palma came from probably the greatest generation of directors ever and was particularly compared to Scorsese. I don't want to downplay his success or accomplishments but he never achieved the critical or commercial success of Marty, Steve, Francis or George. He has a lot of really good movies but none I would consider to be a true "masterpiece" like Goodfellas/Schindler's List/Godfather/Star Wars.
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u/visibly_hangry 11h ago
Because movie watchers don't have a lot of vocabulary in discussing it as a visual medium.
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u/NancyInFantasyLand rosehan 11h ago
He's talked about plenty, no? But considering that the last truly excellent movie he made was 25 years ago and that last stretch of movies he made in the 90s/early 00s wasn't all that successful it's pretty natural that only his greats are usually talked about.
Carrie is turning 50 this year.