Body Double

Body Double is directed by Brian De Palma, he also co-writes the screenplay with Robert J. Avrech. It stars Craig Wasson, Melanie Griffith, Gregg Henry, Deborah Shelton, Guy Boyd and Dennis Franz. Music is by Pino Donaggio and cinematography by Stephen H. Burum.

Brian De Palma continued his crusade to push buttons of the sensitive whilst homaging his hero Alfred Hitchcock, with this cheeky, garish, sleazy thriller. Even when moving away from Hitch like movies, he created a storm with Scarface (1983), so the critics of 1984 wondered if a return to suspense thriller territory would put the director back on an even cinematic keel? Not a bit of it! The reaction to Body Double was ridiculously over the top, apparently a misogynistic homage to the porn industry, with exploitation gore thrown in for good (bad) measure, Body Double was the devil's spawn in the eyes of critics. The public? Not so much, film was a sure fire hit at the box office.

Of course today it seems all very tame, where not even a simulated drilling killing can raise the temperature of the audience, or that frank sexual language and bare bodies no longer makes cinema goers blush. On reflection now it's easy to view De Palma's movie as a visionary piece of work, a film gently poking the ribs of Hollywood and the MPAA, and as was always the case with his 70s and 80s work, he was a director who easily elicited a response from his audience. And with his box of cinematic tricks still impressive before he became over reliant on them, Body Double is a fascinatingly lurid viewing experience.

That it's Vertigo and Rear Window spliced together is a given, but that doesn't make it a bad film, besides which it bears the De Palma stamp as well, undeniably so. Plot finds Jake Scully (Wasson), a struggling actor with claustrophobia, thrust into a world of murder, obsession, deceit and paranoia, for when he house sits for a newly acquired friend, he spies a sexy lady through the telescope apparently being stalked by an odd looking Native American. To reveal more would spoil the fun of anyone watching for the first time, but suffice to say that Jake has entered the realm where neo-noir protagonists wander around wondering how and why they are in this mess.

It's pulpy and pappy, but in the best ways possible, and unlike many other films made by directors who ventured into similar territory, it's never boring (hello Sliver). Cast are appropriately cartoonish or animated, the twists fun if not hard to see coming, and with De Palma's visual panache cosying up nicely with Donaggio's musical score, Body Double is fine entertainment brought to us by a director with a glint in his eye. 8/10

Sort of a cross between "Rear Window" and "Vertigo" but instead of James Stewart we get Craig Wasson as a struggling actor mixed in with some sly jokes at the film studios, actors, and adult films. Visually very stylish with hypnotic score. Bizarre music video sequence is well done to the tune of "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. If you can look past the plot holes, it's an entertaining over-the-top effort from De Palma.

Rating: ***1/2 out of 4.

Brian De Palma has had it with his critics and the rating's board. After the cuts that needed to be made to his masterpieces like DRESSED TO KILL and SCARFACE (which eventually got to be released in its intended format inconspicuously), the line is drawn. So naturally, he would make a movie about it. The result is BODY DOUBLE, a big thumb-in-the-nose to Hollywood conventions and 80's pop-culture. It's one-part Hitchcockian thriller and one-part satire, but its an all-around crazy movie.

If you despise De Palma, chances are you'd consider BODY DOUBLE as one of his worst. Here, De Palma doesn't give a damn if you get him or not. Here, he revels in who he is and what he wants. He also intentionally throws in the trashy 80's fad at the time, from a tacked in music video of Frankie Goes to Hollywood's one-hit wonder "Relax" to the voyeuristic obsession with porn, as the sufficient atmosphere (as well as a social critique) of the era. The story, which basically riffs VERTIGO and REAR WINDOW, has a B-movie actor named Jake Scully (Bill Maher look-alike Craig Wasson) who has a very bad day when first he gets fired from his only B-movie gig and later sees her girlfriend in bed with another man. Discouraged, he bumps into a friend named Sam Bouchard (Gregg Henry, the most noticeable "Hey, isn't he that guy?" character actor appearing in De Palma's films) who invites him to watch over his place; a campy-looking tower mansion that looks like it came out of an episode of LOST IN SPACE. While there, Sam introduces him to his "favorite neighbor", a beautiful woman named Glora Revelle (Deborah Shelton) who does a striptease in her bedroom, not knowing she's being watched. Every night, Jake would watch Gloria doing her routine like clockwork through a telescope, which is harmless perverted fun until he realizes that her life may be in danger; danger in the form of a weird-looking Indian(!) who's spying on her too.

It may take a lot of suspension of disbelief to understand the plot of BODY DOUBLE as it goes to even crazier heights. At first, it looks like the usual De Palma-as-Hitchcock thriller with some terrific sequences, then it turns into something out of a slasher film, then enters the sleazy world of 80's pornography where a young Melanie Griffith plays Holly Body, a porn star who may be a key to solving the crime. But when people realize that this is meant to be a thriller-cum-satirical comedy, they might enjoy it more. As usual, De Palma demonstrates his talents with staging mise-en-scene in sequences like when Jake stalks Gloria who is being stalked by the Indian (which is obviously borrowed from VERTIGO but is actually a little more voyeuristic in nature here) and there's the REAR WINDOW-inspired scene where Jake spies on Gloria while she's doing her striptease routine, backed up by a catchy score by Pino Donaggio.

Overall, it's not meant to be taken seriously. "It's only a movie!", Hitchcock once said to some of his difficult actors, and this movie screams that mantra. Wasson's character was meant to be a an average loser and his casting isn't just coincidence; he was meant to play the audience's surrogate. The film being set in Hollywood is another. And is it no wonder that the director that Dennis Franz plays is a direct copy of De Palma? BODY DOUBLE thumbs its nose at Hollywood and many pop-culture fads of the era, turning out to be both a sleazy re-working of Hitchcock's classics and a clever satire.

Body Double is ridiculous. One of the more ridiculous movies I have seen, maybe ever. Everything about it is completely over the top - while this is probably why a lot of people love this movie, for me it mostly had the opposite effect.

First, let me talk about what mostly weighs it down. The lead character is pretty much unbearable. He has very little personality aside from an overblown and unrealistic claustrophobia problem, though he does end up unsheathing some major things it's still painful to watch the journey because he is an awkward, despicable creep the whole way getting there. I disliked him more and more with each shot. While the story seems to be written to be purely entertaining and not realistic (AT ALL), it just doesn't work for me in this case. There are too many cases in nearly EVERY scene where I found myself getting frustrated, saying aloud "That would not happen!", "That is not how that works!", "Why would anyone ever do that?!" constantly, over and over, more than I have done with the majority of movies in my life. The entire thing feels like a "complex" plot that someone planned out a week or two before shooting, and didn't give it any time to marinate and tweak anything to make it feel more organic. But, hey, if you just want an over-the-top B-movie sort of experience, this might tickle you the right way.

One thing that is starting to win points with me after letting this film sit in my mind overnight is that due to it's extremely unrealistic unfolding of events, it does give the film a sort of dream-like or nightmarish sort of quality in your memory, which is always something that I value. Other strong elements are the fantastically eerie and intense music score by the legendary Pino Donaggio, Melanie Griffith at her sexiest and most scant possible, and a few sequences that you won't forget due to some really effective and very Hitchcock-ian cinematography.

Overall, this film really does stand out, but I could never call it a GOOD film. If you just want to see something that is absolutely over the top, functions under it's own set of rules, and is a bit of an anomaly in movie history, especially as something that was created by someone who is considered "a legendary film director", then you'll want to see this at least once. Generally I'm sucker for rule-breaking, absurdist films but this one just hit wrong in too many different ways, which I could not ignore.

I've been a fan of De Palma long time and I just saw this one this night. To my enjoyment, I had a few smiles, even laughters, intensity, involving to the storyline, getting that suspense that is needed.

This movie is a perfect example to pull of what Hitchcock has done best in "Rear Window" and "Vertigo". De Palma set up those two basic ideas into a story that's really enjoyable and intense same time. Especially when you are in the knowledge of the movies of the 40s and 50s and the art of making a thriller you are just going to be pleased.

My guess is that De Palma made this movie out of pure pleasure, doing all those great stuff with claustrophobia, sexual need, voyeurism, grotesque murder, and most of all terrifying suspense.

The murder sequence was in my opinion of a well crafted exercise in suspense. You fear, then you hope, then you try to guess, it goes all right, then all wrong, the hero comes, it seems at right time, but still too late, it all goes on and on and you can't believe it happened. Loved and hated the sequence, for film-making and emotional purposes.

Not the greatest, but definitely one of De Palmas best.