IN RECOGNITION OF THE DIRECTORS Part One
Up until now I have focused on my favorite movies and
actors, however, it is obvious that these are not the only important people in
show business. Among others, there are also producers, screen writers, and of
course directors. According to the National Film Institute, directors start working
in the pre-production phase and don’t stop until the film is in the can and
ready to put on the screen. So when you ask what directors do in the movie
business, the answer is,” just about everything.” They decide the content and
tone of the story, choose the actors, create, and control the budget, decide where
and how to shoot the scenes, pick the music, and oversee the editing. No matter
how good the scripts or how talented the actors are, movies would not exist if
there weren’t directors to bring the stories to life.
Most sources cite The Horse in Motion as the first
motion picture. Produced and directed by photographer Eadweard Muybridge in 1878,
it shows a horse running. To accomplish this Muybridge had to photograph a
sequence of pictures, then build a machine that he called the zoopraxiscope to show
them in sequence, an idea later borrowed by Thomas Edison who produced some of
the earliest films. Muybridge’s invention soon influenced the Lumiere Brothers who
made the first projector, which they called a Cinematographe (hence Cinema) to display
them on a screen. However, these films weren’t movies because they didn’t have a
narrative. The kudos for resolving that conundrum went to George Melies, who was
the first person to turn a film into a coherent tale. The best known of these
are A Trip to the Moon and Joan of Arc, which I’ve discussed in
previous posts. Melies also figured out a way to color film by hand-tinting
frames and developed the first special effects, like the shot of the rocket
piercing the moon’s eye, an iconic scene that directors still use today. In
fact, the 2024 horror comedy Lisa Frankenstein shows it.
Early on movie making was as popular in Europe as it was in
the United States, but America quickly pulled ahead when WW I broke out. The
first American director was Edwin S. Porter, an employee of Thomas Edison, who created
Life of an American Fireman and The Great Train Robbery. In them
you can see the new filming techniques he developed, including parallel editing
(where you see what is going on from more than one perspective). The most noted
early American full feature film was D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation.
Adapted from Thomas F. Dixon’s novel, The Clansman: An Historical Romance of
the Ku Klux Klan (1915) the movie ran over three hours and was one of the most
racist films ever made. However, Griffiths went on to make Intolerance
(1916), which is anti-racist and considered one of the best films ever made.
https://archive.org/details/silent-life-of-an-american-fireman
https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/best-movie-directors-of-all-time/
There has been a plethora of excellent directors over the
years including Frank Capra, Elia Kazan, Billy Wilder, and Alfred Hitchcock. Capra,
an Italian born writer and director started out working in silent movies, then went
on to direct talkies. He gave us such wonderful films as It Happened One
Night with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, and the Christmas standby It’s
a Wonderful Life. Another successful director, Mr. Kazan trained at Julliard,
began working as an actor, then branched out into making Oscar nominated movies
like A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, and Splendor
in the Grass. Billy Wilder’s career spanned decades. A Polish Jew from Austria,
he started out writing screenplays in Germany and when the Nazis came into
power, fled to France and then to the U.S. where he began writing screenplays with
Charles Brackett, many of which he also directed. He is best known for Sunset
Boulevard and Some Like it Hot, one of the best comedies of all time.
And of course, one can’t overlook Alfred Hitchcock who started out in England, before
coming to the United States. Although he is credited with more than fifty amazing
films, Rebecca, which he directed for producer David Selznick, is the
only one that won an Oscar. It’s great, and I, of course, own it.
Among the most well-known contemporary directors is Steven
Spielberg who debuted as the director of the made-for-television hit Duel
(1971) starring Dennis Weaver (who was Chester in the television series Gunsmoke).
Next, he to write and/or direct hits for the big screen including action
thrillers like the Jaws and the Indiana Jones franchises, as well
as thought provoking stories like The Color Purple (1985) and Schindler’s
List (1993), for which he won Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture. Another
extremely popular contemporary director is James Cameron. Probably best known for
Titanic (1997), he also co-wrote (with Gale Anne Hurd) and directed Terminator
one and two (1984 and 1991) and the delightful film True Lies (1994). Then
there’s Quentin Tarantino who is famous for writing and directing Pulp
Fiction (1994), but also created Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
(2019) which I pop into the blue ray player anytime I’m feeling funky.
Another contemporary great is Francis Ford Coppola, best
known for co-writing and directing The Godfather films (1972, 1974,
1990) which were nominated for a number of Oscars and are considered some of
the best pictures ever produced. He also was responsible for Apocalypse Now
(1979), The Outsiders (1983), and the lesser known but much loved (by
me) Peggy Sue Got Married (1986). He is also Nicholas Cage’s uncle. Clint
Eastwood hasn’t made as many films as some of the others mentioned here, but he’s
created excellent movies like the Oscar winning films Unforgiven (1992) and
Million Dollar Baby (2004, that I only watched once). Another big name
in the field is Ron Howard who has been working in the film industry since the
1950s and has been directing films for over forty years. Included among his
creations is A Beautiful Mind which won Oscars for Best Picture, Best
Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Director. Lastly, the fantastic
director Spike Lee has made many enjoyable films including Do the Right
Thing (1989-five nominations), Malcolm X (1992-two nominations), my
favorite Crooklyn (1994-none), and Black Klansman (2018) that I
believe should have won the 2019 Oscar for Best Picture.
However, there are dozens of other fine directors, some of
whom never won an Academy Award but still produced very watchable movies. I
can’t include all of them, but over the next few posts I’m going to share some
of the stories that these men and woman brought to life. The first of these is Body
Double (1984) produced, directed, and co-written (with Robert Avrech) by
Brian De Palma.
Body Double 1984
Although his first films were low budget fares, De Palma moved
into the big time with Carrie (1976) which was adapted from the novel by
Stephen King. According to IMDB, it was the first time DePalma utilized the
split screen which shows the same event occurring at the same time from
different perspectives (thanks to Porter?), a clever trick that would become one
of his signature techniques. He excels at incorporating sound as a special
effect, using dreamy melodies to lull viewers into placidity before employing loud
dissonant chords and nonlinear notes to elicit feelings of terror and dread.
And he also enjoys incorporating doppelgängers to create plot twists that
should have been apparent from the start.
In Dressed to Kill for example, the victim’s killer is
also her psychiatrist, a character who has been present from the beginning, but
his real nature was so skillfully controlled that it didn’t become apparent
until the end. Similarly, Blow Out (which I intend to tackle at a later
date), used a similar tactic by making Sally (Nancy Allen) both the villain’s bait
and his hapless victim. Because many films like Scarface and Carlito’s
Way show a lot of in-your-face violence, he has never even been considered a
member of the elite or been nominated for an academy award. However, if it were
up to me, I personally would have nominated him for Carlito’s Way for
Best Director in 1993 before I chose James Ivory for Remains of the Day which
was the most boring movie I’ve ever seen. Likewise, even though it didn’t do
well at the box office, DePalma made clever use of his signature style in the movie
Body Double (1984).
https://www.joblo.com/the-test-of-time-dressed-to-kill-1980/
The story opens with the spine-tingling howl of a wolf and a
shot of a misty graveyard with a vampire lying in a coffin. Just as the movie’s
director Rubin (Dennis Franz) calls for action, the actor, Jake Scully (Craig
Wasson), inexplicably freezes. After a few extremely tense seconds, he manages
to get out of the coffin but is unable to explain what went wrong. As he tries to
smooth things over with Rubin, however, the scenery bursts into flame and Rubin
tells him to go home and come back when everything is fixed. Reassured, Jake walks
out of the studio, climbs into a rusted-out beater and drives to his apartment
where he finds his girlfriend Carol (Barbara Crampton) in their bed having sex
with another guy. Instead of confronting her, Jake silently turns and walks out.
From there, he heads to his favorite bar and orders a shot of Jack Daniels, to
which the bartender, Paul (uncredited) immediately comments, “you quit drinking,
remember?” Undeterred, Jake insists that Paul bring him the bottle and starts
to gulp down one shot after another. But Paul understands, and when he closes
up for the night, he invites Jake to his place to sleep on an extremely
uncomfortable couch.
Since he’s out of work until shooting of the movie resumes, Jake
checks the want ads, finds a casting call, and decides to audition. While waiting
in line, he meets Sam Bouchard, and as they start chatting, an acquaintance of
Jake’s comes by and reminds him about their afternoon acting class. So, after
auditioning Jake goes to the class, where the teacher makes him recount a
traumatic event from his childhood that caused the paralysis he experienced on
Rubin’s movie set. Just reliving the event causes him to freeze up, but instead
of empathizing, the teacher insists that he act his way out of his fear.
Suddenly Sam stands up, chews out the instructor, and insists that Jake leave with
him. After apologizing as if he’s the one who did something wrong, Jake accompanies
his new fan to a bar and begins to explain that he found out his girlfriend was
cheating on him, and that he’s now homeless because it was her apartment. Sam
confides that he’s separated from his wife and has been staying at a friend’s
place while the friend is away. Coincidentally, he needs to go out of town for
a few days and could use Jake’s help taking care of the man’s plants. Relieved,
Jake readily volunteers.
The friend’s house turns out to be a lavish futuristic building
reminiscent of Seattle’s Space Needle in an area surrounded by sumptuous
mansions. After showing Jake around what is a typical bachelor’s pad complete
with a rotating bed and well stocked bar, Sam gets ready to leave, then stops, checks
his watch, and suggests that Jake look through the telescope that is set up on
the balcony. To Jake’s disbelief, and delight, he sees a dimly lit bedroom
where a woman with a tattoo on her upper hip opens a safe, decks herself out in
jewels, and begins dancing erotically. Completely mesmerized, he barely notices
when Sam goes inside.
Jake is a decent guy and knows that he shouldn’t watch, even
tries to look away a couple of times, but he cannot stop. Just as the woman is finishing,
Sam comes back and asks Jake if he could see her face. When Jake says no, Sam assures
him that she is “gorgeous,” and that she does the same thing at the same time
every night. After Sam leaves, Jake checks the telescope one more time, but now
the woman is in bed asleep. Suddenly a man wearing a hat that blocks his identity
sneaks into her bedroom and turns on the light, which allows Jake to see the woman’s
beautiful features. The man opens the safe and removes something, but just as
he is leaving, she wakes up and challenges him. As Jake watches in horror, the
man strikes her, then rushes out, leaving her lying on the bed crying. Jake wants
to help but knows he can’t without revealing his voyeurism.
Jake’s agent calls to tell him that Rubin is ready to resume
shooting but is firing Jake because of his psychological problems. Feeling even
more dejected than before, Jake decides to peep on the woman again, but this
time he notices an Indian man on a nearby rooftop watching her as well. Again
Jake knows that he should report this suspicious activity but doesn’t. Later
the next day, upon leaving Sam’s house Jake sees the woman pull out of her
driveway with the Indian in a truck right behind her. He follows them to a mall,
and while the Indian rushes from one place to another keeping the woman in his
sites, Jake tries to catch up and warn her. Just as he gets near, she ducks goes
into an exclusive lingerie store. Through the display window, he watches her go
into a dressing room to try on some panties, but the saleslady spots him, calls
security, and they chase him away. He doesn’t go far, however, and stays close
enough to see the woman toss a bag with her old panties into the trash, before
asking the valet to bring her car. Jake surreptitiously grabs the bag, and stuffs
the panties into his pocket, then gets in his car and tails her to a seaside
hotel, hoping he will reach her before the Indian does.
While the Indian again sprints from place to place, the
woman steps out onto the room’s balcony talking on the phone. Jake sneaks up to
the floor above hers and eavesdrops on the conversation. It quickly becomes apparent
that the man she was supposed to me is standing her up. Rather than cussing him
out however, she meekly acquiesces, then hangs up the phone, descends the
stairs, and begins ambling along the beach. Just as Jake starts to pursue her, the
Indian rushes past and steals her purse. Jake goes after him but when the man
leads him into a tunnel Jake freezes up just like he did in the coffin. Unable
to move, he can only watch as the Indian steals something from the woman’s
purse, whoops loudly, and runs away. To show her appreciation, the woman helps Jake
out of the tunnel and as dreamy music starts to play, they begin kissing and
caressing, then she breaks away from him and runs back through the tunnel, knowing
he can’t follow.
Back at Sam’s house, Jake tries to get up the nerve to tell the
woman about the Indian, but when he looks through the telescope, he sees that
the police are there, and chickens out. Later that night, he checks on her again
and spies the Indian in her bedroom. As he watches, the woman wakes up and attacks
the man, who turns on her with an electric auger. Unable to stay uninvolved any
longer, Jake runs toward the house and manages to get in, but the woman’s dog
attacks him, and the Indian kills her. He calls the police and when they get
there, Detective Jim McLean (Guy Boyd) informs him that the woman’s name is
Gloria Revelle, that the Indian stole a key card from her purse, and that it’s Jake’s
fault she is dead because he didn’t report the things he saw.
Overcome with guilt, Jake goes back to Sam’s house and watches
pornography on television. Suddenly, an ad comes on for the video Holly Does
Hollywood which features porn star Holly Body doing her most well-known dance
number. Thinking that it reminds him of the woman’s performance, Jake goes to an
X-rated video store and rents the movie. Just as he’d thought, Holly’s dance is
exactly like Gloria’s; she even has the same tattoo in the same place. He buys
a porno magazine and finds a casting call for an upcoming movie starring Holly
Body. The next day he goes to the audition, manages to get himself hired, and with
“Relax” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood playing in the background, they have their
first scene. Suddenly, Gloria’s theme starts playing, and Holly and Jake begin
embracing one another with a passion that is not part of the script.
Afterward, Jake tells Holly that he’s a producer and wants
her to star in his movie. He takes her out for drinks then back to Sam’s place,
where he confesses that he isn’t a producer, and doesn’t have a job for her.
Instead he shows her the woman’s house from the balcony and asks if she was
hired to perform there. She admits that she was but says she doesn’t know who
hired her because the transaction was done over the phone. While they are
talking, Sam calls to say that he’s coming back early and needs Jake to move
out. Jake lets Holly listen in and asks if the man on the phone sounds like the
person who hired her, and she says yes.
Bristling at Jake’s betrayal, Holly chews him out then sets off
walking down the road. Jake tries to follow in his car, but before he can reach
her, the Indian drives up in a white van, picks her up, then clubs her on the
head and tears away. He pulls into a cemetery, stops beside an open grave, and dumps
Holly’s inert body into the gaping hole. Still on his tail, Jake jumps out of
the car, and starts running to her rescue, but the Indian sees him, and they
start to scuffle. In the melee, Jake manages to unmask the man, revealing that
is actually is Sam in disguise. Sam shoves Jake into the grave next to Holly
and starts shoveling dirt in on them. As was true in the coffin and the tunnel,
Jake becomes frozen and can only watch while Sam taunts him, telling him to
“act” if wants to live. This is where I’m stopping. You will have to watch the
movie to learn if Jake overcomes his paralysis or lies there helplessly as Sam buries
him.
Summary
Although Brian DePalma has worked with numerous A-list
actors that include Al Pacino and Scarlett Johannson, there are no big stars in
this movie’s cast. This was Melanie Griffith’s first notable role which brought
her rave reviews and a nomination for a Golden Globe. Before starring in Body
Double Craig Wasson primarily worked in television or appeared in bit parts.
Sam’s beautiful wife Gloria Revelle was played by 1970’s Miss America Deborah
Shelton who’d only had a few small roles, and her performance was so
disappointing that DePalma used Helen Shaver to do a voiceover. Overall, the cast’s
most well-known actor was Gregg Henry (Sam), who portrays villains.
Even though he wasn’t exactly famous, however, Craig Wasson did
an excellent job as Jake, a man with many layers. He is so passive that he just
walks away when he catches his girlfriend in bed with another guy and is so trusting
that he never wonders why Sam, a complete stranger, suddenly pops up everywhere
he goes. Overall, the most confusing aspect of Jake’s personality, though, is the
way he equates fear with love. For example, when the mystery man in Gloria’s
bedroom hits her, Jake’s starts to see her as a victim rather than a sex object.
And when he spots the Indian lasciviously watching her dance, he’s filled with an
irrepressible impulse to save her. Since he can’t distinguish fright from
passion, however, he equates his concerns for Gloria’s safety with being in love
with her, evidenced in the scene at the beach, where he caresses and kisses her
while a beautiful melody that I call “Gloria’s Theme” swells around them. So
caught up is Jake in this fantasy, in fact, that he actually grieves for Gloria
when she is murdered.
In 1974 psychologists Dutton and Aron did a study on the
“misattribution of arousal” an event which occurs when people misinterpret their
physiological responses to danger as attraction. In the movie, this anomaly is not
only apparent when Jake confuses the fear that he feels for Gloria with an impulse
to save her, but later transfers those feelings to Holly because he now knows
that she was the dancer he saw in Gloria’s bedroom. On the set of the porn
movie, as “Gloria’s Theme” soars in the background, Jake takes Holly in his
arms and begins making such passionate love to her that the director (Gela
Nash-Taylor) sarcastically retorts that the movie is not “Last Tango” (an erotic
film from 1972 that starred Marlon Brando). This is one of my favorite parts of
the film, but to be honest, Ms. Griffith steals every scene she’s in. In fact,
one of the funniest incidents occurs when Jake takes Holly to a cocktail party and
his old friend Kimberly (Rebecca Stanley-who does Gloria’s voice-over) asks if
he’s heard about any jobs. Without skipping a beat, Holly announces that she knows
of something, if Beverly doesn’t mind “working with ladies.”
Blood Simple 1985
Unlike DePalma, the Coen brothers have a lengthy list of accolades.
They won Oscars for Fargo and No Country for Old Men and were nominated
for five other movies. Along the way they developed their own signature style like
using a narrator to set the tone of the story and casting the same excellent actors
time and again. Of course, James being married to Frances McDormand hasn’t hurt.
Throughout their careers, the brothers have created some of the most bizarre
situations in current filmography, including Raising Arizona, Fargo,
and O Brother Where Art Thou? (based on Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey).
Even their first movie Blood Simple gave the audience indications of
what was to come, although their use of close-up shots and filming from odd
angles reminded me so much of Dressed to Kill that I originally thought it
was one of Brian DePalma’s films. Later when I learned more about the Coen
method, I rewatched the movie and easily recognized their techniques, including
using light and dark as characters, and employing unexpected twists at the end.
In fact, quirky endings are a Coen thing. For example at the
end of Fargo, police officer Margie Gunderson captures and arrests
kidnapper/murderer Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare) for murdering both his
partner Carl (Steve Buscemi) and their hostage Jean Lundegaard (Kristin Rudrud)
in order to keep the entire $80,000 ransom. The movie ends with Margie taking
Gaear to jail, all the while pointing out that he did these terrible things just
for “a little bit of money.” Her final thought is, “And it’s a beautiful day.
Well, I just don’t understand it.”
There are various interpretations of the Coens’ methodology,
but it fits best with the theory of the absurd. This concept is commonly attributed
to French author and philosopher, Albert Camus who pondered the numerous ways that
people manage the inexplicable things that happen to them. He equates the
phenomenon to the story of Sisyphus. According to the Greek myth Sisyphus
played a trick on the gods, and as a punishment he was condemned to rolling a
rock up a hill only to have it roll back down, making him start the complete
process over and over again. Camus stated that if this happened to a real person,
the logical reaction would be for him to kill himself. However, he concluded
that Sisyphus didn’t commit suicide because he accepted the punishment as being
his lot in life. Personally, I think it was because he believed that he would
eventually succeed, but what do I know?
Blood Simple opens with Ray (John Getz) and Abby
(Frances McDormand) driving down a Texas highway in a rainstorm. As the
windshield wipers slap at the cascading water, she complains incessantly about
her husband Julian Marty (Dan Hedaya), listing his many shortcomings. In response
all Ray can think of to say is that he’s just an employee, not a marriage counselor.
Eventually, they stop at a motel and spend the night having sex. In the morning
Abby asks Ray to take her back to “Marty’s” strip bar so she can get the gun
that he gave her. Ray does as she asks, and while she’s looking for the weapon,
he goes in search of “Marty” so he can quit his job and collect his last two weeks’
pay. Instead of giving Ray the money, however, Marty asks him if he’s a
marriage counselor then informs him that he’s hired someone to follow his wife.
He warns Ray that Abby isn’t to be trusted because she just pretends to be
innocent so she can use people.
The man’s words fill Ray with doubts and although he takes
Abby back to his place, he offers to let her either sleep in his bed or on the
sofa, but not with him. She chooses the couch but later slips into Ray’s bedroom
and slides in next to him. While they are sleeping, Marty sneaks in, waking Abby,
who gets up to see what’s going on. He attempts to take her with him, but she
breaks his finger and escapes. Cradling his injured hand, Marty returns to the
bar to meet up with the private eye, Loren Visser (M. Emmet Walsh), who he’s
paying to follow his wife. Visser hands Marty photos that he took of Abby with
Ray at the motel. Marty studies them coldly then offers him $10,000 to kill the
pair and burn their bodies in the incinerator at the back of his parking lot.
An oily character, Visser takes the job, but warns Marty not to “go simple” on
him. Then he tells Marty to go fishing and not return until he receives a call telling
him that the job is done. Later that evening, Visser breaks into Ray’s house,
steals Abby’s gun from her purse, then goes back outside to the bedroom window and
photographs the couple in bed together. He doctors the pictures to make it look
as if Ray and Abby are dead, then leaves a message for Marty telling him to
come back.
While Marty gazes at the picture of his dead wife and her
lover, Visser plays with his lighter, a keepsake that was gifted to him years
before. Satisfied, Marty unlocks his safe and takes out the money. Visser tells
him he also needs the death photo back, so Marty hands over the envelope with
the cash. Visser takes out Abby’s revolver and shoots him, kicks the gun across
the room, and walks out, unintentionally leaving his lighter sitting on the
desk. A little later, Ray comes into the office still trying to collect his pay.
He sees Marty’s body sitting at the desk with a gunshot wound in his chest, spies
Abby’s gun under some furniture, and assuming that she is the shooter, he stashes
the gun in one of Marty’s pockets and drags the body out to his car.
Ray is driving into the countryside to get rid of the body
when he hears labored breathing. Realizing that Marty is still alive, he pulls over,
goes into a large field, and digs a makeshift grave. When he goes back for the
body, however, it’s gone. Looking around, he sees Marty trying to escape by crawling
up the road. Ray drags him into the field, pushes him into the hole, and although
he knows the man isn’t dead, fills in the grave. He waits till daylight to make
sure Marty stays put, then drives back to town and to Abby. When he shows up at
her apartment covered in dirt and says that he’s taken care of things, she assumes
that Ray and Marty got into a fight. In the meantime, Visser discovers that Marty
tricked him by swapping a flyer for the death photo and as he thinks about what
he should do, Visser reaches for his lighter, and realizes that it is still in
Marty’s office.
Not knowing about any of this, the bartender Maurice (Sam-Art
Williams) listens to his voicemail and is confused to hear a message from Marty
accusing him of stealing $10,000 (the money he actually paid to Visser).
Knowing that he’s not the culprit, he assumes Ray took the cash, so he drives
to Ray’s place and tells him to return the money and get the hell out of town. While
he’s there, Abby goes to Marty’s office to steal the $10,000, only to find that
the safe has been damaged and the money is gone. Believing that is what Ray and
Marty fought about, she goes to Maurice and asks him to find out what happened
between her husband and her lover. Maurice doesn’t want to get involved, though,
so Abby decides to go to Ray’s house to learn the truth firsthand.
When Abby gets there, Ray is packing. Since he believes that
she used him, he greets her coldly and Abby just leaves and goes back to her apartment.
When she gets there, the phone starts ringing but when she picks up, no one
speaks. Assuming that the caller is Marty, she decides she’ll have to deal with
him on her own. Ray finishes packing, starts to leave town, but regrets how
things ended with Abby, so turns around and goes to her apartment. When she
lets him in, she tells him about the hang-up phone calls and they stand in front
of her large living room window gazing into the dark wondering if Marty’s out
there somewhere. On the roof of the building across there street, a man watches
them through a rifle scope. Then a shot rings out and Ray falls to the floor. To
see how it ends, you’ll have to watch the movie. I would never be so arrogant
as to spoil the ending of a Coen brothers’ film.
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/camus/
https://thefilmstage.com/body-double-brian-de-palmas-illusion-of-voyeurism/
https://www.tasteofcinema.com/2016/the-10-most-distinct-traits-of-coen-brothers-cinema/
Summary
Even though these two movies were not the directors’ best, they
both employed strategic techniques that the men are now famous for. As he has
done many times, DePalma contracted with Pino Donaggio, a composer renowned for
some of the most beautiful music in movies (check out “I Never Dreamed Someone
Like You Could Love Someone Like Me” from Carrie), to do the soundtrack,
and the Coens employed the quirky camera angles and unforeseen events that have
become part of their signature method. Although they were made by different
entities, I personally always thought the two films had a lot in common. First,
they are both murder mysteries that are entangled with unconventional romantic
relationships. The leading men Jake and Ray are good guys who suffer from ‘damsel
in distress syndrome.’ Jake, a coward, ignores his own well-being to save Gloria
and then Holly. At this point, I can’t help wondering what kind of crisis Carol
must have been dealing with when he “fell in love” with her. It’s not
surprising that she didn’t stop him when he walked out, however. Likewise, Ray’s
relationship with Abby only begins after she pours her heart out to him, and
then gives him sex. It isn’t until then that he confesses he has “always liked”
her. So strong is Ray’s drive to protect Abby, in fact, that he risks his own life
by going to the bar to confront Marty, and repeatedly coming back to Abby although
he suspects that she is playing him for a fool.
Secondly, the characters in both films have strong
similarities. In Body Double the psychopathic Indian is actually Sam, who
will really turn out to be someone else. In Blood Simple Marty hires Visser
to kill his wife and her lover, then tries to frame Maurice, who is black, and
Ray, who is a ne’er do well drifter, for stealing the money. Visser pretends
that he’s killed Ray and Abby to get paid, then kills Marty so he won’t find
out they are still alive. Abby and Gloria share strong behavioral traits, as
well. Both are solitary women who cultivate relationships with men rather than
turning to female friends or family. Gloria entices her lover with rendezvous in
expensive hotels and dresses in costly lingerie. To garner Ray’s help, Abby pours
out sob stories about her wretched life with her husband, and when that fails,
she gives him sex.
Thirdly, the two most likeable characters in the films, Holly,
and Maurice, are distinctly unique in the stories but much like each other. An
independent career woman who is well regarded among her peers, Holly takes care
of herself. And an interesting point of fact is that sneaky DePalma presents
her as a doppelganger for Gloria long before she is identified. The dancer’s song
“Telescope” is upbeat and confident which does not represent Gloria who is a
tragic character. Likewise, Maurice is cheerful, a responsible charismatic man
that women find far more attractive than his boss which is another reason that
Marty decides to frame him for stealing the money. With the exception of Holly
and Maurice, however, the principal characters in both movies are notably dislikable.
Goria is mousy, Jake is needy, Sam is slimy, Abby is manipulative (and
annoying), Marty is amoral, and Visser is a liar, a conman, a thief, and a murderer.
Overall, IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes audiences rate Body
Double similarly, 68% and 65%, respectively. The overall critics’ score is 78%,
although they seem to either hate it or love it. Dennis Schwartz believes the plot
is thin and the storyline is absurd, while Eric Henderson considers it DePalma’s
signature film. Chuck O’Leary says it best, [The movie] is a “sexed up thriller”
…that “plays much better today than it did in 1984.” Right now the movie is
only streaming on Fandango (formerly VUDU), Apple TV, and Prime and it will
cost you $3.99 to watch it. However, if you have a ROKU and search for it a few
times, one of the free channels is likely to start offering it gratis. I’ve seen
that happen numerous time, usually after I already paid to watch it. I bought
the movie cheap years ago, but nowadays, Amazon sells the new DVD for $17 and
the Blu-ray for $26. eBay offers it for around the same price new, but there
are plenty of used copies for sale.
Blood Simple has aged really well, possibly because three-time
Oscar winning actress Frances McDormand portrays Abby, or because the award-winning
Coen brothers’ style is so popular, or just because it’s a dang good movie.
That said, IMDB gives the film an overall rating of 75% which is respectable,
but the Rotten Tomatoes audience gives it a high 88% and the critics’ rank it
as a whopping 94%. Naturally, I own the film, but if you want to stream it you
either need a subscription for Criterion (free 7-day trial on HULU, which I
just discovered and am considering) or HBO Max, or you will have to pay $3 to
$4 to rent it on Prime or Fandango. If you want to buy it, Amazon is selling the
DVD/Blu-ray for $13/$20 and eBay has it starting around $5 for a used version.
Once again, be careful that you buy a version which will play in the United
States as some won’t.
Next time I will discuss some movies directed by siblings Garry
and Penny Marshall. Till then watch some movies that were directed by some of
your favorite directors. See you then.
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