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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
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I Don't Get It
SPOILER ALERT!
I enjoy this movie. In fact, I'm watching it for the umpteenth time right now. It zips along, has a lot of suspense, some thrills, and a nice "video" of the Frankie Goes To Hollywood hit "Relax." But what's never made any sense to me is the plot -- what is the necessity of setting this guy up to view the murder in the first place? Who needs him? Am I missing something? A fun ride nevertheless. -- Don't have the DVD, so I can't say anything about the extras, but I would appreciate a commentary from the director which I understand it doesn't have.
Rating: 
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Sheer Delight
I gather that the film was labeled 'misogynist' when it came out. Let's hope all that predictable chest-beating has died down enough so that one can see the film for what it is -- a comic delight with unexpected and unaccountable moments of the sublime tossed in, for free, as it were. And yes it contains serious allusions to Vertigo side by side with trash, but that's its charm! Precisely because DePalma doesn't take himself too seriously (he goes out of his way to portray TWO film directors as total buffoons in this story) he is able to achieve, in collaboration with the composer, Pino Donaggio, aesthetic moments of a kind that others couldn't even conceive of let alone aspire to, because they would be trying so hard to be arty and "significant." For example, the sound design and music for the scene leading up to the theft of Gloria's purse on the beach is especially beautiful, as though Claude Debussy on a whim had done an MTV video. And then there's DePalma's use of the popular song, "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood (banned in the UK). I'm the kind of person who spends his commute time listening to the Berg Violin Concerto or comparing different recordings of Beethoven's late string quartets, but I have to admit that the "Relax" sequence as choreographed by DePalma in this film is comparable to any iconic moment you might care to point to in all of western classical music. Strange to say, but it's true. (Blame it on the unearthly beauty of Melanie Griffith's shoulder blades if you like...) If you have the slightest interest in or curiosity about this film, by all means buy the special edition -- excellent Special Features have been added.
Rating: -
Brian DePalma: "People hate me or love me."
I am a Brian DePalma's fan. I love his style, his visual uniqueness, his ability to grab me from the very opening of his films and not let me take my eyes off the screen until the very last moment and even after that keep me a captive of his dangerous yet seductive worlds. I liked a lot every De Palma's film I've seen: The Black Dahlia (2006), Femme Fatale (2002), Snake Eyes (1998), Mission: Impossible (1996), Carlito's Way (1993), The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), Casualties of War (1989), The Untouchables (1987), Scarface (1983), Dressed to Kill (1980), and Carrie (1976).
As with all his films, you either love "Body Double" and let its typical De Palma's over-the-top charm, his mesmerizing beautiful camera movements, his 20 minutes long, dialogue-free pursuit sequence, his intense interest in exploration of sexual "dysfunction," his constantly present obsession with voyeurism, his satire on making cheap horror and adult movies, and his loving yet humorous homage to several Alfred Hitchcock's films overwhelm you or you just dismiss it scornfully for its most impossible and unbelievable story, for the plentiful coincidences and the holes in the plot, for the excessive violence, and for its sensationalism and exploitation. I found "Body Double" shocking, poignant, satirical, often hilarious, and always highly entertaining. Once again, De Palma did not disappoint me. I figured from the beginning where the story of a struggling B-movie actor (Craig Wasson) with many problems (claustrophobia that cost him a part in a horror movie, break-up with a cheating girlfriend, witnessing a gruesome murder and becoming a possible suspect) would lead. It did not stop me from enjoying the film and admiring De Palma's ability to trick me not just once but many times by making me see what he only wanted me to see, yet never hiding the whole picture and using to perfection his magic camera that "lies all the time; lies 24 times/second". I believe that De Palma himself has provided the keys to better understanding and enjoying his films when he said, "My films deal with a stylized, expressionistic world that has a kind of grotesque beauty about it." All we have to do - to recognize the beauty behind the grotesque.
P.S. Melanie Griffin gave her best performance and stole all her scenes as a hot blond smart porn star with "a head for business and a bod for sin" who might help Jack to solve the mystery of the brutal murder he had witnessed.
P.P.S. After I finished watching "Body Double", I added to my rental list "Blow Out" (1981) and "Sisters" (1973). Exploration of De Palma's worlds continues
Rating: -
DePalma Delivers the Drill Kill Thrill!!
While filming "Dressed To Kill" in 1979, Brian DePalma was first inspired to make this film. The notorious shower scene with Angie Dickinson (in full ala-nude), a 'body double' was brought in to stand in whenever it was showing Angie Dickcinson from the neck down, nude. Great way to immediately throw you off balance as a viewer, symbolizing right away, don't trust what you are watching, for like a magician, at some point in this story he's gonna surprise you by making you believe you saw one thing but not another, while showing the viewer what they are seeing the entire time right before your very eyes! Vavoom!
Of coarse this has rings and tones of "Rear Window" and "Vertigo" all through it (as well as a few other great Hitchcock thrillers, like "Shadow of A Doubt", "Dial M for Murder", "Rope", and "Marnie", which the latter featured Melanie Griffith's mom, Tippi Hedren), what better films to pay homage to???! It also has flourishes of the French, Italian, and European filmmakers that have inspired DePalma throughout as well. It has the perfect combination a psychological erotic thriller is supposed to have, all the right ingredients, from erotic fervor to dark sinister terror, from insane biting satire to leaving you breathless in despair. It's a Brian DePalma Showing...An event cause de celebrete....A classic work of film art.
Anyways, he shelved the idea, working and writing on it between his next two classics, "Blow Out" (1981) and "Scarface" (1983).
So, in 1984, Brian DePalma returned to the genre that only he does best: The erotic/psychological/suspense/mystery/thriller/satire. He fleshed out (no pun intended) a story only he could tell (he was initially just gonna produce it...thank God he decided to direct it as well!!), and made it as fresh as a golden sunrise.
He throws the viewer off guard right away by starting the film making viewers believe they are about to see a good late night B-grade vampire flick, then immediately shows that it's only a movie starring the main character of DePalma's film. Then, as the title of the film comes on screen, with an awesome desert background that is suddenly pulled away, revealing that it (the background) is just a matte painting for some movie backdrop. Right away, like The Magician, DePalma is revealing to not trust what you are about to see for the next two hours, even though it will be done right before your very eyes. The tagline was perfect for this film: "Don't believe everything you see".
Jake Scully, our main character (played to perfection by Craig Wasson) is a claustrobic, soon-to-be-out-of-work actor, who goes home after a bad day's shoot just to find his girfriend in bed with someone else! And, if wonders never cease, the apartment is hers, so he goes packing.
From staying with a friend, a local bartender, then moving through treacherous auditions (when he already "is working now, and that's what matters, isn't it?"), to have the skies depart when he befriends a chap between acting auditions and acting class, which plays out like Acting 101, with a 'psychiatric' acting teacher whose methods just may or may not be helpful or harmful, which one???! A very crucial scene there where Jake is told "You must act!", DePalma's way or reminding his audience that they must 'live', not just be a couch potato watching Life go by, participate, act! And, then things get even better for Jake (this is his lucky day, let me tell you, LOL!), his new friend (played by the great Gregg Henry) is called away for an acting gig out of town, so he needs Jake to housesit the house he's subletting. Using a real house in L.A., it is beautifully built, shaped like a spaceship, and very high in the air, with windows all around it, brilliantly filmed. AWESOME!
Then Jake is told and shown that his next door neighbor likes to do an erotic dance every night in front of her window, in full view of Jake and the handy telescope that is set in that sole position, aimed right at her house. And, Jake, being a person of very low self esteem, and just feeling he's back in the 'world', even though it's not a world to brag about. He IS living in L.A's dirty underbelly, getting only bit parts in lowrate, B-grade (possibly direct to video?) obscure films, but he lets his esteem and obsession for a better life get in the way, seeking solace by watching the lady next door do a very sexy striptease for two nights in a row, and even while she's sleeping (he knows when you're awake, ha-ha) he still likes to peep in on her, thus noticing at some point that someone else is also watching her.
So, in a fanatic/obsessive/compulsive way, he starts to follow Gloria Revelle (played by the beautiful/talented Deborah Shelton), the lady that lives in the house across from his. It is here that DePalma really shines with his technique of 'pure cinema', 'visual storytelling', making use of extremely long takes, and long scenes, with no dialgue, lasting for over 20 minutes.
There then is a seduction more wonderous than the clouds outside. Yes, there is such a thing as love at first sight! Gloria and Jake are similar in several ways. Both are claustrophobic, but in completely seperate terms of the word. Both live in a world of fear, dread, depression, despair, loneliness, in a seedy world of decadence, the beautifully filmed L.A. A very sinister, corrupt city if there ever was one, especially in the movie business, and/or the life of 'The Idle Rich'.
Jake then is plunged in to a world of hapless terror while he witnesses a murder, but is 'paralized', and can't 'act' to save the victim. He tries, lord knows he tries!
A brief appearance by the great Guy Pierson as a very 'noirish', been-there-seen-that-world-weary-wise-guy detective, who really drills (again, no pun intended) Scully like the victim got drilled to death.
Cut to Jake in a spinning bed, watching late night porno ads, and a very particular one catches his eye, "Holly Does Hollywood". He calls, gets an audition for the next "Holly" flick, reads for the director, gets the job.?.?. What is Jake so suddenly obsessed with now? WHO is Jake suddenly obsessed with now? Porno actress Holly Body (played by Melanie Griffith in her BEST role EVER), a naive (?), blue-eyed, bleach blonde, brain dead bimbo (?); or is she a very intelligent, extremely beautiful, rough and tough (?) femme fatale that Jake shouldn't be getting involved with???!
One of Craig's best scenes as Jake are during this period, especially in the porn flick, when he walks into the bathroom, saying "Ok" with such a stilted slur, JUST like real porno...VERY BAD dialogue! Or, dialogue done VERY BADLY!
Frankie Goes To Hollywood deliver a tour-de-force performance in this crucial point of the film (as great as The Yardbirds in Antonioni's "Blow Up"!) remaining as fresh today as it did then.
Eventually the mystery is solved, super dog kills the bad man, and we have The End! But, not so easy as all that. This is a very deep, disurbing, hypnotic, visceral, cerebral look inside the Human mind, and the wicked world of Hollywood. The sleazy-ness of it all. And, the blood and gore behind the scenes. And, Jake must learn to (literally) 'act'.
The way DePalma catches 'claustrobia' visually is utterly breathtaking, and SO realistic. The journey into Jake's mind is a cinema sweep of pure genius! And, all over a body double.
Be sure to watch for the scene that is a running parody of bad porno film trailers, and the 'glowing' reviews from critics! Hilarious & brilliant!
This is a film that will play you like a fool, but treat like its best friend at the same time. DePalma, of coarse, had to take on the MPAA in defense of the rating of this film. Plus, he originally wanted to cast a real life porno actress as Holly Body, but the studios shot him down on that one, but in his favor really, because this was the role Melanie Griffith was born to play! He first fought them over ratings in 80 over "Dressed To Kill", then in 83 over "Scarface", winning all three times. This is also the film which helped concrete him as 'mysoginistic', something he got labeled by extremest women's groups when he made "Dressed To Kill" (something that baffles me even to this day, because here were all these sleasy lowrate B-grade horror films that DePalma was mocking with the book-ends of this film, nude females running around like brain dead bimbo's, but everybody loved those, but DePalma films a woman nude with style and class, or a woman murdered -count ONE woman- and he gets attacked for being too violent toward women in his films.?.?.?.) Do what????!
This is a very classy, stylish, almost noirish, psychological, sinister look into the whole seedy Hollywood world, warts and all, from the glitz to the 'sl*ts'. And, he did it with guts! True masterpiece from the Master of Horror that remains as timeless as when it was released. Thank you.
Rating: 
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"Double" Trouble!
Brian De Palma is a director who likes to tear down the wall between fantasy and reality. "Body Double" his 1984 Hitchcock homage to films like "Rear Window" is a classic example.
"Body Double" starts off with a scene at a graveyard where a vampire is about to come out of his casket, all of sudden the vampire freezes and we hear "cut"! It was all a scene from a movie. This scene reminds of a similar moment in De Palma's 1981 film "Blow Out" his homage to Antonioni and Coppola and their respective films "Blow-Up" and "The Conversation". There we thought we are about to witness a murder when we see it is all a scene from a slasher film John Travolta is working on.
Right from the opening scene "Body Double" is establishing the idea, don't trust your eyes. Nothing is what it seems to be. After the first scene, we see the credit "produced and directed by Brian De Palma" in the background we see a wide open field. It looks like the old west when suddenly the background is moved, it was a movie prop. Once again De Palma is catching us off guard. You have to be on your toes.
The film follows Jake Sully (Craig Wasson) a struggling actor who finds himself in "B" or independent films. He's working though, so no need to complain. That is until he finds out his wife is having an affair and now must find his own place and try to restart his life and deal with the fact we just lost his part as the vampire in the movie he was working on due to his claustrophobia and his inability to get inside the casket.
As luck would have it he keeps running into Sam Bouchard (Gregg Henry), another struggling actor, each of whom have a common friend. The two seem to keep going to the same auditions. Bouchard though has be offered a part in Noel Coward's "Private Lives" and needs someone to housesit an apartment he originally was watching. Now, since Sully needs a place, Sam thinks Sully would be perfect for the job. And as an added bonus, Sully's neighbor is a sexy brunette (aren't they all?) who like clockwork goes into a sexy striptease, with the shades open (some guys have all the luck!). Sully doesn't need much convincing and agrees to watch the apartment.
Without giving too much away, Sully finds himself caught in the middle of a murder. The next door neighbor has been killed. But was it really her or just a body double? Can Sully trust his eyes. Is what he is seeing the truth?
De Palma does a lot of things right in this film, but the few missteps he takes really hurts the film from being better. Most of De Palma's knock-off Hitchcock films have a "B" level quality to them in my opinion, despite the fact I may enjoy some of them. "Body Double" has some bad dialogue and shaky acting. Nothing seems real. These aren't real characters we are watching. They are movie characters, plots devices.
But the film's strenght is in the way De Palma nicely holds the film together. It moves along at a nice pace and there are some nice suspenseful moments. Not many, but a few.
Where the film comes apart in my opinion is at the end. De Palma is playing too many tricks on us. Is what we are seeing real or part of a movie? We keep switching back and forth to the point where I was completely confused. Still something about the film leads me to like it. In a way you can compare the film to a magic act. You know the magician is playing tricks before our eyes. There is smoke and mirrors involved yet we go along with the show. We don't question anything, that is half the fun. The same can be said for "Body Double". Much of it may not make much sense, we know we are being manipulated yet we go along. And when De Palma and cast are putting on such a good show for us what else can we do but sit back, relax and enjoy the show!
Bottom-line: De Palma's homage to Hitchcock films such as "Rear Window" and "Vertigo" isn't quite in the same league as those other films but it is a lot of fun to watch.
