0 Oscar nominations, 0 Golden Globe nominations, 6 Razzie nominations.
Good director or overrated?
shareGood director.
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MovieChat Forums > Brian De Palma Discussion > 0 Oscar nominations, 0 Golden Globe nomi...
Scarface, Carrie,Body Double, Carlitos Way are not exactly the type of movies that win awards, so I wouldn't put too much weight on his lack of hardware.
I think he got boned on The Untouchables, awards can have a political element to it.
If anything I think he is underrated.
It's strange. He's done a lot of great movies (I'd even add Mission: Impossible to the ones you mentioned), but then he has also done: Bonfire of the Vanities, Mission to Mars, The Fury, Femme Fatale, Greetings, Domino, Passion, Obsession, The Black Dahlia, Snake Eyes, Wise Guys, Raising Cain, and Hi, Mom.
It's such a hit-and-miss resume for me.
Mission to Mars was a disaster.
There was that scene from Trainspotting (1996) where Sick Boy tells his friend his theory about talent...people have it then lose it and never get it back.
That definitely could be applied to Depalma films.
The Fury and Raising Cain are good movies.
shareSome of those that you mention are visually amazing, great attention to detail and directing of actors, I really like Snake Eyes... but the scripts SUCKED.
shareI think he's a solid craftsman when it comes to film directing and writing BUT he's not very original and makes movies that IMP Alfred Hitchcock.
shareI appreciate his style, but sometimes it can get too cheesy. He does too much unnecessary splitscreen and his movies often feel dated.
shareI think those 0 Best Director noms come from the fact that he was rather disliked in Hollywood in the beginning for copycatting Hitchcock and his key films so much (Psycho, Rear Window, and Vertigo the most.)
As Billy Wilder said of Peter Bogdanovich(who remade Hawks Bringing Up Baby informally as What's Up Doc?).."Bogdanovich isn't a director; he's a Xerox machine." DePalma was even worse in that regard (of course, by then Billy Wilder was "an old fart" who didn't like the kids taking over.)
And -- just like Hitchcock -- DePalma only made thrillers, and Oscar looked down on thrillers for a long time. DePalma eventually abandoned Hitchcock for a Hawks remake(Scarface) and more bang-bang than knifeplay in hits like Scarface, The Untouchables, and Carlito's Way (all great action films with "edge.")
Oscar never came for DePalma as director or his movies, but The Untouchables won one for Sean Connery(perhaps the David Mamet script and Connery's long career did that.) Sissy Spacek and PIper Laurie got Oscar noms for Carrie. I can't remember if any other DePalma films got Oscar Love.
DePalma's BIG setback was turning the prestige Tom Wolfe novel "Bonfire of the Vanities" into a classic bomb even with Tom Hanks AND Bruce Willis AND Melanie Griffith starring. Not only was it a bomb, but it seemed to prove that DePalma had no idea how to make a "serious drama." (Casulaties of War was a horror movie hidden in a war movie.)
My take on Brian DePalma: "I hate Brian DePalma, I love Brian DePalma." His early Hitchcock stuff was pretty poor, he is not good writing his own scripts -- but give him big stars, big action, and somebody else's script and you get: Scarface, The Untouchables, Carlito's Way, Mission Impossible.
The polar opposite argument to your question is:
Halle Berry: 1 Oscar, 0 good movies (nor performances)
Awards (nowadays especially) are vastly overrated.
No one who knows anything about cinema (and I'm not talking about meatheads with a Scarface poster in their bedroom) can say he's overrated.
shareHe has had a much more interesting career than many Oscar winning directors.
shareI mean look at all the film's he's done the last 25 years:
Snake Eyes
Mission to Mars
Femme Fatale
The Black Dahlia
Redacted
Passion
Domino
Most great director hit a decline when they are old. Why do you think Tarantino will be done with filmmaking after his 10th film.
Again, do you know anything about the history of cinema?
He also did these in the beginning of his career:
Greetings
Sisters
Obsession
Wise Guys
Bonfire of the Vanities
Home Movie
There are too many misses for him to be considered lege dary.
He's a legend and one of the greatest directors of all time;
Carrie (1976)
The Fury (1978)
Dressed to Kill (1980)
Blow Out (1981)
Scarface (1983)
Body Double (1984)
Amazing films.
He claimed one time to have fallen out of love with modern day filmmaking! This leads me to believe many of his recent films have less honed craftsmanship!
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