Douglas Keesey
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781628466973
- eISBN:
- 9781628467024
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781628466973.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Over the last five decades, the films of director Brian De Palma (b. 1940) have been among the biggest successes (The Untouchables and Mission: Impossible) and the most high-profile failures (The ...
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Over the last five decades, the films of director Brian De Palma (b. 1940) have been among the biggest successes (The Untouchables and Mission: Impossible) and the most high-profile failures (The Bonfire of the Vanities) in Hollywood history. De Palma helped launch the careers of such prominent actors as Robert De Niro, John Travolta, and Sissy Spacek. Picketed by feminists protesting its depictions of violence against women, Dressed to Kill helped to create the erotic thriller genre. Scarface, with its over-the-top performance by Al Pacino, remains a cult favorite. In the twenty-first century, De Palma has continued to experiment, incorporating elements from videogames (Femme Fatale), tabloid journalism (The Black Dahlia), YouTube, and Skype (Redacted and Passion) into his latest works. What makes De Palma such a maverick even when he is making Hollywood genre films? Why do his movies often feature megalomaniacs and failed heroes? Is he merely a misogynist and an imitator of Alfred Hitchcock? To answer these questions, the book takes a biographical approach to De Palma's cinema, showing how De Palma reworks events from his own life into his films.Less
Over the last five decades, the films of director Brian De Palma (b. 1940) have been among the biggest successes (The Untouchables and Mission: Impossible) and the most high-profile failures (The Bonfire of the Vanities) in Hollywood history. De Palma helped launch the careers of such prominent actors as Robert De Niro, John Travolta, and Sissy Spacek. Picketed by feminists protesting its depictions of violence against women, Dressed to Kill helped to create the erotic thriller genre. Scarface, with its over-the-top performance by Al Pacino, remains a cult favorite. In the twenty-first century, De Palma has continued to experiment, incorporating elements from videogames (Femme Fatale), tabloid journalism (The Black Dahlia), YouTube, and Skype (Redacted and Passion) into his latest works. What makes De Palma such a maverick even when he is making Hollywood genre films? Why do his movies often feature megalomaniacs and failed heroes? Is he merely a misogynist and an imitator of Alfred Hitchcock? To answer these questions, the book takes a biographical approach to De Palma's cinema, showing how De Palma reworks events from his own life into his films.
Howard Pollack
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520248649
- eISBN:
- 9780520933149
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520248649.003.0024
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
In the spring of 1929, Florenz Ziegfeld persuaded George and Ira to work on Show Girl. In the tradition of J.P. McEvoy's theatrical work, the novel satirizes American culture from greeting-card ...
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In the spring of 1929, Florenz Ziegfeld persuaded George and Ira to work on Show Girl. In the tradition of J.P. McEvoy's theatrical work, the novel satirizes American culture from greeting-card platitudes to congressional politics, here with an emphasis on the self-serving ties between tabloid journalism and the entertainment industry. Most critics thought the show rambling and incoherent, even if good entertainment in spots. By this time, Ziegfeld and the Gershwins had had a falling-out. On September 30, 1929, Gershwin signed a contract with the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, Giulio Gatti-Casazza, to write an opera based on The Dybbuk, a play by Szymon Ansky. However, with The Dybbuk detained over copyright issues, Gershwin considered other possibilities.Less
In the spring of 1929, Florenz Ziegfeld persuaded George and Ira to work on Show Girl. In the tradition of J.P. McEvoy's theatrical work, the novel satirizes American culture from greeting-card platitudes to congressional politics, here with an emphasis on the self-serving ties between tabloid journalism and the entertainment industry. Most critics thought the show rambling and incoherent, even if good entertainment in spots. By this time, Ziegfeld and the Gershwins had had a falling-out. On September 30, 1929, Gershwin signed a contract with the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, Giulio Gatti-Casazza, to write an opera based on The Dybbuk, a play by Szymon Ansky. However, with The Dybbuk detained over copyright issues, Gershwin considered other possibilities.
