Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by danj (A) on July 23, 2006 at 11:18:39

In Reply to: Halfway through Scarface... posted by Jeff Starrs on July 22, 2006 at 07:36:27:

"White Heat" is, of course, the gangster flick to end all gangster flicks and is, imho, a far better effort than the later "Scarface." It's interesting to see the 30s version of "Scarface" and the 40s "White Heat" and then watch dePalma's "Scarface", which suffers in comparison to the earlier films.

I think the violence in the newer film is excessive and gratuitous. The violence in "White Heat" is much less graphic and infrequent but it is more effective and certainly shocking, whereas that in "Scarface" (the new one) rapidly loses its shock value and just becomes tiresome.

I still think dePalma's "Scarface" is a good film but it misses the mark of greatness because of dePalma's lack of discipline - his too intense and frequent violence and his almost comic-book second half nearly ruin it. BdP wanted to make his "epic" and was tired of the comparisons to Hitchcock but he seems to have fallen into the same old patterns as he got further and further into "Scarface." It coulda been a contender had the director known when enough was enough.

His "Phantom of the Paradise" and "Body Double" were better films, imho. His version of "Blow Up" is pretty good, too.