Tag Archives: Gregg Henry

1984 Films, Barbara Crampton, Brian De Palma, Craig Wasson, David Haskell, Deborah Shelton, Dennis Franz, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Gregg Henry, Guy Boyd, Lane Davies, Melanie Griffith, Satire, Thriller

Body Double-1984

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Body Double-1984

Director Brian De Palma

Starring Craig Wasson, Gregg Henry, Melanie Griffith

Scott’s Review #1,475

Reviewed April 5, 2025

Grade: A-

Brian De Palma is one of my favorite directors. His stylistic body of work in the psychological thriller/horror genre is masterful, with treats such as Carrie (1976) and Dressed to Kill (1980) as my favorite films.

Body Double (1984) allowed De Palma much creative freedom because of the success of these films and the underwhelming but successful Scarface (1983).

It is a fly-under-the-radar type of film that pays direct homage to 1950s Alfred Hitchcock films, most notably Vertigo (1958) and Rear Window (1954).

I get triple pleasure from watching Body Double. I compare scenes to the above-mentioned Hitchcock films and scenes to De Palma’s own films, especially Dressed to Kill. Plus, it stars Melanie Griffith, daughter of Hitchcock star Tippi Hedren.

The setting is Los Angeles, with B-movie film sets, posh Hollywood mansions, and hilly views of the vast City of Angels landscape. I am fascinated by the city and its mixture of glitzy glamour and dark subtext, which is a perfect recipe for watching this film.

While not De Palma’s very best work it is pretty damned good and somehow isn’t as revered as other films.

Craig Wasson plays Jake Scully, a struggling actor who loses his acting role and his girlfriend, Carol (Barbara Crampton), on the same day. While taking a Method acting class, his friend Sam (Gregg Henry) offers him a gig house-sitting an ultra-modern home that overlooks mansions.

While peering through the beautiful home’s telescope one night, he spies a gorgeous blonde, Gloria (Deborah Shelton), dancing in her window. Becoming obsessed with her, it leads to a vicious crime and into the world of adult entertainment along with porn star Holly Body (Melanie Griffith).

Fans of De Palma will undoubtedly love Body Double because it feels like a De Palma film. At other times, he veered too far away from his brand for my tastes, but the sultry and glossy voyeurism is fully displayed.

Who won’t instantly think of the museum scene in Dressed to Kill during the mall scene in Body Double? It’s a titillating cat-and-mouse chase scene with Jake following Gloria through a parking garage, a Fredericks of Hollywood-type store, and ultimately watching her try on panties, which he steals.

The panties serve as a version of the glove in Dressed to Kill, while the final shower scene in Body Double made me think of the steamy shower scene in Dressed to Kill.

I often thought of Rear Window and Vertigo, but De Palma honors them instead of stealing from the treasures. Jake is obsessed with Gloria yet knows nothing of her. Is she who she appears to be? Is she in danger? Is Jake being set up like Scottie was in Vertigo?

The telescope that Jake peers through is a modern version of the one from Rear Window. In both films, a murder is attempted while the protagonist helplessly watches from afar.

Anyone who enjoys acting will be satisfied with a dose of a method acting class being showcased, as well as nifty low-budget sets and set pieces reminiscent of a Hammer Horror set.

Finally, the overarching theme of a ‘body double’ frequently used in films when the ‘star’ is replaced by a stand-in, usually for nude scenes, is cleverly referenced in the final scene when a girl with perfect breasts is used while filming a shower scene.

The trickery of filmmaking is celebrated.

The camera work and musical score are a large part of the appeal. The eroticism smolders while Jake and the audience watch Gloria and Holly dance amid moody, electronic 1980s dance beats. The camera captures the moment perfectly.

The glossy, sensual elements forever link De Palma with Hitchcock, 1980s style.

1980s films are often dismissed as cheesy or mainstream affairs, but Body Double’s look is 1980s in the best possible ways. The expensive cars, the big hair, the cocaine, and the L.A. porn world all mesh together fabulously. Incorporating the monster hit, ‘Relax’ and the band Frankie Goes to Hollywood is a significant win.

With Body Double (1984), De Palma provides slick entertainment and thrilling sensuality and helped launch the career of Melanie Griffith, a star of the 1980s and 1990s.

2002 Films, Antonio Banderas, Brian De Palma, Gregg Henry, Rebecca Romijn, Thriller

Femme Fatale-2002

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Femme Fatale-2002

Director Brian De Palma

Starring Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Antonio Banderas

Scott’s Review #1,137

Reviewed April 28, 2021

Grade: B+

The plot of Femme Fatale (2002) is muddy, to say the least, and I was left perplexed by the details by the time the film concluded. I even needed to review a synopsis to figure out what the hell went on but I was willing to do so.

But, let’s remember that it’s directed by Brian De Palma so the beauty is in the visuals’ style and stimulation, which makes the film pay off in spades.

Probably more similar to a modern De Palma film like 2012’s underrated and underappreciated Passion than more familiar turf like Carrie (1976) or Dressed to Kill (1980), Femme Fatale has juicy trademarks that only fans of the director will immediately notice and revile in.

The entire experience that De Palma creates is titillating, erotic, fetishist, and thrilling. It’s an enrapturing piece.

Unfortunately, Femme Fatale was a box-office dud but has subsequently amassed a cult following status likely by the legions of De Palma fans who appreciate the good stylistic film.

Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, with legs for miles and an abdomen to fry eggs off of, stars as Laure Ash, a master manipulator, who takes part in one last jewel theft intending to leave behind her life of crime. Her intention predictably doesn’t turn out so well but Laura sure does look great in her leather-clad outfits and affair with a female supermodel.

Later, Romijn-Stamos also plays an odd character named Lily, who is suicidal.

Reinvented under the presumption of a respectable married woman, Laura captures the attention of eager photographer Nicolas (Antonio Banderas). He becomes mesmerized by the elusive woman amid the gorgeous locales of Paris and accidentally shatters her carefully crafted world by way of his photo taking.

The steamy women’s bathroom love scene between Laura, who is bisexual, and Veronica, a model with a diamond gold ensemble top, is not just a male chauvinistic turn-on, but hugely important to the storyline.

Laura is supposedly in cahoots with thugs “Black Tie” and Racine who aggressively wait outside the restroom, but is Laura double-crossing them both? Is she partnered in crime with Veronica or is she just a mark?

The riddles of the plot are both positive and negative especially when one scene plays out twice, midstream and during the finale. There is a mystique that forces the viewer to give up on any comprehension and plausibility over Laura and her motivations and modus Operandi.

I chose to immerse myself in the bevy of trimmings that De Palma tosses our way like a hungry dog salivating over a bone.

He borrows a bit from the best of Alfred Hitchcock films (when doesn’t he?)and his own, neither a bad thing. The most obvious is from the 1954 masterpiece, Rear Window, an orgy of fetishism, which appears throughout, mostly concerning Nicolas as he spies on Laura again and again, almost obsessively.

Romijn-Stamos isn’t the best actress in the biz and Banderas would grow as an actor after this film but Femme Fatale is about style, not Academy Award acting and the beauty is trying to figure out a puzzle and being startled by a twist ending and a replay of the events to provide some sort of explanation.

The twist is quite a doozy and had me rethink the entire film. Plot holes be-damned it was a very good reveal but also made most of the rest of the film a bit worthless.

Femme Fatale (2002) will never reach the upper echelons of the best of Brian De Palma films but it’s hardly a waste of time to give it a spin either.

Forgetting the steaminess altogether, the film is to European appreciating viewers with the astounding and plentiful sequences in and around Paris.

2014 Films, Adventure, Benicio del Toro, Bradley Cooper, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Djimon Hounsou, Glenn Close, Gregg Henry, James Gunn, John C. Reilly, Josh Brolin, Ralph Ineson, Seth Green, Super Hero, Vin Diesel, Wyatt Oleff, Zoe Saldaña

Guardians of the Galaxy-2014

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Guardians of the Galaxy-2014

Director James Gunn

Starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana

Scott’s Review #281

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Reviewed October 9, 2015

Grade: C-

The summer blockbuster hit of 2014, Guardians of the Galaxy, a Marvel comics film popular among fans and critics alike, disappointed this viewer.

Too many superhero films are overly conventional, by the numbers fair, and this one contains these characteristics. Presumably targeted for teens (I would think), the film has cute jokes and decent special effects, but a bland, mediocre screenplay that lacks edginess.

Handsome Chris Platt plays Peter Quill, a space pilot from Earth, abducted by a pirate group named the Ravagers. Now a grown man, Peter attempts to steal a mysterious and powerful Orb known for special powers, for monetary gain.

The Orb is desired by many, including the evil Ronan, and his daughter Gamora.

Predictably, events turn into a battle of good vs. evil as Peter and Gamora (who turns good) team up with misfits Drax (a strongman), Groot (a tree), and Rocket (a raccoon) to thwart intentions by Ronan of destroying a peaceful planet, Nova Empire.

The meat of the story involves the team’s journey from imprisonment and escape to their efforts to save the world.

As traditional with these types of films, there is inevitable romantic chemistry between Peter and Gamora, who at first are rivals, but slowly develop a fondness for each other when it is revealed that she is plotting against Ronan and his valiant efforts.

The strengths are the 1970s soundtrack a cassette player and the Walkman, unheard of in today’s modern world, to the story.

I love how this is not simply backgrounded music but referenced throughout the film in various situations.

For example, Peter comically explains to a clueless bad guy what his treasured cassette tape consists of and how he cannot bear to part with it.

The creative sets and bright colors are other positives to Guardians of the Galaxy. The Xander planet is portrayed as clean and progressive, which counterbalances the dark, dreary nature of where Ronan and his entourage live.

However, the film is too conventional and not edgy or out of the ordinary story-wise. Let’s take the hero for example. He is clean-cut, all-American, and is humorous. But, why exactly is he the hero? He inevitably saves the world but makes him go from a pirate who is a thief to a golden boy leading a team to save a relatively unknown planet.

There is, of course, a scene involving a backstory of his mother dying of cancer and his regret over not taking her hand one final time. This is assumed to make him kind-hearted and one of the good guys.

This feels forced to me and what we have seen time after time in superhero films. The message I received from the film was basic- the powerful, strong, masculine guy with a sense of humor mixed in for good measure, saves the world from the bad guys while including a bunch of tag-along.

This is fine albeit predictable.

I was left with some questions. What were Ronan’s and Tharos’s motivations? They were simply evil with not much explanation as to why. What led them down this path? Did they each want theirs to be the only planet remaining in the galaxy?

A tender moment towards the end of the film, when one of the team members dies, is done in a rushed way that was a missed opportunity for more emotion.

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) is a mediocre superhero/action film that might have been better if further fleshed out. This film left me forgetting about it soon after the credits rolled.

Oscar Nominations: Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Visual Effects

1983 Films, Al Pacino, Brian De Palma, Charles Durning, David R. Ellis, F. Murray Abraham, Gregg Henry, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mob, Oliver Stone

Scarface-1983

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Scarface-1983

Director Brian De Palma

Starring Al Pacino

Scott’s Review #191

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Reviewed November 13, 2014

Grade: B

Scarface is a 1983 mob film directed by Brian De Palma and is an atypical film for the acclaimed director of several stylistic thrillers such as Dressed to Kill (1980), Sisters (1973), and Carrie (1976).

The subject matter centers on the mob and the world of drug trafficking, in this case, cocaine, a very popular, powerful drug that ran rampant throughout the 1980s.

Jealousy, greed, and deceit are common characteristics of Scarface and the story focuses on a temperamental, cocky, and arrogant Cuban refuge sent to Miami by Fidel Castro, as a way of banishing criminals from Cuba and shipping them off to the United States to survive on their own.

Tony Montana, played by Al Pacino, goes from dishwasher to crime lord by selling drugs and creating an empire for himself.

He manipulates, tricks, and makes enemies left and right including stealing his boss’s girlfriend (Michelle Pfeiffer) and eventually falling into a troubled marriage with her.

He loves his financially struggling mother and sister, giving them money and opening a salon for his sister, but he also controls them, especially his sister, and is filled with rage whenever she attracts the affection of a potential suitor.

In his mind, nobody is good enough for her and he is filled with machismo and over-protectiveness. Tony eventually self-destructs due to jealousy, rage, and heavy drug use.

I found the film overall quite compelling but kept thinking to myself how much it resembles a light version of The Godfather (1972) or Part II (1974) and Goodfellas (1990).

I am fully aware that Scarface preceded Goodfellas, but seeing it for the first time in 2014 this was my initial reaction.

I was also kept aware of the fact that it must have been influential in the creation of the popular NBC television series Miami Vice, which debuted a year or two after Scarface was released.

Similarities such as crime lords, Miami Beach, and drugs mirrored the slick feel of the hit television drama as well as the look, style, and fashions.

The performance of Al Pacino is problematic- in my view, this is not at all his best work. For starters, his accent keeps going in and out and I found him slightly unbelievable in the role. A phenomenal actor, something with his performance did not sit well.

The musical score to the film is cheesy- almost shockingly so. Granted this was 1983, but the silly dance beats sporadic throughout now seem completely dated.

Parts of Scarface dragged a bit, however, a sudden dramatic scene (the dismembering of Tony’s friend by mobsters and Tony’s meltdown in a fancy restaurant) more than makeup for the occasional lags in drama.

Scarface (1983) is not on the level of other contemporary violent mob films, but for fans of the genre, it will be enjoyed.