Pacino, DePalma team on crime thriller ‘Carlito’s Way’

Editor’s Note: This is the last of three posts on films of Brian DePalma. 

CARLITO’S WAY (1993)

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

Fresh off his Oscar-winning performance in “Scent of a Woman,” Al Pacino jumped head-first into his second collaboration with director Brian DePalma following the ultra-violent “Scarface” in 1983.

In the process, Pacino wound up starring in yet another of a long line of mob films that have dotted his career that began with “The Godfather” and included that film’s two sequels and “Donnie Brasco.” Ahhh, but “Carlito’s Way” is significantly different.

Like “Scarface”, 1993’s “Carlito’s Way” features an Hispanic hero played by Pacino. But the similarities end there. These are two distinctly different films, both thematically and stylistically.

“Carlito’s Way” eschews the vicious, mean-spirited violence of “Scarface” for a haunting, tragic story of a deeply flawed man.

Brian DePalma’s Vietnam War classic: ‘Casualties of War’

Editor’s Note: This is the second of three posts on films of Brian DePalma.

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

CASUALTIES OF WAR (1989)

Brian DePalma has spent a good bit of his film making career mimicking the work and style of Alfred Hitchcock and occasionally dabbling in comedy and crime films with mixed results.

After experiencing success in 1976 with “Carrie,” DePalma bombed with his next film – the thriller “The Fury.” The same thing happened in 1989 when he bombed with  “Casualties of War,” his first film after the hit thriller “The Untouchables” in 1987.

But while “The Fury” was a stylish horror thriller with plot elements similar to “Carrie” (the main characters in both were telekinetic), “Casualties of War” was drastically different from “The Untouchables.” Here, DePalma jumped head-first into the Vietnam War with powerful results.

The tag line was catchy: “The first casualty of war is innocence.” The cast was impressive: A young Michael J. Fox trying to branch out from comedy and Sean Penn adding to his long list of admirable screen performances.

Overlooked and underrated: Brian DePalma’s ‘Blow Out’

Editor’s Note: This is the first of three posts on films of Brian DePalma. 

By TERRY R.CASSREINO

BLOW OUT (1981

Brian DePalma built his reputation and successful career by directing, and sometimes also writing, suspenseful and memorable character-driven horror thrillers.

He modeled his early work on Alfred Hitchcock. Some critics derided DePalma as nothing more than a Hitchcock hack, directing films that echoed and mimicked the themes and settings of many Hitchcock classics.

“Obsession” (1976), set in New Orleans, was nothing more than a retread of “Vertigo” – replete with a haunting score by Hitchcock regular Bernard Hermann. “Sisters” (1973) and, especially, “Dressed to Kill” (1980) had an awful lot in common with “Psycho.” In fact, “Dressed to Kill” is practically a shot-for-shot remake.

When DePalma tried to re-invent himself, his efforts proved just as troubling. “The Untouchables” (1987) was a slick, uninteresting retread of a popular 1950s television crime drama and “The Bonfire of the Vanities” (1990) was a flat-out, unmitigated, uninteresting disaster.