Brian De Palma: influences, peers and legacy

Every connection with its receipt

Brian De Palma built a career out of open obsession: Hitchcock's grammar of voyeurism, Antonioni's ambiguity of the image, and Godard's political mischief, all filtered through the New Hollywood cohort he came up with at NYU and in Hollywood. This mix traces the acknowledged masters, the stranger corners of his cinephilia, his Philadelphia/New York roots, and the filmmakers who inherited his split-screen, slow-motion delirium.

The Kynda mix for Brian De Palma

• Key Influence · Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock (1958). The single most cited source in De Palma's cinema: Scottie's obsessive remaking of a dead woman is reworked wholesale in Obsession (with Bernard Herrmann scoring both) and again in Body Double. Hitchcock's subjective camera, spiral motifs, and the dolly-zoom became De Palma's working vocabulary, and he has spoken frequently about studying Hitchcock's construction of suspense shot by shot rather than through dialogue.
• Influencia Obscura · Peeping Tom by Michael Powell (1960). Powell's film about a cameraman who murders women while filming their fear destroyed his British career and stayed obscure for decades before its Scorsese-led rehabilitation. Its equation of the camera with the weapon underlies De Palma's Body Double and Sisters, where watching is never innocent. The scandalous premise — cinema itself as predatory apparatus — is the hidden ethical engine of De Palma's voyeur pictures.
• Local Roots · Mean Streets by Martin Scorsese (1973). De Palma and Scorsese were part of the same New York film culture, and De Palma famously introduced Scorsese to Robert De Niro at a 1960s gathering of young filmmakers — De Niro had already starred in De Palma's Greetings and Hi, Mom!. Mean Streets launched the De Niro–Scorsese partnership that grew from that New York circle, whose members screened and critiqued each other's rough cuts.
• Beyond the Medium · Carrie by Stephen King (1974). King's epistolary first novel about a bullied telekinetic girl gave De Palma his commercial breakthrough in 1976. He kept the prom catastrophe and the religious-fanatic mother while inventing the split-screen carnage and the final dream-logic jolt, which King has said improved on his ending. The adaptation launched Sissy Spacek, John Travolta, and Nancy Allen, and made King a Hollywood industry.
• Peer · The Conversation by Francis Ford Coppola (1974). Coppola's surveillance thriller about an audio expert reassembling a taped conversation is the closest sibling to Blow Out, made by a fellow New Hollywood figure working the same paranoid post-Watergate seam. Both films render technical process as suspense and end with the technician destroyed by what he heard. Coppola and De Palma moved in the same 1970s director circle of mutual screenings and rivalry.
• From the Canon · Blow Out by Brian De Palma (1981). De Palma's most personal film: John Travolta as a B-movie sound man who accidentally records a political assassination, fusing Blow-Up's epistemology with Chappaquiddick and JFK-era conspiracy. The Liberty Bell parade climax, the 360-degree editing-room pan, and Nancy Allen's fate make it his bleakest statement on what recording devices actually deliver. Quentin Tarantino has named it among his favorite films.
• Key Collaborator · Taxi Driver by Bernard Herrmann (1976). Herrmann scored De Palma's Sisters and Obsession, bringing the actual composer of Vertigo and Psycho into the younger director's Hitchcock project — a legitimizing bridge De Palma prized. Taxi Driver was Herrmann's last score, completed days before his death in 1976, and shows the same brooding, brass-heavy anxiety he supplied to Obsession's romantic delirium.
• Legacy · Kill Bill: Volume 1 by Quentin Tarantino (2003). Tarantino has been vocal about Blow Out's importance to him and cast John Travolta in Pulp Fiction partly out of that admiration. Kill Bill's split screens, sustained tracking shots, deliberate genre quotation, and unembarrassed use of borrowed music cues all descend from De Palma's method of treating film history as a usable toolkit rather than a museum.

What influenced Brian De Palma

• Alfred Hitchcock (1899). De Palma paid homage to Hitchcock in three films. (also via Obsession, Vertigo, Rear Window) “His thrillers were often compared with those of Hitchcock.” (Fresh Air (WHYY/NPR))
• Michelangelo Antonioni. Antonioni was a named influence on De Palma. (also via Blow-Up, Blowup) “influences as various as drama teacher Wilford Leach , the Maysles brothers , Michelangelo Antonioni , Andy Warhol and Jean-Luc Godard , impressed upon De Palma the many styles and themes that would shape his work” (Wikipedia)
• Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock (1958). Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock) — titan for Brian De Palma (also via Obsession) “De Palma became enraptured with filmmaking after seeing Orson Welles ' Citizen Kane (1941) and Alfred Hitchcock 's Vertigo (1958)” (Wikipedia)
• Jean-Luc Godard (1930). Godard was a named influence on De Palma. (also via Le Mépris) “influences as various as drama teacher Wilford Leach , the Maysles brothers , Michelangelo Antonioni , Andy Warhol and Jean-Luc Godard , impressed upon De Palma the many styles and themes that would shape his work” (Wikipedia)
• Sergei Eisenstein. The Untouchables (Brian De Palma) — legacy for Sergei Eisenstein (via The Untouchables, Battleship Potemkin) “The Untouchables' finale shoot out in the train station is a clear borrowing from the Odessa Steps sequence in Sergei Eisenstein's The Battleship Potemkin.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Blow-Up by Michelangelo Antonioni (1966). Blow-Up (Michelangelo Antonioni) — titan for Brian De Palma “His style is allusive: he paid homage to Alfred Hitchcock in Obsession (1976), Dressed to Kill, and Body Double (1984); Blow Out (1981) is based on Michelangelo Antonioni's Blowup (1966); and Scarface, his remake of Howard Hawks' 1932 fi…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Maysles brothers. The Maysles brothers were a named influence on De Palma. “influences as various as drama teacher Wilford Leach , the Maysles brothers , Michelangelo Antonioni , Andy Warhol and Jean-Luc Godard , impressed upon De Palma the many styles and themes that would shape his work” (Wikipedia)
• Andy Warhol (1928). Warhol was a named influence on De Palma. “influences as various as drama teacher Wilford Leach , the Maysles brothers , Michelangelo Antonioni , Andy Warhol and Jean-Luc Godard , impressed upon De Palma the many styles and themes that would shape his work” (Wikipedia)
• Citizen Kane by Orson Welles (1941). Seeing Citizen Kane sparked his interest in filmmaking. “De Palma became enraptured with filmmaking after seeing Orson Welles ' Citizen Kane (1941) and Alfred Hitchcock 's Vertigo (1958)” (Wikipedia)
• The Untouchables by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley (1957). The Untouchables (Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley) — culture for Brian De Palma “The best-known adaptations include the 1959 TV series The Untouchables, which starred Robert Stack as Ness and was narrated by Walter Winchell, which itself was parodied by The Unmentionables, a 1963 Bugs Bunny cartoon where Bugs played …” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Wilford Leach. Leach was De Palma's drama teacher and influence. “influences as various as drama teacher Wilford Leach , the Maysles brothers , Michelangelo Antonioni , Andy Warhol and Jean-Luc Godard , impressed upon De Palma the many styles and themes that would shape his work” (Wikipedia)
• Carrie by Stephen King (1974). Carrie (Stephen King) — culture for Brian De Palma “Carrie (1976), his adaptation of Stephen King's novel of the same name, gained him prominence as a young filmmaker.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Le Mépris by Jean-Luc Godard (1963). Le Mépris (Jean-Luc Godard) — ghost for Brian De Palma “As a young director, De Palma dreamed of being the "American Jean-Luc Godard".” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Peeping Tom by Michael Powell (1960). Peeping Tom (Michael Powell) — ghost for Brian De Palma “Romero, Brian De Palma, Bertrand Tavernier, and Martin Scorsese have cited Powell as an influence.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Rear Window by Alfred Hitchcock (1954). Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock) — ghost for Brian De Palma “His style is allusive: he paid homage to Alfred Hitchcock in Obsession (1976), Dressed to Kill, and Body Double (1984); Blow Out (1981) is based on Michelangelo Antonioni's Blowup (1966); and Scarface, his remake of Howard Hawks' 1932 fi…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Battleship Potemkin by Sergei Eisenstein (1925). The Untouchables (Brian De Palma) — legacy for Battleship Potemkin (via The Untouchables) “It is ironic that [Eisenstein] did it so well that today, the bloodshed on the Odessa steps is often referred to as if it really happened." === Treatment in other works of art === The scene is perhaps the best example of Eisenstein's the…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Blowup by Michelangelo Antonioni. Blow Out is based on Antonioni's Blowup. (via Blow Out) “Blow Out (1981) is based on Michelangelo Antonioni 's Blowup (1966)” (Wikipedia)

Peers and kindred spirits

• Martin Scorsese. De Palma is grouped with Scorsese as part of the same 1970s film movement. (also via Carrie, Mean Streets) “De Palma, along with other young film directors Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Francis Coppola made films of such quality that the period is sometimes referred to as another Golden Age of Hollywood.” (Fresh Air (WHYY/NPR))
• The Conversation by Francis Ford Coppola (1974). The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola) — peer for Brian De Palma (also via Blow Out) “he directed Blow Out (1981), a variation on Michelangelo Antonioni 's Blow-Up (1966) and Francis Ford Coppola 's The Conversation (1974)” (Wikipedia)
• Steven Spielberg (1946). De Palma is grouped with Spielberg as part of the same 1970s film movement. (also via Duel) “De Palma, along with other young film directors Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Francis Coppola made films of such quality that the period is sometimes referred to as another Golden Age of Hollywood.” (Fresh Air (WHYY/NPR))
• RoboCop by Paul Verhoeven (1987). RoboCop (Paul Verhoeven) — collaborator for Brian De Palma “Allen garnered mainstream fame playing Anne Lewis in Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop (1987), a role she reprised for RoboCop 2 (1990) and RoboCop 3 (1993).” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Keith Gordon (1961). Keith Gordon collaborated as an actor with De Palma on two films. “the latter of whom collaborated with him twice as an actor, both in 1979's Home Movies and 1980's Dressed to Kill” (Wikipedia)
• Duel by Steven Spielberg (1971). Duel (Steven Spielberg) — peer for Brian De Palma “He sought to adapt it numerous times, though the project would carry a substantial price tag, and has yet to appear on-screen (Steven Spielberg's 2002 adaptation of Philip K.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Bruce Springsteen (1949). De Palma directed Springsteen's music video. “De Palma directed the music video for Bruce Springsteen 's single " Dancing in the Dark " the same year” (Wikipedia)
• Mean Streets by Martin Scorsese (1973). Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese) — geography for Brian De Palma “His contemporaries include Martin Scorsese, Paul Schrader, John Milius, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter, and Ridley Scott.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Francis Coppola. De Palma is grouped with Coppola as part of the same 1970s film movement. “De Palma, along with other young film directors Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Francis Coppola made films of such quality that the period is sometimes referred to as another Golden Age of Hollywood.” (Fresh Air (WHYY/NPR))
• Domino. De Palma directed and expressed dissatisfaction with Domino's production. “I never experienced such a horrible movie set” (Wikipedia)
• Blue Collar by Paul Schrader (1978). Blue Collar (Paul Schrader) — geography for Brian De Palma “His contemporaries include Martin Scorsese, Paul Schrader, John Milius, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter, and Ridley Scott.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet (1984). Glengarry Glen Ross (David Mamet) — collaborator for Brian De Palma “In 1987, De Palma directed the crime film The Untouchables, loosely based on the book of the same name and adapted by David Mamet.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Oliver Stone. Oliver Stone wrote the screenplay for Scarface. (via Scarface) “starring Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer with a screenplay by Oliver Stone” (Wikipedia)
• George Lucas (1944). Carrie (Brian De Palma) — peer for George Lucas (via Carrie) “Pre-production for the film had coincided with the casting process for George Lucas' Star Wars, and many of the actors cast in De Palma's film had been earmarked as contenders for Lucas' movie, and vice versa.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Desilu Productions. Desilu produced The Untouchables. (via The Untouchables) “Desilu produced several other popular shows, such as The Untouchables , Star Trek , and Mission: Impossible .” (Wikipedia)
• Taxi Driver by Bernard Herrmann (1976). Taxi Driver (Bernard Herrmann) — collaborator for Brian De Palma “Among them were the horror film Sisters (1972), the rock musical Phantom of the Paradise (1974) and Obsession (1976), a variation on theme of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958) scored by Hitchcock's frequent collaborator Bernard Herrmann.” (en.wikipedia.org)

Who Brian De Palma influenced

• Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino is cited as influenced by De Palma. (also via Blow Out, Scarface, Carrie) “Tarantino said that Blow Out is one of his all-time favorite films, and that after watching Scarface he knew how to make his own film” (Wikipedia)
• Redacted. Redacted echoes themes from De Palma's own earlier film Casualties of War. (via Casualties of War) “the film echoes themes that appeared in Casualties of War” (Wikipedia)
• Mark Romanek (1959). Romanek's career was fostered by De Palma. “De Palma has encouraged and fostered the filmmaking careers of directors such as Mark Romanek and Keith Gordon” (Wikipedia)
• Terrence Malick (1943). Malick is cited as influenced by De Palma. “Filmmakers influenced by De Palma include Terrence Malick” (Wikipedia)
• Pauline Kael (1919). Kael compares De Palma's achievement in Blow Out to Altman and Coppola. (via Blow Out) “De Palma has sprung to the place that Robert Altman achieved with films such as McCabe & Mrs. Miller and Nashville and that Francis Ford Coppola reached with The Godfather films—that is, to the place where genre is transcended” (Wikipedia)
• Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarantino (1994). Travolta's Blow Out role led Tarantino to cast him in Pulp Fiction. (via Blow Out) “John Travolta 's performance as Jack Terry in Blow Out even resulted in Tarantino casting him as Vincent Vega in his 1994 film Pulp Fiction” (Wikipedia)
• Kill Bill: Volume 1 by Quentin Tarantino (2003). Kill Bill: Volume 1 (Quentin Tarantino) — legacy for Brian De Palma “Filmmakers influenced by De Palma include Terrence Malick, Quentin Tarantino, Ronny Yu, Don Mancini, Nacho Vigalondo, and Jack Thomas Smith.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Nocturnal Animals by Tom Ford (2016). Nocturnal Animals (Tom Ford) — legacy for Brian De Palma (themoviedb.org)
• Pusha T (1977). Scarface (Brian De Palma) — culture for Pusha T (via Scarface) (wikidata.org)
• JAŸ-Z. Scarface (Brian De Palma) — culture for JAŸ-Z (via Scarface) (themoviedb.org)
• Jack Thomas Smith (1969). Jack Thomas Smith is cited as influenced by De Palma.
• Don Mancini (1963). Don Mancini is cited as influenced by De Palma.
• Ronny Yu (1950). Ronny Yu is cited as influenced by De Palma.
• Nacho Vigalondo (1977). Nacho Vigalondo is cited as influenced by De Palma.