After a few commercial and critical successes in the prior decade, American filmmakerBrian De Palmalaunched himself into superstardom during the 1980s. Frankly, he reached higher levels of fame in these short ten years than the majority of his contemporaries would acquire in their lifetimes. De Palma wrote the scripts for a few of the films at hand, but for the most part, he worked with some of the most talented screenwriters that Hollywood had to offer to create the respective products.
And even if you don’t know this director or any of his contemporaneous creatives by name, you’ll undoubtedly recognize plenty of titles on the list. They didn’t have nearthe commercial success of filmmakerslike Steven Spielberg, nor did they garner the kind of reviews from critics as someone like Martin Scorsese. But De Palma’s oeuvre from this decade met the perfect balance of both. A couple of these projects are among the most renowned or popular titles of the decade, too. All that said, this is every Brian De Palma movie of the 1980s, ranked.
7Wise Guys (1986)
Frankly, this is the only film on the list than can truly be considered “bad” from any perspective of qualitative judgment. And yeah. It is pretty bad, failing to live up to any semblance of expectations from fans despite a hard-hitting premise of two members at the bottom tier of a gang in Newark, New Jersey. The Mafia boss at hand is named Anthony Costelo, who has the aforementioned lead characters achieving low-end jobs like taking care of his pets.
And again: in spite of a premise that would seemingly be right up the crime-infested alley ofBrian De Palma’s filmography,Wise Guys(1986) fell short across the board of critical reception. It even came up short of making back its $13 million at the box office despite Danny De Vito and Joe Piscopo in the leading roles. But of course, all of those statistics are warranted. From a sheerly qualitative perspective, nothing came together here withWise Guys. And ultimately, it comes in at number seven.
Related:The Fall of Brian De Palma, Explained
6Body Double (1984)
This project came at a time in which all eyes in the industry were focused on De Palma by virtue of his prior release — more on that later, though. And by all accounts,Body Double(1984) continued the successful streak of De Palma throughout the 1980s even if it didn’t gain much traction upon release. Well, certain critics praised the film, such as Roger Ebert, but it failed to make back its $10 million at the worldwide box office. Not the greatest of looks.
But again, those numbers shouldn’t be indicative of the quality herein.Body Doubleis now commonly considered a cult classic, with modern audiences more frequently sharing the sentiments of the aforementioned critic. They felt this film rendered De Palma the second coming of Hitchcock, and frankly, that’s not the worst comparison. It follows a budding actor who recently came up short at an audition while also losing his girlfriend, but rallies by landing a housesitting jobin the Hollywood Hills. And as you may have guessed, things take a mysterious twist fairly early on. This renders thrilling elements at play around every corner of the plot, and in the end, everything came together fluidly to landBody Doublehere at number six.
5Casualties of War (1989)
This is among the most underrated projects of the list, its decade, and that its entire genre — war films, if that wasn’t clear — has to offer. On top of phenomenal leading efforts from Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn, the film at hand also features early performances from John C. Reilly (in his second ever feature appearance), John Leguizamo (in his third ever appearance), and Ving Rhames (also his third). And they all performed brilliantly here inCasualties of War(1989), De Palma’s final film of the decade.
Set during the Vietnam War, the plot is told via a flashback from Fox’s character, Private First Class Max Eriksson. And the details thereof get fairly disturbing toward the midpoint, with a particularly dark series of scenes with American soldiers kidnapping a raping a Vietnam woman. But as hard as those sequences were to watch, they did facilitate some particularly poignant storytellingwith regard to general character development. It was easy to root for Eriksson after his refusal to take part in the aforementioned acts. This arc arguably renders Eriksson among the more engrossing protagonists the entire genre has to offer. And ultimately, the emotion emitted from his choices helped landCasualties of Warhere at number four.
4Scarface (1983)
Starring Al Pacino as Tony Montana, this is without a doubt the most well-known project on the list. Probably of De Palma’s career, in fact. Although, that wasn’t exactly the case upon release, asScarface(1983) made just $66 million on a $35 million budget and rubbed many critics the wrong way due to its aestheticization of violence. But nowadays, this is considered one of the most quintessential gangster flicks ever made, and justifiably so.
This was the first of two collaborations between De Palma and Pacino, and their chemistry shined from the start. The two were like a match made in heaven here inScarface— and when accounting for a scriptfrom Oliver Stonein tandem with John A. Alonzo’s camerawork, the cast and crew working herein were essentially the crème of the crop regarding their respective crafts. And that undoubtedly showed here in the chronicling of the aforementioned crime lord, Scarface himself, Tony Montana. He’s constantly referenced throughout pop culture in general, and in the end helps land the project at number three.
3The Untouchables (1987)
Following the criminal happenings of real-life gangster Al Capone, this is without a doubt one of De Palma’s most popular films — it’s no Scarface in that regard. But whereThe Untouchables(1987) may lack any semblance of name value in comparison, it more than makes up for it in quality. De Niro portrayed the aforementioned crime lord to perfection, with many other talents in front of the camera like Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, and Andy García.
They all performed brilliantly, facilitated by competent direction from De Palma in tandem with David Mamet’s script. And for those unfamiliar, the latter is a veteran of the crime genre in his own right, having directed many high-quality heist films such asHouse of Games(1987),The Spanish Prisoner(1998), and of courseHeist(2001). Sure,The Untouchablesmay beclassified as a gangster film, but it features many of the same tropes and plot elements as the heist subgenre, nonetheless. The efforts of those aforementioned creatives ultimately landed the highly fictionalized rendition at hand in the penultimate spot.
2Dressed to Kill (1980)
With an endlessly intriguing premise and well-written execution, there’s a solid argument that this should go down among the finest titles of De Palma’s entire career. Easily up there as the most forgotten. Thanks in part to a charismatic performance from Michael Caine in the lead role, De Palma saw his vision perfectly into fruition withDressed to Kill(1980).
But of course, plenty of that was because of the script — not the narrative necessarily, but the general tone achieved herein by De Palma. Sure, a few scenes in particular stood out as inventive and well-written. But in the grand scheme of things, this project most prominently showcases his predilection for style over substance. And that’s okay. It’s not often that De Palma chooses storytelling over spectacle — but just know that, when he does, the product without a doubt stands out for its quality.
1Blow Out (1981)
That’s the case here withBlow Out(1981), where genius screenwriting intersects with spectacular execution. It follows a sound effects technician as he records new content for an upcoming,low-budget slasher film. But as he’s on the job, standing over a bridge and hunting for a proper depiction of wind blowing through the night air, John Travolta’s lead character Jack Terry picks up nearby audio of an assassination. The kill was executed on a newly potential candidate for future presidencies, serving as the main source of conflict as Jack attempts to bring the killer to justice. And again: everything came together brilliantly herein to craft a compelling neo-noir mystery film for the ages.
But this is also noteworthy for being the last project of true quality that involved John Travolta before his career went on a downward swing. Of course, he would return in valiant fashion over a decade down the line thanks to his role inPulp Fiction(1994) by Quentin Tarantino. But here inBlow Outby Brian De Palma, there’s a solid argument that Travolta was at his best. He truly ran the gamut of emotion as Jack Terry, staying true to his nature until the film’s final frame. For that fact and many more,Blow Outwithout a doubt deserves to top this list in the end.
