Obsession

Obsession (1976)

Runtime: 99 minutes

Directed by: Brian De Palma

Starring: Cliff Robertson, Genevieve Bujold, John Lithgow, Sylvia Kuumba Williams, Wanda Blackman

From: Columbia

It's time for me to catch up here. That'll be done in a few minutes when I post another review. For now, this movie took quite the turn...

(Monday) night this movie was viewed for the first time on Turner Classic Movies; it was part of a five movie run of the great Brian De Palma. First was... The Bonfire of the Vanities. I've only seen a few minutes of that and that was enough. Last afternoon I was thinking that I'd only see the movie if I ever read The Devil's Candy, a book which covers the dumpster fire of its production. Imagine my shock when I saw that last night the hosts that presented the first three films were Ben Mankiewicz and... the author of The Devil's Candy. Get this, they showed Bonfire as an advertisement for a season-long podcast from TCM that presents the content of Candy... only in 2021, I say.

Anyhow, Obsession (like many of De Palma's movies) wear its Hitchcock influences on its sleeve. In this case, Cliff Robertson plays a rich dude in New Orleans who loses his wife and daughter after a kidnapping gone awry. Years later he stumbles into a woman in Rome that looks just like his spouse. What does that remind me of... they fall in love but what a left turn the movie eventually takes. Robertson's performance can be questioned (De Palma agrees) but at least Bujold was swell in her dual role. For such an early time in his career, John Lithgow already brought the goods. Between the Cajun accent and the giant mustache he eventually has, I greatly enjoyed it whenever he was on screen.

For all the talent involved behind the screen and in front of it, I can't say this is better than good. That's no slight... it's just that there are other movies from the director I do prefer. Not even Bernard Herrmann's top-notch score can sway my opinion. Paul Schrader wrote the screenplay yet various changes were made and he was NOT happy that certain things were toned down or taken out entirely. A problem for me was that not only did I predict a plot twist that seemed obvious to me, there was an inkling of what Obsession's most infamous aspect was. No spoilers on what that was, except that a certain foreign director a few decades later HAD to be inspired by this movie and used that in his most famous work...

No regrets on giving this a shot. No matter my feelings on this, it was De Palma's first hit, even before Carrie later in the year... although the latter made far more money in comparison. I do have to chuckle at the anecdote I heard yesterday, which unlike rumors of Hitchcock hating this movie due to its resemblance to Vertigo, I am pretty certain is true. Herrmann apparently swooned over Bujold in the last few months of his life. He was taken by her after viewing a rough cut of the movie and greatly enjoyed meeting her one time and her complimenting his music... it actually moved him to tears. Allegedly, her photo was in his wallet when he passed away suddenly, but from all appearances that obsession was NOT creepy like the ones portrayed in Obsession... or Vertigo for that matter.