Tarantino Prefers De Palma to Scorsese or Spielberg

I’ll always abide by the church of Brian De Palma. He hasn’t necessarily gotten his due over the years, at least when compared to his more high profiled peers.

Noah Baumbach directed an excellent doc about De Palma in 2015 which tried to reassess this great filmmaker and introduce him to a new generation of moviegoers.

Quentin Tarantino seems to be in agreement, but he’s gone that extra mile by saying he likes De Palma more than either Martin Scorsese or Steven Spielberg.

Everyone loves Spielberg and Scorsese, there was no question of me joining the club of the most popular guys, that’s not my style! Part of my love for De Palma came from the possibility of getting into trouble defending him, sometimes to the point of coming to blows.

The main reason why Tarantino compares these filmmakers is due to their central role in The New Hollywood, also known as American New Wave. This was a movement in American film history from the 1970s to the early 1980s, when a new generation of young filmmakers came to prominence.

De Palma, Scorsese, Spielberg and Coppola were definitely four of the biggest names to have come out of this movement. De Palma’s stock eventually dwindled, to the point where he’s turned out to be classified as one of the more underrated auteurs of this era.

When asked last year to name his peak career period, De Palma didn’t choose any peak from the ‘70s or ‘80s, but, rather, a one-two punch he had in the early ‘90s.

In my mid 50s [actually his early to mid 50s], doing Carlito’s Way and then Mission: Impossible. It doesn’t get much better than that. You have all the power and tools at your disposal. When you have the Hollywood system working for you, you can do some remarkable.

What would I have chosen as De Palma’s peak?

That 13-year streak between 1976-1989 was his peak: “Carrie,” “Phantom of Paradise,” “Dressed to Kill”, “Blow Out”, “Scarface”, “Body Double”, “The Untouchables,” “Casualties of War” (Let's forget Wise Guys ever existed). However, I do agree with him about “Carlito's Way”, it's pretty close to a masterpiece and has aged very well.