A difficult film to watch or even talk about, But there are a number of interesting decisions that went into and came out of this movie starting with the Casting by Lynn Stalmaster. This was the film debut of John C. Reilly and the 2nd role for John Leguizamo, and they’re given a lot to do. There’s also an early appearance by Holt McCallany and Ving Rhames, who is introduced delivering a lengthy monologue right to camera. Marine veteran Dale Dye, who I wrote about for Platoon, also has a meaty scene with Michael J. Fox. These choices may stem from the influence of David Rabe, a playwright in his sole Original Screenplay credit.
This was director Brian De Palma’s personal film after the tremendous success of The Untouchables. Known for a flashy bag of camera tricks he reuses in a number of suspense thrillers, he gets this one opportunity to apply his technique to a different genre and the specific lensing and framing by Director of Photography Stephen H Burum, who worked with De Palma on eight features, has tremendous emotional impact.
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