The Best of Brian De Palma — The Awards Connection

Growing up, I think even prior to adolescence, I had seen a handful of Brian De Palma pictures, the likes of The Untouchables, Scarface and Mission: Impossible - you know, the ones that actually made a box office profit for him. I was a De Palma admirer for sure but it wasn't until high school, when I first came across Dressed to Kill (I believe it was on the Flix network), that I completely fell head over heels for the filmmaker.

My jaw was nearly on the floor throughout most of that 1980 picture, in particular during the museum scene, which remains one of my all-time favorite sequences captured on film. The combo of De Palma's mastery of the Steadicam, Pino Donaggio's incredible score and of course Angie Dickinson's pitch-prfect performance, left me shaken. Not long after seeing Dressed to Kill, I quickly tracked down Blow Out, Body Double and Raising Cain, all of which I adored, and then the likes of Femme Fatale, Obsession and Sisters, among others. While not every De Palma picture left me floored, I was certainly never bored for a second.

De Palma remains one of my very favorite filmmakers - and I shall never give up hope that he lands that big screen comeback hit that catapults him back on to the industry's A-list of directors. So, in honor of his birthday today, here's a rundown of my top 10 favorite De Palma films (so sorry, Femme Fatale and Sisters)...