tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post2539958382817498803..comments2024-03-28T02:30:08.913-04:00Comments on Not Just Movies: Brian De Palma: Get to Know Your RabbitJakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09078001374402400232noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-58913398606719523402012-08-31T10:00:10.334-04:002012-08-31T10:00:10.334-04:00I know this is a long time after the fact, but Wel...I know this is a long time after the fact, but Welles was doing his magic acts for many years before this - he used to saw Rita Hayworth and Marlene Dietrich in half to entertain the troops in WWII. His role in Casino Royale was pretty much just him doing magic tricks one after another, and he used to do them on talk shows a lot. So I doubt that this particular instance was the primary inspiration for his schtick in F For Fake.Pearcehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04585713305682813718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-18003000450925128712010-06-03T22:38:51.974-04:002010-06-03T22:38:51.974-04:00Yeah, I had to buy this movie off Amazon--it's...Yeah, I had to buy this movie off Amazon--it's still not available for renting anywhere. I wasn't too impressed with it; I might watch it again someday, but for now it's probably just going to loom silently in my DVD collection. You're right that Tom Smothers isn't much of an actor; he was better off offending LBJ with those transparent anti-Vietnam, anti-government rants he'd deliver on his variety show (I only know about that because PBS did a special about variety shows last year).<br /><br />You can also sense when watching <i>Get to Know Your Rabbit</i> that De Palma didn't have much control. It was originally supposed to end with Smothers sawing a rabbit in half on live television, and it just gets so bloody that nobody wants anything to do with him--then he reveals privately that the rabbit was unharmed, and that it was all a trick. But now the movie just ends with him "disappearing", and there's no dramatic conflict there. He's not rebelling against anything.<br /><br />I had been thinking about reviewing the film, and was even going to use those <i>F for Fake</i> implications you've used here (turns out De Palma and Welles got along pretty well on the set). But <i>Get to Know Your Rabbit</i> honestly didn't stir me passionately enough to want to write about it. Somehow you have, though, and that's a superhuman strength if there ever was one.Adam Zanziehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14524618281515322239noreply@blogger.com