‹ All movies
Body Double poster

Body Double

year 1984decade 80sdirector Brian De Palma

114 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Craig Wasson Jake Scully
Gregg Henry Sam Bouchard / Alexander Revelle
Melanie Griffith Holly Body
Deborah Shelton Gloria Revelle
Guy Boyd Jim McLean
David Haskell Drama teacher
Dennis Franz Rubin
Rebecca Stanley Kimberly
Larry Flash Jenkins Assistant director
Monte Landis Sid Goldberg
Linda Shaw Linda Shaw

Body Double | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Chris Ryanhost Sean Fennesseyproducer Craig Horlbeck
Explore episodeClose episode

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

Jake should stay in adult films; permit real sex; best adult-industry integration

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:13:57Read transcript
  • Despite De Palma’s provocative promises, the movie seems tamer than its potential and more interested in the absurd workaday sex business than arousal; Crimes of Passion is an extreme comparison.
  • Jake should remain in adult filmmaking after immediately landing featured work, with the Chemosphere an ideal set and comic qualifications about technique.
  • Consensual unsimulated sex in mainstream films is advocated as a remaining boundary, contrasted with screen violence; The Brown Bunny’s backlash and explicitly unconfirmed rumors about other films are discussed.
  • This is called the best limited integration of the adult-film world into a mainstream movie; Boogie Nights, Hardcore, Wonderland, 8MM, Orgazmo and others supply comparisons.

Most Rewatchable Scene

Relax; following Gloria; adult-industry stretch; first dance

In the discussion (21)
Approx. transcript time · 00:25:41Read transcript
  • Jake and Holly encountering another actress after drinks is identified as a scene where the two film-industry worlds look similar.
  • Sid Goldberg’s adult-industry interview and correction from expressionist to exhibitionist are singled out as comic highlights.
  • Jake discovering his girlfriend with another man is nominated: his cheerful obliviousness and humiliating retreat establish his weakness, with the staging compared to Boogie Nights.
  • The acting-class sardine exercise is judged important but not especially successful because Sam recognizes Jake’s vulnerability there.
  • The house-sitting offer provides an appealing leap into luxury, prompting an anecdote about temporary loft living after moving to Los Angeles.
  • Sam introducing the precise nightly striptease is absurd but persuasive to the entranced Jake, who accepts the house and spectacle without the obvious questions.
  • Jake follows Gloria to the Rodeo collection, behaving conspicuously at a payphone and retrieving discarded underwear; security intervention is deserved.
  • The mall’s moving camera, escalators, payphone staging and Donaggio score make apparently uneventful following mesmerizing, recalling Dressed to Kill’s museum sequence.
  • The crowded elevator triggers claustrophobia, while the underwear-shop viewpoint and later police rebuke emphasize Jake’s creepiness.
  • The purse-snatch chase offers tiring, realistic running and striking Long Beach terraces, though easy access to Gloria’s phone call and her calm reaction are questioned.
  • The tunnel repeats claustrophobia before an extravagant spinning kiss, whose dreamlike unreality and sweeping camera are connected with Hitchcock and Blow Out.
  • The drill murder is admired for not showing penetration, comic plugging-in interruptions and blood dripping through the floor, despite its contested phallic imagery.
  • Sid Goldberg’s program, Linda Shaw’s adult-film titles and his smooth transition to a trailer make the television sequence especially funny.
  • Holly Does Hollywood’s five-minutes joke and lurid review blurbs are praised as meticulously observed adult-film parody.
  • The move into the adult industry is considered a high point across video store, trailer, sets and casting, with strong influence on Boogie Nights; Goldberg is distinguished as a fictional role from real performer Linda Shaw.
  • The Relax adult-film/music-video sequence is praised as an early successful translation of MTV aesthetics into narrative film, with De Palma studying visual form and choosing Frankie Goes to Hollywood at the right moment.
  • Holly’s businesslike contract and boundary speech on the date is praised for effortless delivery; Jake’s producer impersonation is compared unfavorably with George C. Scott in Hardcore.
  • The encounter with Kimberly Hess and her career/body advice is admired as industry satire; the claim that her actor Rebecca Stanley was an adult performer is stated uncertainly rather than verified.
  • Jake confessing he is not a producer sends Holly away and leads to the visually striking but confusing reservoir confrontation.
  • Relax is the most-rewatched choice; the following sequence is another favorite, while the stretch from video discovery through Holly’s first date is called elite.
  • The first nightly dance is a late most-rewatchable-scene nomination, emphasizing the uncertainty between Shelton and Griffith.

What’s Aged the Best?

Griffith; Los Angeles; music; Peter Meter; enduring influence

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:27:38Read transcript
  • Recognizable Los Angeles locations make repeat viewing richer; the city’s filming history prompts frustration about current production incentives.
  • Long Beach doubles for the coast nearer Los Angeles, while backlots, auditions and deliberately artificial locations reinforce the film’s interest in constructed appearances.
  • Young Griffith and the enduring Barney’s Beanery are praised; Wasson’s Maher/Meyer resemblance is a running joke.
  • Linda Shaw receives overdue praise through joking basketball-star comparisons.
  • A relapse at the bar and the horrified bartender’s questions are enjoyed, leading to a tangent about knowing regular bartenders.
  • The neighbor’s stripping music and Holly’s Peter Meter dance routine hold up; the score’s later use in Air is noted.
  • Sam claiming creative differences with the Seattle repertory company is enjoyed as an obviously convenient excuse.
  • The fake Vampire’s Kiss title reportedly inspired the later film; American Psycho’s Bateman obsessively rents Body Double, and an adult performer takes Holly Body as her name.
  • The Griffith–Dakota Johnson–Tippi Hedren lineage and the film’s influence after its flop are praised.
  • Sam applying elaborate disguise makeup himself is briefly admired, though the stereotyped identity is immediately challenged as having aged badly.

The Great Shot Gordo Award for Most Cinematic Shot

Split-diopter payphone; reservoir coffin imagery

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:46:42Read transcript
  • The split-diopter payphone view from the valet is nominated.
  • The reservoir confrontation’s coffin imagery is another possible Great Shot Gordo choice.

The most "year the movie came out" thing

Music video inside a film; adult-video stores and tape formats

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 00:58:37Read transcript
  • Putting a music video inside a movie and a large adult-video section with multiple tape formats define 1984.

What’s Aged the Worst?

Disguise stereotype; acting teacher; chaste adult-film world; Jake; Sam’s plan

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:07:02Read transcript
  • The acting teacher and calling the disguised killer the Indian are criticized.
  • The conspicuous absence of drug use in the adult-film setting feels implausibly chaste.
  • Jake revealing the truth before sex with Holly is questioned, though his loser characterization offers an explanation.
  • Jake’s coffee-drinking manner and Wasson’s difficult screen presence may limit the film’s appeal, alongside its challenging surreal satire.
  • Sam’s needlessly complex murder plot and releasing the film against The Terminator are criticized.

Apex Mountain

Craig Wasson; Gregg Henry; Frankie Goes to Hollywood; 1980s adult films; telescopes; explicit body-double scenes

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:26:30Read transcript
  • Wasson is emphatically accepted, with later audiobook work noted.
  • Griffith loses to Working Girl; De Palma is debated among Scarface, Blow Out, The Untouchables and Carrie, with Scarface’s resulting deal favored.
  • 1980s adult films in mainstream movies, Gregg Henry and Frankie Goes to Hollywood are accepted; the band’s 1984 momentum and later soundtrack use are recalled.
  • Telescopes and explicit demonstrations of body doubling are accepted; rotating beds are considered but Austin Powers is an alternative, and Barry challenges acting-class scenes.
  • Characterful Los Angeles houses are considered but Heat and Greenberg become competing examples, leaving the category unsettled.

Cruise or Hanks?

Hanks as Jake; Cruise as Sam alternative

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:30:45Read transcript
  • Hanks is the final lead-role choice. A both version assigns Cruise the slick Sam/disguised villain and Hanks Jake, correcting an initial reversed assignment.

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

OnlyFans-era prestige series; Holly and Jake’s production company

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:39:20Read transcript
  • An OnlyFans-era prestige series is favored; a sequel could follow Holly and Jake’s production company, with an imagined hiring scandal involving Traci Lords.

Is This Movie Better With…?

Byron Mayo as Sid; Nell as Holly; Longlegs as assistant director

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:40:16Read transcript
  • Byron Mayo as Sid Goldberg in the hot tub is the main suggestion, with Nell performing Holly’s dance another joke.
  • Longlegs as the adult-film set’s AD complaining that there are no cum shots is proposed.

Just One Oscar

Melanie Griffith; Stephen H. Burum

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:40:53Read transcript
  • Griffith for supporting actress and Stephen H. Burum for cinematography are choices; De Palma is also floated amid an uncertain discussion of the year’s competition.

The Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson

Distrust too-good house-sitting offers; do not follow strangers

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:47:37Read transcript
  • Distrust an extraordinary house-sitting offer from someone barely known, and avoid following strangers for long periods.