The Hitchcock thrillers that Brian De Palma has plundered this time are, first, Rear Window, and second and foremost, Vertigo. (Wasn't it enough that he stole the latter plot for Obsession?) Even if you do not see through the ruse straightaway or do not solve the mystery by way of the Vertigo precedent, the problem still is that the plot is so factitious, so slapped together with happenstance and coincidence, that it can exercise no pull anyway. But forget logic for a moment. Hitchcock often did, after all. And yet he would come up with those virtuoso technical exercises, those so-called "set pieces," which all by themselves would atone for the rest. De Palma traffics in "set pieces" too. The difference, however, between his and Hitchcock's is that whereas the latter's may justify and compensate for any weak link in the movie, the former's are themselves the weakest links and would undermine and topple down even a movie that was otherwise a paragon of airtight construction. With Craig Wasson, Melanie Griffith, and Deborah Shelton. (1984) — Duncan Shepherd