Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

Sci-Fi,

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Brian DePalma has had a long, and often controversial, run as a filmmaker. Starting out in the 1960s with counterculture comedies like Greetings and Hi, Mom! (both of which starred a young Robert DeNiro), DePalma then became known as the poor man's Alfred Hitchcock with 1973's Sisters, and later films such as Obsession (1976), Dressed to Kill (1980) and Body Double (1984). His greatest achievement, however, may have been a film that falls somewhere in between his early, funny work and his bloody Hitchcockian thrillers.
1974's Phantom of the Paradise, written and directed by DePalma, combines elements of Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera, Goethe's Faust, Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, and David Bowie's Aladdin Sane into an off-the-wall, satirical 70's rock musical.
The film tells the story of a brilliant but luckless composer named Winslow Leach, played by DePalma veteran William Finley (who also appears in the director's early films Murder à la Mod and The Wedding Party, as well as in Sisters and The Fury), who is used, abused, and ripped off by the ageless music impresario Swan, played by Paul Williams. After Swan steals his rock opera and has him imprisoned on trumped-up charges, Leach escapes and attempts revenge, which results in his being gruesomely disfigured at the Swan Records pressing plant, transforming him into the Phantom of the title.
The Paradise of the title is Swan's rock palace, the grand opening of which is to be scored with Leach's magnum opus. Although the music was written for Winslow's true love, Phoenix, played by Jessica Harper (Suspiria, Stardust Memories), Swan casts glitter-rock gargoyle Beef (Gerrit Graham) as the lead, much to the chagrin of the Phantom. Mayhem ensues.
Graham, who had worked with DePalma in Greetings and Hi, Mom!, has many of the film's funniest moments, including an homage to the shower scene in Hitchcock's Psycho that must be seen to be believed. His "shocking" exit is also a highlight.
The diminutive Williams, who also wrote the film's score, has a field day as the devilish Swan, devouring the scenery as he gleefully torments Leach throughout the film. He is the embodiment of the "evil mothers" that run the music business, the personification of that industry's out-of-control egotism, rampant greed, and ruthless exploitation of the artist. The movie is sort of like an operatic variation on the famous Hunter S. Thompson quote, "The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."
Phantom of the Paradise is at once highly derivative (see the various sources listed above) and wholly original, a one-of-a-kind movie musical that could have only been made in 1974. It doesn't all work, but the film's audacity and over-the-top energy carry the day. Although Phantom was not a commercial success in its day, it has since become a cult movie, and rumors of a remake have been floating around for years.
But rather than waiting for the inevitably disappointing rehash starring Lady GaGa as Phoenix and Justin Bieber as Swan, see the original instead.