The famous “Steam Control” scene exposes it all.
Here, the grotesque shot allows us to see beyond the hands that manipulate society and see the face behind them. Obviously, Reverend Bacon has a golden chain and rotten soul.
If only we could get a grip on our vanities and show a little decency…
This film may have a technical facination in the way it’s put together but if one is honest they have to admit it’s a failed film. This isn’t the movie De Palma wanted to make out of the book. De Palma was forced by the toxic egos at Warner Brothers to rip out 40 to 50 pages from the script 2 days before principal photography, therefore changing the tone of the film all-together. De Palma wanted to make a 3 hour film that would have done justice to the book. The film and characters come off as cartoon characters of Wall Street and don’t seem real in the slightest. Warner Brothers forced De Palma to cast a ridiculous Bruce Willis when De Palma wanted Michael Caine. If De Palma didn’t make the changes that Warner Brothers wanted he would have been removed from the film. The book was inflammotry and controversial where the film is a sanitized bland telling of the book with so many memorable chapters from the book removed. The film bombed because of the studio. The fans of the book knew what they wanted from the popular book and the studio did not let De Palma make the film the way he wanted that would have pleased the fans of the book. Warner Brothers forced De Palma to make an unforgivable ruined film that had no chance of succeeding.