Hi, Mom! (1970)

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Excellent but underrated film

Absolutely the worst movie.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Hi, Mom! is a black comedy film wherein Robert De Niro reprises his role of Jon Rubin in one of his earlier films,Greetings.Allen Garfield,Jennifer Salt,Lara Parker,Paul Bartel,Charles Durning and Gerrit Graham co-stars with De Niro.Meanwhile,Brian De Palma is at helm in one of his first films.Jon Rubin is a Vietnam War veteran who aspires to become a high class pornographer.He sets up his apartment across from the office of Joe Banner to impress the erotic filmmaker with his talent. Jon finds his efforts to film the amorous adventures hampered by a sequence of bad luck, and eventually takes a job as a actor portraying a policeman. Banner takes Jon under his wing to give the young photographer the benefit of his experience. They contend with production delays when urban guerillas and black militants launch their protest. By today's standards,one would still appreciate this movie especially during the early years of porn.Also,we get to see institutions in the industry in De Niro and De Palma.Overall,it would still appreciated by viewers today due to the "Peeping Tom" theme in the film.

They made some weird stuff together. Brian De Palma always has been a director with an unique and unusual style, that always had been quite experimental and I love him for that but that doesn't mean that I think that all of his movies are very good."Hi, Mom!" is far from a great movie because it feels like such a big mess. The story is being all over the place and it makes lots of sudden jumps and which the story just completely takes another turn and becomes one about something totally different. Like basically all of De Palma's earliest movies, this one feels more like an art-house one.The movie got shot as if they improvised a lot of stuff just on the spot. Also the actors seemed to have improvised quite a lot while playing, which is something that I do like about this movie. The movie does not feels stylized or planned out but more feels rebellious and simplistic, which adds to the whole satire element of the movie.As a satire this movie does has some messages in it and it also at times does this in a good way. The movie does really become an effective one in certain parts but this doesn't of course prevent the movie from being a very disjointed one.Not an horrible movie but still far too messy and odd for me to really like it or consider this a watchable one for just everyone.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Before he strode confidently into Hitchcock territory, filmmaker Brian De Palma began his career in the late 1960s and early 1970s with a series of anti-authority satires. Hi, Mom! (1970) wasn't quite as controversial as its X-rated predecessor, Greetings (1968), but it still has a bite, even today.Robert DeNiro stars as Jon Rubin, a Vietnam vet looking to find his place in America. He gets the idea of making porno films with a voyeuristic quality, filming the residents of a neighboring apartment building from his window. To get quicker results, he even seduces one woman and tries to perform for the camera, set on a timer. He also auditions for a role in a play entitled "Be Black Baby," in which the white spectators are humiliated by black performers.The film goes off on many tangents, using black-and-white footage to capture seemingly spontaneous reactions of passersby, but it never loses its obsession with voyeurism and the power of the camera. In many ways, this rambunctious mess gets closer to De Palma's dark heart than many of his later, more artistically successful works. Charles Durning appears in an early role as a slum landlord.

I watched this back to back with the films predecessor Greetings and I found the first one to be better and more sincere. This one just is. It tries to make a statement about the black community but it is lost on me what that statement is. Maybe it is just because I am not of that time. I had high hopes for this one because Greetings was so good but this one is slow paced and has no apparent meaning. I will give it a second viewing at some point because almost all of Brian De Palma's movies are better on the second viewing, Mission Impossible anyone? But I have my doubts about this one. This is most notable as the last film De Palma made before his breakout success with 1973's Sisters. I however think Sisters is even more a piece of garbage than this movie. See this to complete the masterpiece that is Greetings, all though their is not much completion in this.