“I’d buy that for a dollar!”
I’ll have to take your word for it and give Showgirls an eventual try. The uncut Robocop (shot in my hometown—not Detroit) is an old favorite that hasn’t lost its charm. There’s quite a lot going on in that film. I also get what he’s doing with Starship Troopers and while the actors grate the bugs are truly great. I even like Basic Instinct a good deal, sort of the last of a group of 80s thrillers that are of the same ilk.
When I saw Black Book I thought it was directed by someone else. That’s Veerhoven? Huh. Put him in a new perspective. I’ve seen Soldier of Orange and I think I like it even more. Looking forward to the underseen films you anticipate showcasing.
my favorite paul verhoeven movie is turkish delight :)
I’ve never seen a Verhoeven film. Perhaps I’ll try Robocop.
My favorite cheesy filmmaker of all time. If I’m in the mood to have the cheese laid on thick, I pop in a Verhoeven film. Robocop, Total Recall and Starship Troopers get me every time. When he tries to be serious he completely loses me, though.
My favourite Verhoeven film is still The Fourth Man :). Well, I hope you get to at least showcase some of his earlier films. I still have yet to see some of his earlier films.
So far, all the Verhoeven films I’ve seen, and even upon the first and only viewings, have been a blast for me. I just watched Basic Instinct, a few films after seeing Blue Velvet. And I know, they are two completely different films but I thought the concept of a perverted and intrigued detective was used way better in Basic Instinct :P. And I don’t get why Showgirls is considered campy for its supposedly bad acting performances, when I didn’t find it that terrible at all.
Very much enjoyed Soldier of Orange. Looking forward to discovering more Verhoeven (and hopefully getting a chance to watch Robocop again?)
Robocop is supposed to be the first movie we watch if some movie geek friends and I ever get together and start doing our proposed “nerd night”. It still hasn’t happened yet though.
The 4th Man…his best film
For me everything that Verhoeven made in Hollywood is pure satire. You have to realise that none of these projects were actually initiated by Verhoeven himself. For me all his artistry was in Turks Fruit, Soldaat van Oranje and De Vierde Man.
The fascinating thing about Verhoeven is that with every film he made in Hollywood and The Netherlands, there is controversy involved, but always about the movie and the script itself. One of his first films, the documentary “Portret of Anton Mussert”, about the leading man of the fascist party in The Netherlands in WW2, was at first not shown because nobody would dare to make a nuanced portrait about that man. Only years later the film was shown on Dutch TV and is still ‘fascinating’ to see.
And even when I agree that the best Verhoeven films are Soldaat van Oranje en De Vierde Man, his work in Hollywood is in retrospect both insightful and influential for The American society and – cinema.
I think his ideas and sensibilities reached their apex in Hollywood, rather than vice versa. Showgirls and Starship Troopers are his most succinct masterpieces. But I do think that approaching these films from a “it’s all cutting satire” angle is wrong, as Verhoeven really does love a lot of the gaudy excesses of Hollywood. This aspect only strengthens the films for me.
I do love his Dutch work, especially Soldier of Orange and Black Book, two of the greatest war films ever made.
Adam Cook
Excuses, excuses…I’m very busy for a number of reasons I wont get into, so, unfortunately, I can’t write a proper introduction for Paul Verhoeven. Instead, here is a brief intro as well as some illuminating links.
Odds are you’ve seen a Verhoeven movie. But have you really watched one? Only within the last year did I reevaluate the Dutch filmmaker, whose Hollywood work was a part of my childhood. I was beyond pleased to discover that films like Robocop and Total Recall were just as fun as I remembered, but I also discovered they were so much more. Re-watches of Showgirls and Starship Troopers prompted me to go through his entire filmography, and it remains one of the more rewarding experiences I’ve had with a director. The 1 star I had given Showgirls in my youth became a 5 (in fact, I consider it among the very best films I’ve seen), and Verhoeven has become one of my favourite auteurs. Few filmmakers are as honest about what makes us human and therefore few filmmakers are as valuable. Verhoeven’s obsessions are with our sexuality, our cruelty, our violence and the fragility of the morality that keeps these things in check.
I hope those who approach Verhoeven’s films in this cup do so with the same open mind that I did. I am worried, however, that if I choose some of his best films for the competition, such as Showgirls or Starship Troopers, that many of those who have previously seen them will not re-watch and/or re-evaluate them. I’ve decided that for round 1 I’d choose lesser seen films, that many will get to see for the first time, that may work better for changing the general perception of his auteurism.
Links.
Jonathan Rosenbaum on Hollow Man
Eric Henderson on Showgirls
Paul Verhoeven and His Hollow Men
Here is an interesting thread from our forum
My ranked list of Verhoeven’s films
Jacques Rivette, in response to being asked about Starship Troopers (from an interview at Senses of Cinema):
“I’ve seen it twice and I like it a lot, but I prefer Showgirls (1995), one of the great American films of the last few years. It’s Verhoeven’s best American film and his most personal. In Starship Troopers, he uses various effects to help everything go down smoothly, but he’s totally exposed in Showgirls. It’s the American film that’s closest to his Dutch work. It has great sincerity, and the script is very honest, guileless. It’s so obvious that it was written by Verhoeven himself rather than Mr. Eszterhas, who is nothing. And that actress is amazing! Like every Verhoeven film, it’s very unpleasant: it’s about surviving in a world populated by assholes, and that’s his philosophy. Of all the recent American films that were set in Las Vegas, Showgirls was the only one that was real – take my word for it.I who have never set foot in the place!
Starship Troopers doesn’t mock the American military or the clichés of war – that’s just something Verhoeven says in interviews to appear politically correct. In fact, he loves clichés, and there’s a comic strip side to Verhoeven, very close to Lichtenstein. And his bugs are wonderful and very funny, so much better than Spielberg’s dinosaurs. I always defend Verhoeven.“