The Wedding Party

Back before either of them had made a name for themselves in Hollywood, director Brian De Palma and actor Robert De Niro collaborated on a cheaply made and amateurish farce called The Wedding Party. Filmed in 1963, it didn't actually get released until 1969 due to the production company going broke. As such, it's De Niro's first acting credit, and he has a significant supporting role as Cecil, a friend of the main character. There is no real reason to watch this film whatsoever unless (like me) you want to see an impossibly young Robert De Niro make his film debut.

There isn't much of a plot to speak of, it's more a series of mildly subversive and satirical comedy sketches based on the lead up to a wedding. Here's a rundown of the scenes just so you don't have to unneccessarily watch this film: Charlie (the groom, played by a guy named Charles Pfluger who never acted in anything else, ever) meets the bride's family via a series of endless introductions, Charlie's friends try to talk him out of the wedding, Charlie tries to sneak into his fiancee's room and talks about wedding night lingerie, Charlie's friends have a stag party without him, we see the ominous married-life routines Charlie is in for if he goes through with the wedding, the young couple gets advice from the Minister via an endless series of annoying metaphors, Charlie tries to talk a sikh pilot into taking his fiancee off his hands (one of the film's poorer sequences - it's meant to depict a conversation in a small plane but it's thoroughly unconvincing), the final banquet before the wedding, Charlie hooking up with a bookish girl, and then a final scene centred around the wedding day jitters.

It's a kind of ironic comedy of errors, but you won't be laughing because the poor quality of the film seems to override any genuine laughs that might be had. De Palma is very much in film-student mode as the director. He plays with film speeds (he speeds up and slows down the footage whilst keeping the dialogue at a normal speed, and then does the opposite - speeding up the dialogue over normal footage) but the point of this doesn't seem very clear. He also does a few other experimental things just for the sake of being experimental, including a weird scene where he cuts back and forth between contradicting shots of characters having a conversation (the point of view changes from one character to another whilst the background remains the same... it's jarring). The one thing that De Palma can probably claim credit for out of this film is discovering Robert De Niro... the two would go on to make two further small films together (Greetings, Hi Mom!) before De Niro would make it big, with De Palma obviously recognising enough talent in the young actor to give larger parts in each successive film.

De Niro himself looks weirdly short and sports an angular buzzcut, wearing uncharacteristically preppie combinations like dress shorts and a knitted sweater. His distinctive voice is more than evident but it's a bit more fey than usual, suggesting that he was yet to gain the confidence that would inform his later screen performances. All of his scenes are part of a double-act with William Finley (a minor actor who appears in several De Palma films) and it's a sizeable part despite his character not being credited by name in the credits. I will warn any De Niro fans out there though - despite the novelty of seeing the legendary actor at such a young age your interest in this film will wane long before it is over. It's not a very good film at all, and I dare say it only still exists simply because of De Niro's involvement.