I recently watched the 1978 film, The Fury. You'd think that a film starring Kirk Douglas and John Cassavetes and directed by Brian de Palma would be automatically awesome. You'd think wrong.
Part horror, part sci-fi, part crap, this movie had me bored to death. The one thing that kept me going, though was the constant stream of cameos by actors before they became famous.
Notice the shirtless dude on the left? That's Jim Belushi. He's barely in it for five seconds and has no lines. I'm told that he initially had a bigger part, but couldn't get his act together and the director demoted him to an extra. David Letterman made fun of him for this one time.
Darryl Hannah and Laura Innes (the bitter handicapped lesbian doctor on ER) make a brief appearance as snotty teens.
And that's Melody Thomas Scott on the right - she's Nikki from Young & the Restless, and has been on that show since 1986!.
Looky here. Dennis Franz from Hill Street Blues! He's a lot thinner - almost unrecognizable.
So, all in all, the movie sucked, but the cameos kept me entertained. Certainly not on the top of my list of favorite de Palma lists. That distinction would have to go to Dressed to Kill, Carrie, Phantom of the Paradise or Blow Out.
