The 4th Man

Colorful thriller that throws the viewer off with symbolic imagery and surreal fantasy sequences. Might be considered pretentious by some, but its obviously deliberately overdone in a sort of trashy arthouse style, while retaining beautiful visuals and telling a pretty straightforward story. Seeing this movie you realize Verhoeven had to be picked up by Hollywood sooner or later.

Now... I may be out on the deep end here... But I think I might have spottet a tiny bit of hidden symbolism in this film... Verhoeven does De Palma better than De Palma himself...

*singing* there's a black-winged gull wit a broken back/ Theres a butterfly trapped in a spider's web - there's a little LSD in my noir today - but it's the same old noir as yesterday. - I've seen it before in black and white and grain. About a sort-of-gay man who is a bit insane. He takes a half-brained turn down Vagina Lane - And it all ends up in tragicomic pain.

Like Starship Troopers, this works both as a piss-take of the genre it inhabits and as a successful genre movie in itself. Crass symbolism, decadence and nudity abound, all done in a tongue-in-cheek, "anything goes" additude that should be the rule and not the exception in arthouse features. A movie that spits in the eyes of all wankers everywhere.

It starts off really well but kind of fizzles. Also, it threw me off that I had a hunch that it would have the same twist as 'The Crying Game'.

The 4th man is...YOU! And you're a besotted, bisexual Catholic who hooks up with a well-tuned German sex-bot in order to get close to the man you love, who doesn't love you so you try to get busy in a ancient crypt, which obviously doesn't work because WHO THE FUCK GETS BUSY IN A CRYPT!? Talk about a mood killer (unless you are a vampire or a Goth teen, which, to my knowledge, neither of the characters were...though this is Paul Verhoeven we're talking about, so they may have been).

There are more heavy-handed religious symbols than boobs or penises in this movie. But the fact that there's both is not surprising for a Dutch film, and Verhoeven seems to have little fear of going all out. He always hammers home messages in a curiously entertaining and very watchable way. (Browsing other reviews I would warn against anything that's been edited, particularly at the hands of some conservative American editor)

Immaculate vibes. A biblical psychosexual adventure of epic proportions.

O quarto homem estreava há 40 anos nos Países Baixos. Esse é um Verhoeven que gostei porque se passa como menos misógino que outros filmes do diretor. Veja bem, não me entendam mal, ainda é misógino porque isso tá no sangue dele, mas como ele trabalha com simbolismo, principalmente com simbolismo cristão que é basicamente o cerne da misoginia Ocidental e com a tenacidade do horror, acho que aqui isso cai bem é bastante relevante. Talvez por isso esse seja o melhor filme dele. Box Versátil

Generally poor acting by Krabbé and all the other Dutchies that seem to simply be unable to act (Soutendijk is an exception) and the dialog sucks, but Verhoeven is a superb cineast; constantly unpredictable, funny, imaginative. Glad this man made it out of Holland.

Faith is lunacy in a world dominated by science. Verhoeven is a director of extremes--at times, the film calls out to a predecessor such as Bergman's Through a Glass Darkly, and at others, Verhoeven finds himself given to the silly excess of genre. The end result is uneven, yet thought provoking.

Eclipsed in almost every way by Verhoeven's later masterpiece Basic Instinct, this erotic thriller is still a fun ride. I do appreciate the surrealistic undertones and religious motifs, but the symbolism is way too explicit to be very interesting.

Viewed February 7, 2018.

The Dutch cousin to early Peter Greenaway and Brian De Palma. This is mostly splendid and fun filmmaking despite a few outdated scenes. Great cinematography by Jan de Bont.

The first hour is very slow.

Verhoeven's early film is as colourful as his more famous later works, a schizophrenic genre mash-up with elements of horror, mystery, black comedy, and dollops of religious imagery. It's anything but boring, and Jeroen Krabb as the lead gives a suitably deranged performance. The ingredients are exotic but the final dish feels a little simple and not to be taken seriously. But it certainly has some delicious moments which hint at Verhoeven's genius. See also: Lair of the White Worm.

Not as "great" as Basic Instinct but way more lurid and filthy. Outstanding early Verhoeven work and all the bonus points for violence using a prosthetic head.

2nd viewing

This hallucinatory, heavy on symbolism and Freudian psychology thriller is totally wild. Verhoeven managed to find that fine spot between arthouse and mainstream cinema. Plot is highly original - in shocking and entertaining way. Overall, this film is overdone (ominous orchestral music, glaring symbolism...), but that's better than same old genre conventions all over again.

Christianity as sexually charged schizophrenia. Love it!

This is major work by the director. It's personal and very stylish. The themes of religion, destiny and reality are cleverly developed.

Lots of over-the-top symbolism combined with some pretty great shots makes for good entertainment

I cannot tell how Verhoeven expects me to take this. Too serious for camp, too silly for anything else - either way it's ridiculous entertainment.

A really curious blend of tension and silliness, bending the reality of the film along with the main character's quirks. It's effective because the film acknowledges that it's telling something of a tall tale while keeping a semblance of grounding and the lead actor is really good at keeping switching the tone of the film naturally.

I fail to see what the big deal is about this movie

Nice Movie

i heart verhoeven

A dutch thriller about a writer who falls in the web a woman who's previous husbands all died. Is he or her loverboy the next one?

DO NOT SEE the dubbed into english for Americans version which has scenes cut from it (and cool ones at that). If you have to start off somewhere when viewing Verhoeven you could do far worse than this complex/fun/gory as hell thriller with excellent performances particularly from Krabbe & Soutendijk. For me this was a must see (and believe it or not aired UNCUT by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation a few years back, which got LOTS of complaints from Queensland...)