----------------------------Original message---------------------------- I have no idea what dePalma said at Venice, but I find it hard to believe that he denied that the sequence was inspired by the most famous sequence in film history -- the "Odessa Steps" sequence from "Potemkin". Not only is the sequence known to virtually everybody, but it has been parodied in endless films, including Gilliam's "Brazil". Plagiarism is a tough term to use in connection with a film, where more than the mere words or images are involved. Witness the current flap about Tarantino's "plagiarizing" Lam's "City on Fire". I don't suppose the argument will ever be settled. However, if dePalma actually SAID that he wasn't thinking about Eisenstein in that case, he must be even dumber than his films would lead one to believe. (His "borrowing" from Hitchcock is the entire lynchpin of his career!) Gene Stavis, School of Visual Arts - NYC