diff --git a/djangorestframework/mixins.py b/djangorestframework/mixins.py
index 622575923..90c759708 100644
--- a/djangorestframework/mixins.py
+++ b/djangorestframework/mixins.py
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ class RequestMixin(object):
 
 class ResponseMixin(object):
     """
-    Adds behavior for pluggable `Renderers` to a :class:`views.BaseView` or Django :class:`View` class.
+    Adds behavior for pluggable `Renderers` to a :class:`views.View` class.
     
     Default behavior is to use standard HTTP Accept header content negotiation.
     Also supports overriding the content type by specifying an ``_accept=`` parameter in the URL.
diff --git a/djangorestframework/tests/accept.py b/djangorestframework/tests/accept.py
index 293a72847..f26de633f 100644
--- a/djangorestframework/tests/accept.py
+++ b/djangorestframework/tests/accept.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 from django.test import TestCase
 from djangorestframework.compat import RequestFactory
-from djangorestframework.views import BaseView
+from djangorestframework.views import View
 
 
 # See: http://www.useragentstring.com/
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ class UserAgentMungingTest(TestCase):
 
     def setUp(self):
 
-        class MockView(BaseView):
+        class MockView(View):
             permissions = ()
 
             def get(self, request):
diff --git a/djangorestframework/tests/authentication.py b/djangorestframework/tests/authentication.py
index 04ac471ad..8254403c4 100644
--- a/djangorestframework/tests/authentication.py
+++ b/djangorestframework/tests/authentication.py
@@ -6,13 +6,13 @@ from django.test import Client, TestCase
 from django.utils import simplejson as json
 
 from djangorestframework.compat import RequestFactory
-from djangorestframework.views import BaseView
+from djangorestframework.views import View
 from djangorestframework import permissions
 
 import base64
 
 
-class MockView(BaseView):
+class MockView(View):
     permissions = ( permissions.IsAuthenticated, )
     def post(self, request):
         return {'a':1, 'b':2, 'c':3}
diff --git a/djangorestframework/tests/breadcrumbs.py b/djangorestframework/tests/breadcrumbs.py
index 1fd756347..158f18008 100644
--- a/djangorestframework/tests/breadcrumbs.py
+++ b/djangorestframework/tests/breadcrumbs.py
@@ -1,21 +1,21 @@
 from django.conf.urls.defaults import patterns, url
 from django.test import TestCase
 from djangorestframework.utils.breadcrumbs import get_breadcrumbs
-from djangorestframework.views import BaseView
+from djangorestframework.views import View
 
-class Root(BaseView):
+class Root(View):
     pass
 
-class ResourceRoot(BaseView):
+class ResourceRoot(View):
     pass
 
-class ResourceInstance(BaseView):
+class ResourceInstance(View):
     pass
 
-class NestedResourceRoot(BaseView):
+class NestedResourceRoot(View):
     pass
 
-class NestedResourceInstance(BaseView):
+class NestedResourceInstance(View):
     pass
 
 urlpatterns = patterns('',
diff --git a/djangorestframework/tests/description.py b/djangorestframework/tests/description.py
index 6c494efaa..1ce291124 100644
--- a/djangorestframework/tests/description.py
+++ b/djangorestframework/tests/description.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 from django.test import TestCase
-from djangorestframework.views import BaseView
+from djangorestframework.views import View
 from djangorestframework.compat import apply_markdown
 from djangorestframework.utils.description import get_name, get_description
 
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ MARKED_DOWN = """<h2>an example docstring</h2>
 class TestViewNamesAndDescriptions(TestCase):
     def test_resource_name_uses_classname_by_default(self):
         """Ensure Resource names are based on the classname by default."""
-        class MockView(BaseView):
+        class MockView(View):
             pass
         self.assertEquals(get_name(MockView()), 'Mock')
 
@@ -43,13 +43,13 @@ class TestViewNamesAndDescriptions(TestCase):
     #def test_resource_name_can_be_set_explicitly(self):
     #    """Ensure Resource names can be set using the 'name' class attribute."""
     #    example = 'Some Other Name'
-    #    class MockView(BaseView):
+    #    class MockView(View):
     #        name = example
     #    self.assertEquals(get_name(MockView()), example)
 
     def test_resource_description_uses_docstring_by_default(self):
         """Ensure Resource names are based on the docstring by default."""
-        class MockView(BaseView):
+        class MockView(View):
             """an example docstring
             ====================
 
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ class TestViewNamesAndDescriptions(TestCase):
     #def test_resource_description_can_be_set_explicitly(self):
     #    """Ensure Resource descriptions can be set using the 'description' class attribute."""
     #    example = 'Some other description'
-    #    class MockView(BaseView):
+    #    class MockView(View):
     #        """docstring"""
     #        description = example
     #    self.assertEquals(get_description(MockView()), example)
@@ -79,13 +79,13 @@ class TestViewNamesAndDescriptions(TestCase):
     #def test_resource_description_does_not_require_docstring(self):
     #    """Ensure that empty docstrings do not affect the Resource's description if it has been set using the 'description' class attribute."""
     #    example = 'Some other description'
-    #    class MockView(BaseView):
+    #    class MockView(View):
     #        description = example
     #    self.assertEquals(get_description(MockView()), example)
 
     def test_resource_description_can_be_empty(self):
         """Ensure that if a resource has no doctring or 'description' class attribute, then it's description is the empty string"""
-        class MockView(BaseView):
+        class MockView(View):
             pass
         self.assertEquals(get_description(MockView()), '')
   
diff --git a/djangorestframework/tests/files.py b/djangorestframework/tests/files.py
index 3892422c1..25aad9b49 100644
--- a/djangorestframework/tests/files.py
+++ b/djangorestframework/tests/files.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 from django.test import TestCase
 from django import forms
 from djangorestframework.compat import RequestFactory
-from djangorestframework.views import BaseView
+from djangorestframework.views import View
 from djangorestframework.resources import FormResource
 import StringIO
 
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ class UploadFilesTests(TestCase):
         class MockResource(FormResource):
             form = FileForm
 
-        class MockView(BaseView):
+        class MockView(View):
             permissions = ()
             resource = MockResource
 
diff --git a/djangorestframework/tests/parsers.py b/djangorestframework/tests/parsers.py
index 764a8f5cb..3ab1a61c8 100644
--- a/djangorestframework/tests/parsers.py
+++ b/djangorestframework/tests/parsers.py
@@ -2,11 +2,11 @@
 # ..
 #     >>> from djangorestframework.parsers import FormParser
 #     >>> from djangorestframework.compat import RequestFactory
-#     >>> from djangorestframework.views import BaseView
+#     >>> from djangorestframework.views import View
 #     >>> from StringIO import StringIO
 #     >>> from urllib import urlencode
 #     >>> req = RequestFactory().get('/')
-#     >>> some_view = BaseView()
+#     >>> some_view = View()
 #     >>> some_view.request = req  # Make as if this request had been dispatched
 # 
 # FormParser
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@
 # from django.test import TestCase
 # from djangorestframework.compat import RequestFactory
 # from djangorestframework.parsers import MultiPartParser
-# from djangorestframework.views import BaseView
+# from djangorestframework.views import View
 # from StringIO import StringIO
 # 
 # def encode_multipart_formdata(fields, files):
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@
 #    def test_multipartparser(self):
 #        """Ensure that MultiPartParser can parse multipart/form-data that contains a mix of several files and parameters."""
 #        post_req = RequestFactory().post('/', self.body, content_type=self.content_type)
-#        view = BaseView()
+#        view = View()
 #        view.request = post_req
 #        (data, files) = MultiPartParser(view).parse(StringIO(self.body))
 #        self.assertEqual(data['key1'], 'val1')
diff --git a/djangorestframework/tests/renderers.py b/djangorestframework/tests/renderers.py
index fcc405a19..5364cd2e9 100644
--- a/djangorestframework/tests/renderers.py
+++ b/djangorestframework/tests/renderers.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 from django.conf.urls.defaults import patterns, url
 from django import http
 from django.test import TestCase
-from djangorestframework.compat import View
+from djangorestframework.compat import View as DjangoView
 from djangorestframework.renderers import BaseRenderer, JSONRenderer
 from djangorestframework.mixins import ResponseMixin
 from djangorestframework.response import Response
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ DUMMYCONTENT = 'dummycontent'
 RENDERER_A_SERIALIZER = lambda x: 'Renderer A: %s' % x
 RENDERER_B_SERIALIZER = lambda x: 'Renderer B: %s' % x
 
-class MockView(ResponseMixin, View):
+class MockView(ResponseMixin, DjangoView):
     def get(self, request):
         response = Response(DUMMYSTATUS, DUMMYCONTENT)
         return self.render(response)
diff --git a/djangorestframework/tests/reverse.py b/djangorestframework/tests/reverse.py
index 7026d4a47..b4b0a7938 100644
--- a/djangorestframework/tests/reverse.py
+++ b/djangorestframework/tests/reverse.py
@@ -3,10 +3,10 @@ from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse
 from django.test import TestCase
 from django.utils import simplejson as json
 
-from djangorestframework.views import BaseView
+from djangorestframework.views import View
 
 
-class MockView(BaseView):
+class MockView(View):
     """Mock resource which simply returns a URL, so that we can ensure that reversed URLs are fully qualified"""
     permissions = ()
 
diff --git a/djangorestframework/tests/throttling.py b/djangorestframework/tests/throttling.py
index e7a054cd0..a8f08b184 100644
--- a/djangorestframework/tests/throttling.py
+++ b/djangorestframework/tests/throttling.py
@@ -3,11 +3,11 @@ from django.test import TestCase
 from django.utils import simplejson as json
 
 from djangorestframework.compat import RequestFactory
-from djangorestframework.views import BaseView
+from djangorestframework.views import View
 from djangorestframework.permissions import PerUserThrottling
 
 
-class MockView(BaseView):
+class MockView(View):
     permissions = ( PerUserThrottling, )
     throttle = (3, 1) # 3 requests per second
 
diff --git a/djangorestframework/tests/validators.py b/djangorestframework/tests/validators.py
index 32fb10029..a1e5d2d71 100644
--- a/djangorestframework/tests/validators.py
+++ b/djangorestframework/tests/validators.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ from django.test import TestCase
 from djangorestframework.compat import RequestFactory
 from djangorestframework.resources import Resource, FormResource, ModelResource
 from djangorestframework.response import ErrorResponse
-from djangorestframework.views import BaseView
+from djangorestframework.views import View
 from djangorestframework.resources import Resource
 
 
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ class TestDisabledValidations(TestCase):
         class DisabledFormResource(FormResource):
             form = None
 
-        class MockView(BaseView):
+        class MockView(View):
             resource = DisabledFormResource
 
         view = MockView()
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ class TestDisabledValidations(TestCase):
         class DisabledFormResource(FormResource):
             form = None
 
-        class MockView(BaseView):
+        class MockView(View):
             resource = DisabledFormResource
     
         view = MockView()
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ class TestDisabledValidations(TestCase):
         """If the view's form is None and does not have a Resource with a model set then
         ModelFormValidator(view).validate_request(content, None) should just return the content unmodified."""
 
-        class DisabledModelFormView(BaseView):
+        class DisabledModelFormView(View):
             resource = ModelResource
 
         view = DisabledModelFormView()
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ class TestDisabledValidations(TestCase):
 
     def test_disabled_model_form_validator_get_bound_form_returns_none(self):
         """If the form attribute is None on FormValidatorMixin then get_bound_form(content) should just return None."""
-        class DisabledModelFormView(BaseView):
+        class DisabledModelFormView(View):
             resource = ModelResource
  
         view = DisabledModelFormView()
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ class TestNonFieldErrors(TestCase):
         class MockResource(FormResource):
             form = MockForm
         
-        class MockView(BaseView):
+        class MockView(View):
             pass
 
         view = MockView()
@@ -104,10 +104,10 @@ class TestFormValidation(TestCase):
         class MockModelResource(ModelResource):
             form = MockForm
  
-        class MockFormView(BaseView):
+        class MockFormView(View):
             resource = MockFormResource
  
-        class MockModelFormView(BaseView):
+        class MockModelFormView(View):
             resource = MockModelResource
 
         self.MockFormResource = MockFormResource
@@ -277,7 +277,7 @@ class TestModelFormValidator(TestCase):
         class MockResource(ModelResource):
             model = MockModel
  
-        class MockView(BaseView):
+        class MockView(View):
             resource = MockResource
        
         self.validator = MockResource(MockView)
diff --git a/djangorestframework/views.py b/djangorestframework/views.py
index 545671a4c..3d6a6c403 100644
--- a/djangorestframework/views.py
+++ b/djangorestframework/views.py
@@ -6,16 +6,17 @@ By setting or modifying class attributes on your view, you change it's predefine
 """
 
 from django.core.urlresolvers import set_script_prefix
+from django.http import HttpResponse
 from django.views.decorators.csrf import csrf_exempt
 
-from djangorestframework.compat import View
+from djangorestframework.compat import View as DjangoView
 from djangorestframework.response import Response, ErrorResponse
 from djangorestframework.mixins import *
 from djangorestframework import resources, renderers, parsers, authentication, permissions, status
 
 
 __all__ = (
-    'BaseView',
+    'View',
     'ModelView',
     'InstanceModelView',
     'ListModelView',
@@ -24,7 +25,7 @@ __all__ = (
 
 
 
-class BaseView(ResourceMixin, RequestMixin, ResponseMixin, AuthMixin, View):
+class View(ResourceMixin, RequestMixin, ResponseMixin, AuthMixin, DjangoView):
     """
     Handles incoming requests and maps them to REST operations.
     Performs request deserialization, response serialization, authentication and input validation.
@@ -65,7 +66,7 @@ class BaseView(ResourceMixin, RequestMixin, ResponseMixin, AuthMixin, View):
         as an attribute on the callable function.  This allows us to discover
         information about the view when we do URL reverse lookups. 
         """
-        view = super(BaseView, cls).as_view(**initkwargs)
+        view = super(View, cls).as_view(**initkwargs)
         view.cls_instance = cls(**initkwargs)
         return view
 
@@ -86,6 +87,14 @@ class BaseView(ResourceMixin, RequestMixin, ResponseMixin, AuthMixin, View):
                             {'detail': 'Method \'%s\' not allowed on this resource.' % self.method})
 
 
+    def initial(self, request, *args, **kargs):
+        """
+        Hook for any code that needs to run prior to anything else.
+        Required if you want to do things like set `request.upload_handlers` before
+        the authentication and dispatch handling is run.
+        """
+        pass
+
     # Note: session based authentication is explicitly CSRF validated,
     # all other authentication is CSRF exempt.
     @csrf_exempt
@@ -99,6 +108,8 @@ class BaseView(ResourceMixin, RequestMixin, ResponseMixin, AuthMixin, View):
         set_script_prefix(prefix)
 
         try:
+            self.initial(request, *args, **kwargs)
+
             # Authenticate and check request has the relevant permissions
             self._check_permissions()
 
@@ -110,8 +121,10 @@ class BaseView(ResourceMixin, RequestMixin, ResponseMixin, AuthMixin, View):
 
             response_obj = handler(request, *args, **kwargs)
 
-            # Allow return value to be either Response, or an object, or None
-            if isinstance(response_obj, Response):
+            # Allow return value to be either HttpResponse, Response, or an object, or None
+            if isinstance(response_obj, HttpResponse):
+                return response_obj
+            elif isinstance(response_obj, Response):
                 response = response_obj
             elif response_obj is not None:
                 response = Response(status.HTTP_200_OK, response_obj)
@@ -135,7 +148,7 @@ class BaseView(ResourceMixin, RequestMixin, ResponseMixin, AuthMixin, View):
     
 
 
-class ModelView(BaseView):
+class ModelView(View):
     """A RESTful view that maps to a model in the database."""
     resource = resources.ModelResource
 
diff --git a/examples/objectstore/views.py b/examples/objectstore/views.py
index 076e59416..19999aa95 100644
--- a/examples/objectstore/views.py
+++ b/examples/objectstore/views.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse
 
-from djangorestframework.views import BaseView
+from djangorestframework.views import View
 from djangorestframework.response import Response
 from djangorestframework import status
 
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ def remove_oldest_files(dir, max_files):
     [os.remove(path) for path in ctime_sorted_paths[max_files:]]
 
 
-class ObjectStoreRoot(BaseView):
+class ObjectStoreRoot(View):
     """
     Root of the Object Store API.
     Allows the client to get a complete list of all the stored objects, or to create a new stored object.
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ class ObjectStoreRoot(BaseView):
         return Response(status.HTTP_201_CREATED, self.CONTENT, {'Location': reverse('stored-object', kwargs={'key':key})})
 
 
-class StoredObject(BaseView):
+class StoredObject(View):
     """
     Represents a stored object.
     The object may be any picklable content.
diff --git a/examples/pygments_api/views.py b/examples/pygments_api/views.py
index e6bfae489..76647107f 100644
--- a/examples/pygments_api/views.py
+++ b/examples/pygments_api/views.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse
 from djangorestframework.resources import FormResource
 from djangorestframework.response import Response
 from djangorestframework.renderers import BaseRenderer
-from djangorestframework.views import BaseView
+from djangorestframework.views import View
 from djangorestframework import status
 
 from pygments.formatters import HtmlFormatter
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ class PygmentsFormResource(FormResource):
     form = PygmentsForm
 
 
-class PygmentsRoot(BaseView):
+class PygmentsRoot(View):
     """
     This example demonstrates a simple RESTful Web API aound the awesome pygments library.
     This top level resource is used to create highlighted code snippets, and to list all the existing code snippets.
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ class PygmentsRoot(BaseView):
         return Response(status.HTTP_201_CREATED, headers={'Location': reverse('pygments-instance', args=[unique_id])})
 
 
-class PygmentsInstance(BaseView):
+class PygmentsInstance(View):
     """
     Simply return the stored highlighted HTML file with the correct mime type.
     This Resource only renders HTML and uses a standard HTML renderer rather than the renderers.DocumentingHTMLRenderer class.
diff --git a/examples/resourceexample/views.py b/examples/resourceexample/views.py
index 70d96891b..29651fbf5 100644
--- a/examples/resourceexample/views.py
+++ b/examples/resourceexample/views.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse
 
-from djangorestframework.views import BaseView
+from djangorestframework.views import View
 from djangorestframework.resources import FormResource
 from djangorestframework.response import Response
 from djangorestframework import status
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ class MyFormValidation(FormResource):
     form = MyForm
 
     
-class ExampleResource(BaseView):
+class ExampleResource(View):
     """
     A basic read-only resource that points to 3 other resources.
     """
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ class ExampleResource(BaseView):
         return {"Some other resources": [reverse('another-example-resource', kwargs={'num':num}) for num in range(3)]}
 
 
-class AnotherExampleResource(BaseView):
+class AnotherExampleResource(View):
     """
     A basic GET-able/POST-able resource.
     """
diff --git a/examples/sandbox/views.py b/examples/sandbox/views.py
index d5b59284b..1c55c28f2 100644
--- a/examples/sandbox/views.py
+++ b/examples/sandbox/views.py
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 """The root view for the examples provided with Django REST framework"""
 
 from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse
-from djangorestframework.views import BaseView
+from djangorestframework.views import View
 
 
-class Sandbox(BaseView):
+class Sandbox(View):
     """This is the sandbox for the examples provided with [Django REST framework](http://django-rest-framework.org).
 
     These examples are provided to help you get a better idea of the some of the features of RESTful APIs created using the framework.