Dressed to Kill
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Movie Reviews of Dressed to Kill
Movie Review: Brian De Palma's Macabre Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
In 1980, Brian De Palma's DRESSED TO KILL was released to widespread controversy. The graphic nudity and violence set off a lot of feminists, who claimed that the film "encouraged violence against women." There are two funny things about the feminist attacks of this movie... 1) These women claimed that the movie was ANTI-FEMININE before they even seen it and 2) The feminists shut up after they did see the movie, realizing how embarrassingly wrong they were and now this movie is very rarely attacked as being the misogynistic film that some women believed it to be.The movie was also attacked for being a "Hitchcock rip-off!" The funny thing about that is that when one proclaims DRESSED to be a mere trashy take on PSYCHO, they go on to describe everything else in the movie and it becomes clear that they didn't bother to understand, let alone pay attention to the movie. Even funnier, is how one person claimed that the film copies VERTIGO!!!! PROPOSTEROUS, to say the very least. There is nothing similar to VERTIGO, in this movie. So Kate Miller (played full-heartedly by Angie Dickinson) was in a museum... WELL, I GUESS THAT D.T.K. IS TOTALLY ROBBING VERTIGO, I mean since VERTIGO was the first movie to have a museum in it. (sarcasm)
So... It occurred to me that after reading poor review after review on this site and seeing all of the errors people made regarding this movie, that I should give my opinion and review and set the record straight on one of the most Brilliant movies ever made.
I'm sure everyone knows the premise, so I'll just get to the acting... Angie Dickinson gave a performance that puts most actors to shame, all the more encouraging, considering that De Palma's pure-cinematic approach left her character with little dialogue. Michael Caine's performance wasn't the highlight for me as it was for most other people (who probably only praise him because he's a big celebrity). His performance was rather wooden and I wanted to shake him so many times. Nancy Allen and Keith Gordon play their parts perfectly and Dennis Franz was his usual DePalmian sleazy self.
The real star of the movie was the brilliant visual directing handled by master auteur Brian De Palma. He really knows how to bring a touching story out of a combination of performances, camera-technique, set pieces, and cinematography. He so brilliantly makes us feel for Kate Miller, even though she did a very bad thing, that her murder in an elevator is horrifying, SUSPENSEFUL, beautiful, shocking, and gut-wrenching, all at the same time. He then builds another story where it is not expected, after the death of the main character, which is the one and only homage to Alfred Hitchcock, who is famous for using this technique most notably in PSYCHO. The story moves along beautifully as De Palma directs scenes and sequences similar to his future project, BLOW OUT. The suspense is dead on as the audience grows more and more terrified of the villain, Bobbie.
Right before the ending, is a scene of the psychiatrist explaining the murderers motives that parodies a similar scene in PSYCHO so well that most people call this scene a rip-off without knowing what it was truly meant to be... a hysterical parody of Hitchcock's most notoriously BAD scene.
The final scene is more pure cinema terror that involves great editing and very eerie camera-movements, all painstakingly climaxing into a shocking twist.
Also, some mention must be made of Pino Donaggio's lush and provocative score that emphasizes and enhances the beauty, underlying dread, sexual freedom, guilt, and of course, SUSPENSE that run rapid in Brian De Palma's Macabre Masterpiece - DRESSED TO KILL
Movie Review: Dressed To Thrill!
Summary: 5 Stars
This 1980 terror flick by Bryan De Palma was magnificient, despite all the blood and gore that resulted in this movie, but this flick seems to show Nancy Allen, Angie Dickenson, and Mike Caine at their best, especially since DRESSED TO KILL starts off with a delciously nasty nude scene in full-frontal nudity just like De Palma did with his movie CARRIE since DRESSED TO KILL starts off with a sexy bizzare shower scene with Angie Dickenson(Kate Miller) showing her snatch, hooters, and fanny along with the fact that Angie Dickenson and Nancy Allen were both eyecandy in this movie on top of that.
Angie Dickenson also did plenty of intimacy scenes in this movie before her Kate Miller character died off too, which made this movie kind of a sexy suspenseful type horror flick, which is kind of rare in a horror movie.
In addition; Nancy Allen's intriguing nude scene in the girls lockerroom with a bunch of naked girls in the movie CARRIE is probably what inspired DePalma for Nancy Allen's role in DRESSED TO KILL, especially since Bryan De Palma directed CARRIE and was married to Nancy Allen at the time.
Additionally, DRESSED TO KILL has a shocking heart-pumping ending to the movie, just like De Palma did at the end of the movie CARRIE when Nancy Allen wakes up from a nightmare about Dr. Elliott(Mike Caine) stalking her at her home trying to kill her while she's taking a shower in her bathroom buck-naked and defenseless showing Nancy Allens genitals like her tits, bush, and bare-ass kind of like Nancy Allen was in the movie CARRIE in the girls lockerroom scene when she's freshening up being shown wet in full-frontal nudity while getting out of the girls lockerroom showers after the volleyball scene at the beginning of that movie, which made Nancy Allen like eyecandy in this movie just like Nancy was in CARRIE too.
Therefore, the conclusion of DRESSED TO KILL was a tad similar to what De Palma did at the end of the movie CARRIE when Amy Irving(Sue) wakes up from a nightmare about Carrie White(Sissy Spacek) reaching out of the ground from her grave trying to pull Sue(Amy Irving) down into the ground with her, except Nancy Allen plays a good guy in this movie, but plays a snotty annoying bitch in the movie CARRIE.
Additionally, I also liked watching Nancy Allen, Angie Dickerson, and Mike Caine talking about their experiences in the movie DRESSED TO KILL while looking back on it before and during it's theatrical release in 1980 as well along with the fact that Nancy Allen is still looking pretty after all these years, just like she did in the movie CARRIE and DRESSED TO KILL, plus Nancy Allen and Bryan De Palma had explained that they were married at the time DRESSED TO KILL was made and released back then too.
It was also interesting seeing Dennis Franz from NYPD BLUE & HILL STREET BLUES playing the shoddy hard-assed homicide detective investigating the murder of Angie Dickenson, even though Dennis Franz didn't seem to be much help to the murder investigation, since Dennis Franz always seems to play the guy you love to hate in just about every role he plays in a movie or a TV show, even when Dennis Franz plays a good guy.
This movie also takes me all the way back to memory lane to when I was 7 years old and still living in the Imperial Valley since I was living in my hometown(El Centro, CA) at the time when DRESSED TO KILL was released in the theatres in the Summer of 1980 and when I saw this movie for the very first time on HBO in April of 1981 along with the fact that DRESSED TO KILL was quite a deliciously nasty movie as well as a gory one.
Movie Review: A sleek, stylish and suspenseful De Palma masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
Brian De Palma's 1980 thriller Dressed To Kill, in my opinion, ranks among his best films. It's a suspenseful murder mystery that plays in Hitchcock's territory. It seems very much like a Hitchcock movie, only with graphic violence and nudity. There are traces of Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window, Shadow of a Doubt and many others. I'm not sure if De Palma was intentionally referencing Hitchcock or these aspects just came out sort of subconsciously in his script. I don't think that De Palma was "ripping off" Hitchcock in any sense with this movie. I don't think it's really possible for anyone to make a movie in the suspense genre nowadays without having some elements of Hitchcock's work come out. There are indeed some close similarities to Psycho, in particular, but I think De Palma is really just paying homage to the master. His earlier film Obsession (1976) paid homage to Vertigo, now with Dressed To Kill, he sets his sights on Psycho. The film has a good enough story, but the style is really the star here. Everything from the cinematography to the editing to the use of clever, subtle touches (such as Michael Caine looking in the mirror in several scenes). There's the whole museum sequence, brilliantly shot and acted (without dialogue), the elevator murder scene, and a couple of dream sequences. It's incredibly well crafted altogether, but the film is not just an excuse for nice camera work. There's an incredible amount of suspense and terror. There are many wonderful suspenseful scenes, such as the Nancy Allen shower scene at the end. And of course, great performances from Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen, and Dennis Franz.
Dressed To Kill is a must-see for anyone who likes Brian De Palma or just likes suspenseful murder mysteries. It's probably one of the best suspense films of the past 20 years. Accordingly, it has a great DVD edition which presents the proper widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio and gives the choice of R-rated or unrated versions. Some trims had to be made to the film for theatrical release. The film is pretty much the same (and still great) in either version, but the unrated version is more explicit. There are also some good supplemental materials including a documentary on the making of the film and several shorter featurettes (including comparisons of the R-rated, unrated and network TV versions of the film). Unfortunately, Brian De Palma has not recorded an audio commentary for the film. This is a DVD that can be had pretty [reasonablel priced], so De Palma fans or suspense thriller fans are strongly advised to pick this one up.
Movie Review: A classic of the suspense in the eighties!
Summary: 5 Stars
If we drew a straight line between Hitchcock and his most remarkable followers two names: Claude Chabrol in France and Brian de Palma and weaving finer we should agree that Dressed is the best and most mature film of De Palma.
Evidently there are more than happy coincidence respect top previous Hitchcock entries. First at all Angie Dickinson has committed an unforgettable sin, she has infringed adultery and now like Leigh in Psycho she will have the weight of the guilt with her early death, curiously by the same sin.
The first part of the film concludes with her murderer, brilliantly made with a superb slow motion and astonishing handle camera.
The psychopath is a twist of Norman Bates. Two crossed and antagonist personalities living in the same body. Opposite sides of the same coin facing one each other and trying to maintain a fragile equilibrium, as we will see.
In the other hand we have a Peeping Tom but smartly embodied by a nerd: a brilliant electronic student who will become eventually in the target of funny double jokes.
But the main character is Nancy Allen that made an accurate role ( the best in her career) as charismatic and sympathetic pros who will be the hook and future victim of her dangerous game in her particular search of the assassin.
The script is smart and in despite of the fact more than twenty have elapsed, the movie maintains its febrile tension.
An undeniable triumph of de Palma, without forgetting obviously the fantastic performance of Michael Caine who lived his Golden Decade in the eighties: Educating Rita, Hanna and her sisters,
Mona Lisa and this one. He had to win at least another additional Award with Mona Lisa, too.
Watch it over and over and you will always find traces of good cinema. That' s a good signal and the best evidence we are in front of one of the four best suspense movies of the eighties.
Movie Review: De Palma's best next to Carrie
Summary: 5 Stars
While the comparison to Psycho is inevitable, Dressed to Kill is a classic in its own right. De Palma may tip his hat to Hitchcock in some of his films, but I've never felt like they were copycats. The cast here is terrific. Angie Dickinson, Michael Caine and Nancy Allen (who at the time was married to De Palma) are the lead actors. Angie plays the troubled and frustrated Kate Miller and like Janet Leigh's Marion Crane in Psycho meets an unfortunate end in an elevator about 1/3 into the picture. Then we have the heroine played by Nancy Allen who is determined to find the killer in order to clear herself as a suspect along with the help of Kate Miller's son played by Keith Gordon. Michael Caine plays Kate's psychiatrist who thinks the killer is another one of his patients named Bobbie, a man who wants the doctor to approve a sex-change operation so he can be a woman. With a lot of suspense and character development, I consider Dressed to Kill one of my favorite De Palma films next to Carrie. The museum scene is really something to behold which uses music, facial expressions and body language to convey its meaning rather than using words. Another special touch was the little girl in the elevator who stares suspiciously at the guilty Angie Dickinson, bringing her to tears as if she knows what she has done. In the special features section, Angie herself commented on that scene and says this film is her best work and I agree. The twists and turns, mystery, suspense, music, poignant scenes and strong characters all make this thriller rank amongst the best of them. As Nancy Allen said, people are still talking about Dressed to Kill over twenty years later and enjoying it as much as they did back then. That alone makes it a classic. Also recommended by De Palma: Raising Cain