Dressed to Kill (1980 film)
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| Dressed to Kill | |
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 original film poster |
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| Directed by | Brian de Palma |
| Produced by | George Litto |
| Written by | Brian de Palma |
| Starring | Michael Caine Angie Dickinson Nancy Allen |
| Music by | Pino Donaggio |
| Cinematography | Ralf D. Bode |
| Editing by | Gerard B. Greenberg |
| Distributed by | Filmways |
| Release date(s) | June 23, 1980 |
| Running time | 105 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6,500,000 (estimated) |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Dressed to Kill is a 1980 suspense thriller/horror film written and directed by Brian de Palma. It stars Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson and Nancy Allen. The original music score is composed by Pino Donaggio. The film is marketed with the tagline "Brian de Palma, master of the macabre, invites you to a showing of the latest fashion... in murder." It centres around the murder of a housewife, and the investigation headed by the witness to the murder, a young prostitute, and the houesewife's teenaged son.
The film was the target of some backlash from the gay and transgendered communities, who felt that its portrayal of transgendered people was misguided and homophobic. The film is rated R by the MPAA and runs at 105 minutes.
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[edit] Plot summary
Kate Miller (Angie Dickinson) is a sexually frustrated housewife and mother who is in therapy with New York City psychiatrist Dr. Robert Elliott (Michael Caine). During an appointment with Dr. Elliott, Kate attempts to seduce him, at which point Elliott rejects her advances. Later that day, Kate goes to an art gallery and for ten minutes without any dialog has an unexpected flirtation with a mysterious stranger. Kate and the stranger "stalk" each other through the museum until they finally wind up outside, where Kate joins him in a taxi cab. They immediately begin to have sex right there in the cab, and their experience continues at his apartment.
Later, Kate awakens and discreetly leaves while the man is asleep, but not before she rifles through some of his papers and discovers that he has a sexually transmitted disease. Mortified, Kate leaves the apartment and gets in the elevator, but on the way down she realizes that she's left her wedding ring on the stranger's nightstand. She rides back up to retrieve it, but the elevator doors open on the figure of a large, imposing blonde woman in dark sunglasses wielding a straight razor. She slashes Kate to death in the elevator.
Prostitute Liz Blake (Nancy Allen) happens upon the body and catches a glimpse of the killer, therefore becoming both the prime suspect and the killer's next target. Dr. Elliott receives a bizarre answering machine message from "Bobbi", a transsexual he is treating. Bobbi taunts Dr. Elliott for breaking off their therapy sessions, apparently because Dr. Elliott refuses to sign the necessary papers for Bobbi to get a sex change operation. Elliott eventually becomes desperate, visiting Bobbi's new psychiatrist and trying to convince him that Bobbi is a danger to herself and others.
Meanwhile, the police are less than willing to believe Liz's story, and she joins forces with Kate's son Peter to expose the killer themselves. Peter (Keith Gordon) is an inventor, and he uses a series of homemade listening devices and time-lapse cameras to track patients from Elliott's office. They catch Bobbi on camera leaving Elliott's office, but Liz is being stalked by a tall blonde figure in a wig and sunglasses. Bobbi makes several attempts on her life, one of them being thwarted by Peter, who rescues Liz in the nick of time by spraying Bobbi in the New York City Subway with some homemade mace.
Finally Liz and Peter scheme to get into Elliott's office to look at his appointment book and get Bobbi's name. Liz baits Dr. Elliott by coming on to him, and distracts him long enough to make a brief exit and rifle through his appointment book. When she returns, she is confronted by Bobbi instead of Elliott; they are the same person. Elliott/Bobbi is shot and wounded by the female police officer who has been trailing Liz, and Liz recognizes her as the tall blonde figure who was tracking her all along. Elliott is arrested by the police and placed in an insane asylum. In the film's final sequence, Elliott escapes from the asylum and slashes Liz in the throat in a bloody act of vengeance, and she wakes up screaming, realizing that Elliot's attack was just a dream.
[edit] Main cast
- Michael Caine: Dr. Robert Elliott/ Bobbi
- Angie Dickinson: Kate Miller
- Nancy Allen: Liz Blake
- Keith Gordon: Peter Miller
- Dennis Franz: Detective Marino
- David Margulies: Dr. Levy
- Ken Baker: Warren Lockman
- Susanna Clemm: Betty Luce
- Brandon Maggart: Cleveland Sam
- Norman Evans: Ted
- Bill Randolph: Chase cabby
- Fred Weber: Mike Miller
- Nicolas Cage: Jack (cameo)
[edit] Awards and nominations
- Won: Best Actress (Angie Dickinson)
- Nominated: Best Director (Brian De Palma)
- Nominated: Best Horror Film
- Nominated: Best Music (Pino Donaggio)
- Nominated: New Star of the Year (Nancy Allen)
- Nominated: Worst Actor (Michael Caine)
- Nominated: Worst Actress (Nancy Allen)
- Nominated: Worst Director (Brian De Palma)
[edit] Trivia
- The film was the target of mild controversy when it became known that the nude body in the opening scene, taking place in a shower, was not that of Angie Dickinson but of a Penthouse model. This controversy stemmed mostly from Dickinson's status at the time as being a mature, still-slender and shapely, sex symbol; the provocative shower scene - and the film - originally seemed to cash in on the idea that this nude body was that of its star. However, this revelation of a body-double (a theme later explored by director De Palma in his 1984 release, Body Double) seemed to do no harm to its box office performance.
- There were two versions of the film, an R rated version and an unrated version. The unrated version was only longer by seconds that showed more genitalia in the above-mentioned shower scene and more blood in the elevator scene.
- Both Sean Connery and Liv Ullmann were approached in early 1979 by De Palma to appear as Elliot and Kate, but both passed on the project.
[edit] External links
- Dressed to Kill (1980) at the Internet Movie Database
- Dressed to Kill (1980) at Allmovie
- Dressed to Kill (1980) at Rotten Tomatoes
- Movie stills
- Detailed Comparison between R-Rated and Unrated Version
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