"Dressed to Kill" - 1980. Review by Paul Xavier
Starring: Angie Dickinson, Michael Caine, Nancy Allen, and Keith Gordon. Rated R for graphic violence, nudity, language and sexual situations.
"Psycho" is a classic. Many people hold the work of Alfred Hitchcock in the highest regard. "Dressed to Kill", from Brian DePalma, is admittedly, a re-working of Hitchcock's classic thriller. A lot of people allege DePalma is a poor man's Hitchcock. That may be so, but there is no denying DePalma can make a good film.
"Dressed to Kill" first introduces us to Kate Miller (Angie Dickinson), a woman who is not happy in her marriage. Her sex life with her husband is unsatisfactory, a fact she discloses to her psychiatrist Dr. Robert Elliot (Michael Caine). She is so unsatisfied from her husband, she even asks her psychiatrist if he would sleep with her. However, he is married.
She then visits an art museum, and sees a mysterious stranger that catches her eye. She obviously catches his eye as well, as they have a fling in a cab, and later back at his apartment.
This is the just the kind of excitement that Kate needed in her life, until she finds out that the tall, dark and handsome man has a letter from the Department of Health in his drawer stating he has a veneral disease. Flustered, she leaves his apartment while he still sleeps.
On the way down in the elevator, she notices her wedding ring is gone and remembers that she left it upstairs in loverboy's apartment. Going back to retrieve it, as the elevator door to the top floor opens, a tall blond woman with a shiny razor proceeds to slash Kate into mincemeat.
The aftermath of this event is discovered by Liz, a street-smart call girl who finds Kate, and the killer, in the elevator, holding the razor. Liz then goes to the police, to report the murder. Meanwhile, Dr. Elliot is getting a call from "Bobbi" on his answering machine. Bobbi is a woman inside a man's body, was a former patient of Dr. Elliot's, and is obviously disturbed, as she is the one who slashed Kate in the elevator using Elliot's razor.
All this happens in the first half hour. During and after this set-up, DePalma gives one a movie experience with rich style, which is his biggest strength, providing dazzling camera work and some wonderfully filmed sequences; the above mentioned elevator sequence and many others. Another plus is the wonderful score by Pino Donaggio, completely involving the viewer during crucial scenes. DePalma's direction and the music score work together wonderfully.
Still another plus is Nancy Allen as Liz, who the movie focuses on after Kate's fate. In spite of her not so respectable occupation, Liz is a very likable character that one can't help but root for.
Even if you've seen "Psycho" (and who hasn't?), don't sell "Dressed to Kill" short. In spite of the similarities in both films, "Dressed to Kill" easily stands on it's own as an exciting, suspenseful film and deserves a place in movie history as a classic just as much as "Psycho".
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